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Relaunch for Swiss meat producer

Bigler’s quality meat products have been successfully relaunched under a common brand with the support of the firm’s flexible film supplier and its packaging equipment manufacturer. Paper-like lidding is a key.

A key objective behind the relaunch was a consistent brand appearance across the range of vertically displayed Bigler products.
A key objective behind the relaunch was a consistent brand appearance across the range of vertically displayed Bigler products.

For approximately 20 years, Bigler AG Fleischwaren, a Swiss producer of meat products that is based in Buren an der Aare, has gone to market with two different brands: Bigler as the umbrella name, and del Lago as the main brand in the self-service sector. Since autumn 2016, a new strategy is in place: all products are now marketed in new packaging under the brand name Bigler. CFO Markus Bigler explains.

“With the del Lago brand we were well established at retailers and with consumers. However, the brand name was often not directly associated with our company Bigler. Therefore, we examined if we were still on the right track and decided on a new brand appearance.”

“Our customers now understand at first sight who they are dealing with,” adds Gérard Bigler, head of the processed meat division. “The new logo communicates exactly what we stand for. It symbolizes our craftsmanship as a butcher. It shows that we vouch for our products with our family name and underlines the Swiss origin of those products. All in all, it explains our Bigler promise: to produce butcher-quality meat products from the Swiss region.”

In Switzerland, “from the region” is similar to what is sometimes labelled as “bio” in other European countries. It signifies that the product is nature-oriented, animal-friendly, and distributed with the shortest possible transport routes. This is especially important in the meat sector, where “from the Swiss region” conveys trust.

“Looking at our overall image after the relaunch,” says Markus Bigler, “we have deliberately chosen silent branding and are using cream-colored printing for our packaging, whose design elements discreetly resemble those of the former del Lago brand. In this way, we want to distinguish ourselves from the often bright and shiny appearance of other players on the market.”

The new packaging design is characterized by its natural look and pleasant haptics, owing to a special lidding material with the look and feel of paper; it was developed by Bigler together with its partner Bemis. This new Paper-Like™ film closely resembles real paper and gets its paper feel from a special converting technology. “This type of film has been out for a couple of years, and we were immediately interested after Bemis presented it to us,” says Gerard Bigler. “That is what makes long-term partnerships with suppliers like Bemis worthwhile: new ideas are being presented, discussed jointly, and then further developed until everything matches. In this case, it took about two years from the first idea up to the launch of the new packaging at retail.” The project was executed with great personal commitment from all stakeholders involved, he adds, including not just Bemis on the packaging material side but also Sealpac on the packaging machinery side. Bigler has greatly benefited from a long-standing relationship with both firms.

What’s Paper-Like?
As for Paper-Like, some details Bemis and Bigler consider proprietary. But the base material for the Bigler application is a polyester that gets reverse-printed on a gravure press in eight colors. Somewhere in the converting process a coating applied to the surface of the film gives it the tactile, haptic quality that Bigler is after. Because this coating is applied in register, the center of the film remains clear so that the consumer can see the product inside.

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