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The Hello Mellow brand teamed with ILS to create digitally printed, eco-friendly labels. |
Versatility and flexibility enable labels to deliver clear and compelling brand messages.
When Urban Decay released Allnighter and De-Slick, extra-large makeup setting sprays, it did so in clean, white bottles paired with eye-catching labels. Aglow in vivid colors, the matte labels immediately call attention to the products, while visually reminding users of the cooling formulations’ promise to keep makeup looking fresh even in harsh conditions.
Urban Decay chose pressure sensitive labels for its Allnighter and De-Slick products. |
Among its main benefits is its unsurpassed versatility, which begins with the choice of base material. “The design attributes of pressure sensitive labels are due in large measure to the virtually unlimited choice of available substrates, including films, papers, metallized papers, foils and holographic films,” explains Renae Kulis, global marketing director, health and beauty, home care for Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials.
From this flexible foundation, brand owners can choose from a range of printing processes and techniques. Among the various techniques available, Kulis points to the use of metallic inks, bronzing, embossing, hot or cold foil stamping and sub-surface printing. There are also decisions to be made on coatings, which aside from its utilitarian advantages, can dramatically impact a label’s look.
“Coatings serve multiple purposes,” says Jonathan Tarantino, vice president of sales for Paris Art Label Co., Inc.He adds that some coatings are used simply to aid in label application, others are applied for protection from scuffing, scratching and other dangers, and still others are employed to enhance aesthetics. “We have used some coatings to give a metallic or pearl look. Other coatings are used to give a raised texture feeling to the label,” he adds.
Coatings have many decorative uses that delight multiple senses. “A variety of coatings is available to add another dimension to a label, including dimensional varnish, glitter-added varnish, a combination of gloss and matte, microencapsulated inks to add scent, etc.,” Kulis says. “These capabilities are important attributes of pressure-sensitive labeling and allow beauty brands to differentiate their products on the shelf.”
Aside from design flexibility, pressure sensitive labels offer additional, more practical benefits versus direct screen printing, say experts. These benefits include the ability to maximize supply chain efficiency as well as reduce packaging costs.
“Pressure sensitive labels are the most commonly used labels in cosmetics. One major benefit is if you use a label, you do not have to inventory glass, tubes or bottles that are directly printed. It makes your inventory control very flexible and also reduces reaction time to please the end user,” says Tarantino.
“Direct printed containers and tubes are often sourced from overseas, requiring high minimums and long lead times. On the back end, this limits flexibility to respond to market and regulatory demands, as now both the decoration and container costs are [already] incurred, and scrapping inventory means wasting all of these applied costs,” adds Kathy Popovich, director of marketing for Innovative Labeling Solutions (ILS).
Growth of Digital
Flexibility is a key benefit of using labels, and the increasing needs of brand owners for speed and short runs continue to influence the label industry.
While there are other printing processes in existence like gravure and screen, flexographic printing has historically been used in label printing. The paradigm is shifting, however, as more and more brand owners today use digitally printed labels.
Extended content labels, such as these examples from Paris Art Label, have seen increased popularity in the beauty industry. |
“Flexography has been the primary technology used for printing pressure sensitive labels, but the costs and time involved in this traditional method have become an unwanted expense when compared to digital printing,” says Chris Carver, president and founder of Carver Graphics, an industry veteran who spent many years in flexographic printing before founding a company specializing in short run, custom cut, digital labels. “Digital printing has greatly impacted the overall printing industry in the recent past, and will continue to do so for years to come.”
Label printers see many drivers pushing digital technology to the forefront. “A lot of the demand is being driven in part by SKU proliferation and supply chain efficiencies—reduced obsolescence, print-on-demand procurement models—but also by the demands of the new consumer marketplace,” says Popovich. “Brands need to stay fresh, relevant and engaging. The most successful brands are integrating their packaging into the marketing mix by incorporating packaging graphics into campaigns, and offering regional and seasonal offerings, and even limited edition, licensed- or cause-related SKUs.”
Digital is the perfect solution for shorter runs because “digital presses are able to print as little as one label, and at a very economical price,” adds Carver.
In addition, “Our presses actually have the unique ability to contour cut labels to any shape or size without the use of a die. We can literally print an unlimited variety of label designs, custom cut to any conceivable shape, right next to each other on the same run,” Carver says. He adds that digital printing is an especially useful technology, not only for brand extensions, but also for companies that need small quantities for private labeling, prototypes and samples.
In response to increased demand, digital technologies continue to improve. “Sophisticated digital technology is growing,” agrees Kulis, who sees a rapid increase in digital capabilities in recent years, and even months. “The biggest advancements have included ink technology. Improved digital plating and digital screen equipment have enhanced the UV flexo screen-printing process. In addition, the sophistication of the electronics on press is also increasing the ability to deliver higher quality imaging.”
Popovich of Innovative Labeling Solutions, which prints labels using digital presses, says, “The graphic quality of digitally printed labels is far superior to what can be achieved through screens, both in image quality and design details. Process work with screen printing is really just okay. Digital printing removes design limitations, delivering true design intent in production.”
More Space
Beauty marketplace needs are not alone in impacting label printing processes. Other industry pressures have brought innovations to the label structures themselves.
Naturopathica Holistic Health LLC fit information in two languages on its tubes by utilizing an extended text label from WS Packaging Group. |
Significant changes to the packaging included swapping a yellow color scheme for a custom blue color, as well as eliminating the unit carton to showcase new tubes made from 30% post-consumer waste. This package reduction didn’t pose design problems for the United States’ market, but in order to sell the product in the European Union and maintain prestigious ECOCERT certification, copy needed to be in both English and French.
“Naturally, we recognized that there wasn’t going to be enough room for all the copy, which put the brand strategy at risk of being fully realized,” says Scott Hesselink, senior designer with Elixir Design, who worked with Naturopathica.
The solution was realized with a FlexVision extended text label from WS Packaging Group and its MultiVision label line. The label, which is completely water-resistant and offers a shelf life of at least two years, was flexographic printed and features a patented multi-ply construction that is 100% conformable and engineered specifically for plastic tubes. The label stock is a 3ml polyolefin Fasson brand pressure sensitive film from Avery Dennison.
Extended text labels, also known as extended content labels, are increasingly popular with beauty brands. “Extended content labels provide brand owners the space they need for regulatory requirements, multiple languages, consumer education and health and safety warnings,” says Kulis.
Beauty brands offering over-the-counter sunscreen products are likely familiar with the new ruling in 2011 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which outlines widespread changes in how a sun protection product is marketed (see www.fda.gov/sunscreen). This and other regulatory efforts remain a driver for extended content labels, both now and in the future.
“There has been a marked increase in requests for extended content labels, due in large part to the increased regulatory requirements in labeling,” says Sean Gallagher, ILS director of innovation. “The cost for booklet labels is much higher than typical pressure sensitive, of course, but regulatory demands are driving companies to seek creative ways to meet the requirements without taking away from the brand equity.”
As an alternative to booklet labels, ILS is offering a wrap-around label. “The wrap-around label can go a full 720 degrees, if required. The label uses a special printing technique called sandwich printing, where the first layer of graphics are laid down, then white layers are printed to create an opaque background, then the back of label graphics are actually printed in reverse. We then use a silicone release agent allowing the label to be wrapped and unwrapped by the consumer,” explains Gallagher.
Shrink to Size
Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials offers an alternative between pressure sensitive labels and shrink that creates a wraparound look. |
Experts have seen steady growth in this category. “The benefit of a shrink over a label is you can put the shrink around very complex surfaces where a label might have an issue adhering. Also, on a shrink, you can print different graphics. Lastly, the shrink can be used for a packaging purpose and also as a tamper seal in some cases. That way a customer can reduce cost by buying one item versus two,” says Tarantino.
Offering an alternative between pressure sensitive labels and shrink, Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials has launched its Avery Dennison Curve Appeal System and Fasson Curvy film labels, a machine and label combination that creates a wraparound look, offers the ability to manage complex container shapes and provides up to 100% more space for primary labeling, while still retaining the shelf appeal of pressure sensitive graphics, says Kulis.
Visual Trends
As is often the case in packaging, the main trend when it comes to labels is differentiation. Label designers have many options to add visual delights while making a brand statement, ranging from innovative substrate choice, to custom colors, to creative finishes.
Hello Mellow, a line of natural, hand-crafted body products that incorporate aromatherapy oils, took advantage of the labels’ versatility. It chose Terraskin, a paperless substrate, for their label material and partnered with ILS to create digitally printed labels. In line with their eco-conscious brand image, Terraskin is made primarily of calcium carbonate, is non-toxic, and is cradle-to-cradle certified. The brand chose clean, earthy color palettes and simple graphics and messaging to make a statement.
While authenticity was important to Hello Mellow, “for other clients we see visual impact or special effect as a primary objective,” says Popovich. ILS is now a certified Color-Logic package printer, which has significantly ramped up its capabilities to offer metallic effects, for example. But metallic touches aren’t the only way to create the special effects customers crave. Popovich adds, “There are more choices than ever to accomplish this, such as varnishes that contain glitter, flocking and even tactile varnishes that mimic rubber or leather or the like.”