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Send to KindleAIMCAL winners shine
For the Hilfiger packages a polyester film from Toray Plastics is metallized and embossed by Crown Roll Leaf. Unifoil then uses its Unilustre™ process to transfer the hologram onto an 80# C1S litho paperboard from MeadWestvaco.
“The film is designed to have the image transferred onto the paperboard” explains Funicelli “then we dispose of the polyester film. Then we optically register the image on the paperboard and sheet it.” The printing of the paper is handled by Estée Lauder he says and then the paperboard becomes an overwrap for a rigid box. Estée Lauder didn’t return phone calls about the package.
Judges particularly liked the striking star images that change appearance as one’s perspective shifts. Another noted the custom designs are a “brand-building image.”
A less costly alternative
Although economics doesn’t appear to be a major factor among the winners it was a major part of new packaging for Candie’s fragrances (3). The Unifoil optically registered hologram replaces a more costly heavy-gauge lenticular film sleeve that had to be scored glued and slipped around the folding carton.
In this execution like that of the Hilfiger package a 50-ga polyester from Toray Plastics is metallized and embossed by Crown Roll Leaf. At Unifoil the web is acrylic matte-coated and tinted before it’s laminated to the coated side of 20-pt C1S SBS from the Brewton AL mill of Smurfit-Stone Container and optically registered before sheeting. Eventually the sheet is printed and converted into the box by Hub Folding Box.
“The people from Candie’s were looking to take some costs and complexity out of its packaging” says Tony DiRico of Hub Folding Box. “One issue was inserting the folding carton into the sleeve of polypropionate film. The company wanted to make packaging operations simpler and speed up fulfillment.”
By integrating the look of the sleeve into the box itself “we not only eliminated one packaging component but also a packaging step for them” DiRico points out.
“We were able to duplicate a custom image that gave the package the same look as before” says Unifoil’s Funicelli. “But this one is far easier and cheaper to manufacture. We coated the holographic image to just give it a swirl movement. It’s a registered custom image that’s in no way random.
“Even though the product isn’t new the new packaging has allowed [sales] to grow again” Funicelli adds. Efforts to reach Candie’s were unsuccessful.
Carton for candles
Winning the Technical Award for Nonfood Packaging was Hazen Paper for cartons it converts for Er’Go Candles (4) Dallas. Hazen laminates a 92-ga polyester with a rainbow-patterned hologram onto 20-pt SBS board from MeadWestvaco. The film is also coated with a water-based ultracure acrylic coating says Hazen’s Jim Conte.
The new cartons replace plain white paperboard boxes and deliver a more eye-catching shelf presence while the film also strengthens the carton Conte points out. Day Manufacturing packages the candles for Er’Go.
Labels from Proma Technologies won both marketing and technical awards in the Retail Label category. The Marketing Award went to a holographic label of Proma’s HoloPrism paper for the Santa Sweets-brand grape tomato package (5) for Ag-Mart Produce Plant City FL. The hologram was supplied to Spinnaker Coating that converted the five-color flexo-printed label that’s protected by an ultraviolet varnish.
“This is the first time a holographic label has been used on a produce product” says Ruth Kemp a marketing executive with Proma Technologies. This new market for holograms was cited by judges.
“As a produce company we would never have dreamt that we would receive e-mails from consumers about our product” says Robert Meade vice president of sales and operations for Ag-Mart. “By creating a holographic label and kid-friendly characters we’re accomplishing just that.”
Packaging World reported on this package in a June 2003 article.
Commemorative labels
A set of four labels that commemorate the centennial of Toronto-based Molson’s Export brand beer (6) won the Technical Award for Labels for Proma. The labels were applied to refillable bottles.
“The customer wanted to show the historical evolution of the product with four distinct designs that echoed label graphics from 1903 1955 1962 and 2002” says Ruth Kemp of Proma. “All designs were developed to take advantage of the holographic effect provided by Holoprism pattern #752.”
The holographic paper was supplied on 50# partial wet-strength paper that is printed by converter Inland Printing and then top-coated with a water-based coating. Inland supplied the labels in mixed bundles to improve the probability that all four designs could be found in each 12-pack. “The initial consumer reception was so positive that the promotion was extended several months” Kemp adds. Molson did not return phone calls about the labels.
Label application was said to require no major equipment modifications and the adhesive was selected for easy removal during the bottle cleaning process prior to refilling. Proma also won for a series of covers for TV Guide that commemorated the release of the movie Lord of the Rings. Flexcon Co. won both Technical and Marketing Awards in the Other category for a nonslip appliqué from Flexible Innovations Fort Worth TX designed to hold cellular phones and other devices from sliding in cars.
Finally Flex Industries Ltd. (Film Division) of Noida Uttar Pradesh India won a Technical Award in the Decorative/Display category for a line of metallized holographic biaxially oriented PET/PE stand-up pouches with slider zippers for a variety of multi-serving products. Flex Industries serves as the substrate maker designer metallizer and converter for the package. Transparent inks are used for printing and to preserve the holographic effect. After opening the slider the consumer needs to break a tamper-evident film diaphragm to access the product.
Judges for this year’s competition included Panos Kinigakis CPP Kraft Foods; Mark Spaulding Converting; Yolanda Simonsis Paper Film & Foil Converter; Dean Lindsay Dean Lindsay Design; Bob Swientek Brand Packaging; and AIMCAL awards committee chairman Steve Sedlak of Wacker Ceramics.
Information on the suppliers involved in the winners can be obtained on the Web at: packworld.com/go/w120
- »PROMA Technologies
- »Smurfit-Stone
- »International Paper
- »Inland Label
- »Flex America Inc
- »Dean Lindsay Design
- »Shorewood Packaging
- »Toray Plastics (America)
- »Spinnaker Coating, LLC
- »Celplast
- »FLEXcon Co., Inc.
- »Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters, and Laminators
- »Hazen Paper Co.
- »Unifoil Corp.
- »Crown Roll Leaf, Inc.
- »Meadwestvaco
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