Wednesday, March 14, 2007 · Number 4

FEATURE: The Easy Way to Packaging Sustainability, Efficiency

In a follow-up to its 1995 report on packaging efficiency, a new study from the editors of The ULS Report has found that the key to producing sustainable packaging hasn't changed much in 12 years: Start with less stuff. The report, "A Study of Packaging Efficiency as it Relates to Waste Prevention (February 2007)," confirms that light-weighting, or source reduction, is one of the best ways to improve the environmental and economic efficiency of consumer product packaging.

According to Bob Lilienfeld, editor of The Use Less Stuff Report, "Regardless of the packaging material, the best way to reduce waste, energy consumption, and the potential for greenhouse gas emissions, is through source reduction. For packaging designers and decision makers, this demonstrates that the product-to-package weight ratio is an excellent topline indicator for making decisions about packaging efficiency and sustainability. It means greater use of lighter packages, larger sizes where appropriate, and the promotion of concentrated product forms for items like fruit juice or liquid laundry detergent."

The study also illustrates the value of flexible packaging as a strategy to reduce trash and other forms of waste. Lilienfeld adds that, "From the perspective of what Wal-Mart and other retailers are trying to accomplish in the area of sustainability, flexible containers are to packaging what compact fluorescents (CFLs) are to light bulbs—a great way to save energy and materials. And unlike CFLs, which require customers to purchase unfamiliar products, flexible pouches and envelopes still contain the same products that consumers are comfortable buying today."

While not as significant a factor as source reduction, the study found that recycling is also important. Lilienfeld says, "Because consumers are doing more eating and drinking outside of their homes, efforts to increase recycling need to be significantly stepped up at venues where consumption is occurring or waste is being generated. These include malls, parks, schools, gas stations, and other high-traffic public areas."

The ULS Report was published on a regular basis between 1994 and 2000. Editor Bob Lilienfeld, who coauthored the book Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are, is in the process of relaunching the report. The full archive of reports and research is available at www.use-less-stuff.com.

DESIGN FORUM: Hangtags: Is this a package design strategy for all categories?

This edition of the Design Forum taps the insights of design professionals David Kendall, Lisa Simpson, Matt Cave, and Bob Aretz, in response to these questions: Are hangtags overused or underused? What categories other than wine and liquor would you recommend them for? How do you convince clients the expense is worth it?

David Kendall, principal and creative director of Kendall Ross brand development + design, Seattle, WA

Despite the fact that hangtags are very effective vehicles in attracting consumer's attention and conveying added value, they are often overlooked or eliminated due to the costs and inefficiencies they can cause in production. Because of this, hangtags seem to appear mainly on small, niche, or new brands where production runs are minimal or in gourmet brands where cost is not an issue.

However, hangtags are not merely throwaway marketing devices. The added expense can be well worth it in the return value they bring. Hangtags are highly effective at differentiating products and creating shelf appeal. Consumers also tend to associate prestige and perceived value with hangtags due to their extensive use in the liquor and wine aisles. This can be a key driver in boosting sales by improving perceptions.

As shelves and aisles get more and more crowded and competitive, it's important not to forget the some of the simple visual cues that consumers use in selecting one product from another.

Lisa Simpson, creative director in the New York City office of Pearlfisher Inc.

I don't think they are either underused or overused. I think where there is a bigger story to tell, brands often use them well. If their packaging gives them a reasonably big canvas to do this, then there probably isn't the need. It is where the primary packaging space is limited that tags are often employed.

I've seen tags used in many food items such as sauces to communicate recipes, etc., plus personal care products with sales promotion offers. Sometimes these can end up looking tatty depending on how the products are merchandised.

I think the expense is worth it if it is well designed, contributes to the overall design and people actually read it! I think if the tag is part of an overall look and feel (like the Tezon tequila bottle pictured here) that adds to the brand's core proposition, then it doesn't take much convincing.

Matt Cave, principal of Crave Inc., Boca Raton, FL

The use of hangtags as part of the packaging ensemble has become somewhat of a trend in recent years, however I don't believe they are overused. When a food or beverage brand is to be positioned as ultra-premium, hangtags can be highly effective tools for attracting attention and creating higher perceived value on-shelf.

Well-designed hangtags can be an excellent vehicle for additional communication beyond the primary packaging. For example, they can provide a great opportunity for marketers to include the finer points of a brand's story to further engage the consumer.

Bob Aretz, principal and creative director at Paragraph Inc., Philadelphia, PA

I think that hangtags are appropriate when used on apparel, sporting or recreational gear, specialty food items, and other products that are often sold at a higher price point or shelved for display. Hangtags provide a way to tell a brand story—or a story about the specific product—to engage and connect the consumer to the brand.

Also, hangtags can serve as a cross marketing tool to showcase or inform the consumer about other products that a particular brand offers. They can also be utilized to house additional information without infringing on the product design itself. Of course anything in excess is not good, so if the hangtag doesn't complement or enhance a product, then sometimes less is more.

NEW DESIGN: Hansen's Natural Teas

Flowdesign of Detroit developed the entire image of this new product line of premium ready-to-drink teas. They developed a custom stamp design for Hansen's Natural Tea that calls out each flavor SKU along with the 75 mg of EGCC and a "made from nature" logo. These basic elements are carried across six flavors to help in brand consistency.

The label background is graphically designed with a colored parchment paper to give it a natural authentic look. Finally, keeping with the products "Natural Tea" theme, we customized real fruit and tea leaves art for each flavor. "Overall we feel that the brand image looks premium and pops off the shelf with its clean design and vibrant colors" says Dan Matauch, principal of Flowdesign.

Each bottle contains natural tea lightly sweetened with pure cane sugar and contains 75 mg of EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate), a natural and powerful antioxidant. Hansen's Natural Teas are certified kosher and contain no preservatives, no gluten, no artificial colors, and no artificial flavors.

NEW DESIGN: Korsnäs and PortaBrands Invent Coffee Carrier

The 400 Costa Coffee cafés in the UK sell a lot of coffee to go. They decided to develop an alternative multi-cup carrier which had to be cost effective, eye-catching, safe, user-friendly, space efficient and environmentally sustainable. They also say this as an important branding possibility, as people on the street would be advertising Costa Coffee as they walked with their coffee.

PortaDrink™ from PortaBrands provided the efficient, innovative solution. "We are very pragmatic and one of the cornerstones in our business idea is understanding our customers' functional needs," says Ian Bates, inventor and CEO of PortaBrands. "We can provide a way of speeding up bar/café service by up to 25%."

Another cornerstone in the business idea is the use of cartonboard from FSC-managed forests which means that the raw material is sourced in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. "Here—and in many other solutions—we use Frövi Carry," says Bates"The board is light, strong and offers excellent wet and tear strength properties—vital for safe and sturdy hot drinks carrier."

PortaDrink is a one-handed carrier designed for two, three, or four cups. They are sheet-fed litho or reel-fed flexo printed in up to six colors. Printing and converting takes place in Belfast and Manchester under license by The MSO Group.

NEW IDEA: Kraft Grate-It-Fresh Parmesan Cheese

Kraft Grate-It-Fresh Parmesan Cheese is the easy way to get the bold flavor of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. This unique and convenient all-in-one package, with 100% pure Parmesan cheese and a built-in grater, dispenses freshly grated Parmesan cheese with each easy turn. [more]

NEW MATERIAL: New Ways to Mix Metal and Plastic

Metal packaging from Siloa, Inc. solves a double challenge—exciting the consumer with a stylish upscale metal presence while satisfying supply chain and production initiatives for availability, ease in filling and affordable price points. Siloa sets high-luster metal into, around, or on top of durable yet low-cost plastic moldings. Depending on the design and desired look and feel of the package, Siloa can highlight the metal, complement the interplay between metal and plastic, or heighten textural differences that can be developed in either or each material.

Smooth, etched, antiqued, burnished, brushed and embossed metal finishes can be achieved in almost any color. A wide range of injection molded plastic materials are used In combination with metal to achieve functional performance and aesthetic balance. Siloa engineers and develops components and coordinates project development with an exclusive group of highly qualified supply partners in different areas of Asia, each with their own unique skill sets and area of specialization. More at www.siloa.com.

RPC caps are an eye-catching metal on plastic alternative, combining advanced technology and creativity. These caps are currently creating a unique appearance of the caps for the jars and bottles in the Estée Lauder Cyber White range of skin care products. Manufactured by RPC beauté, the Cyber White caps continue the family image of the Estée Lauder Pure Color make-up range.

The new caps adhere to Estée Lauder's established brand guidelines. These include a specified metallic gold color for the closure; the combination of geometrical shapes in the finished design (a circle within a triangle); and the creation of a multilayer construction to enclose the core pack—the closure—within a thick transparent layer which acts like a magnifying glass that enhances the appearance of the closure and creates a 'jewel-like' effect.

The creation of the closures has also required an equally challenging technical response using a three material construction—incorporating ABS, surlyn and polypropylene—to overmold a plated part. RPC beauté's highly innovative solution utilizes a patented technique. The high pressure and temperature required during the overmolding process would normally damage the plated part if attempted in the traditional manner. To overcome this, RPC beauté has used a specially developed resin compound instead of traditional ABS, as well as several special processes.

The result is a higher overall visual quality for the finished closure as there is intimate contact between the plated surface and the Surlyn, which creates first-surface reflection, and better functional quality as there is no risk of miss-orientation, or any movement or separation of the two parts of the cap, even after repeated use.

More at www.rpc-beaute.com.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: YUPO's Wally Awards Voting

Vote today for the YUPO's annual Designers' Choice Award. The 2006 Wally Awards honor those whose YUPO designs innovate and delight. Vote here.

Anthem Appoints Two New Managing Directors

Anthem Worldwide, the strategic design agency, announced that Anne Dean has been named managing director of the agency's Toronto office and that John O'Meara has been named managing director of the agency's San Francisco office.

"It is gratifying to be a part of Anthem just as the agency continues to inspire the confidence of new and long-standing clients in its ability to deliver strategic design through market implementation services," says Dean. Dean first came to Anthem in 1999 when the agency was known throughout Toronto under the name Design Partners. Since that time, she has served in a number of account management roles, rising to her most recent position as director of client services.

"We are thrilled that John has chosen Anthem Worldwide as 'the place to be,'" says Anne Marie Pagliacci, executive vice president and group managing director of Anthem Worldwide. "John's career pedigree and leadership style bring further cachet to our organization. His passion for 'green' solutions and his natural affinity for enriching local communities will inform, engage and drive Anthem's 'sustainability quotient.'"

Prior to joining Anthem, John served as an executive director at Landor Associates where he spearheaded a range of corporate positioning and brand identity programs for companies including Dole, Earthpark, Tree Top, and Wal-Mart. He was also the worldwide client director on the PepsiCo business for five years, stewarding the global branding efforts for such well-known trademarks as Lay's, Gatorade, Pepsi, Quaker, and Tropicana.

PMMI Announces New Vice President of Marketing

The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) announces that Francesco C. Leboffe has joined PMMI as its vice president of marketing. In this new position, Leboffe will oversee the promotion and marketing of all of PMMI's programs and services.

"Francesco brings more than 25 years of experience in the association, trade show and marketing industries," says Charles D. Yuska, PMMI president and CEO. "We are looking forward to leveraging his significant marketing experience across all of the Institute's member and industry programming."

Leboffe joins PMMI after holding senior leadership positions with The Hilton Hotels Corporation, The American Bankers Association, the Direct Marketing Association, The American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership, Forbes Magazine, the RCN Corporation and the Toy Industry Association.

Victor Dixon Named President of Cortegra

Victor L. Dixon has been named president of Cortegra, the newly renamed pharmaceutical packaging business comprised of New Jersey Packaging and Creative Press. He will report to Arthur W. Huge, president and chief executive officer of Menasha Corporation, Cortegra's parent company.

"Victor brings a wide range of sales, marketing and global management experience to Cortegra," Huge said, "including a great deal of experience in pharmaceutical packaging." Dixon was most recently vice president and general manager of the Life Science Business Unit of Kimble Glass Company. He previously held a succession of senior management roles at Alcoa Packaging, beginning in 1997. He also served with Copperweld Bimetallics Corporation, Service Wire Company and McJunkin Corp.

RESOURCE: Digital Workflow Processes Find Timely, Critical Applications

Full digital workflow solutions for printed packaging are becoming absolutely mandatory and a critical element in supply chain management (SCM) during a decade when both speed to market and cost pressures have influenced decisions of both CPG companies and retailers. But understanding the many technical production options available and, more importantly, discerning the barriers and opportunities of digital workflow can be an overly demanding process.

A new study, Digital Package Production Workflow: Trends, Tools, & Resources for the Production and Graphic Development of Consumer Packaging, answers these concerns and offers greater insights into the future of this emerging area of packaging and one where knowledge of workflow trends can significantly influence bottom-line profits. Authors Jonathan Agger and Kevin Karstedt of Karstedt Associates Ltd. have provided a comprehensive study on digital workflow that includes in-depth interviews with more than 30 supply-chain participants, vendor companies, and key associations. The 197-page report, edited and published by Packaging Strategies, also includes detailed descriptions of 33 vendor companies.

The report chronicles many of those efforts to update and improve existing technology, offering both a detailed history of developments to date and a penetrating look at where digital production technology will head during the formative years of this century. The authors delve into both barriers and opportunities for a variety of technical processes, including digital prepress workflow, computer to plate (CtP), flexographic platemaking, and gravure printing tools and processes. The study also probes many of the newer industry developments in workflow tool standardization, color management, and variable data printing on packaging.

The second half of this wide-ranging report goes beyond a discussion of essential technology to consider market conditions and their influence on future trends in digital workflow production. Such areas as globalization, labor contracts, environmental concerns, government regulations, and competitive pressures will have a direct and lasting impact on how retailers and CPG companies greet digital solutions in the near future.

With both margin pressures and competitive needs to get new products to market faster and with value-added quality, the pace of strategic change will affect the development of new workflow tools that can meet the challenges of a more demanding marketplace. The packaging supply chain will be pressed to find solutions that fit retailer and end-user niche markets and provide products that offer shorter delivery cycles while reducing waste and total system costs. The authors note that an inability to communicate with supply-chain members and streamline existing processes has hampered workflow efforts and must be resolved.

"Many added elements have worked into the equation for the use of digital workflow tools and raised questions from the packaging community about how these will figure into those emerging digital production trends," said Packaging Strategies director David Luttenberger, CPP. "Those include the emergence of private labeling in the retail supply channel, a lucrative market to be served through digital production, and also the question of whether print production should go in-house or be outsourced to a trade shop. The answers depend on how packaging professionals decide to tackle issues of declining margins, tighter deadlines, and the ability to communicate effectively throughout the supply chain."

A critical linchpin of this report is its analysis of top North American vendor companies providing workflow tools. The authors use their extensive interviewing skills to highlight key developments at each company and provide a simplified but precise rundown of the expertise offered by each firm and the strategic direction of those key vendors as digital processes become more prevalent in a changing packaging market.

For a full prospectus or to order a copy of "Digital Package Production Workflow: Trends, Tools, & Resources for the Production and Graphic Development of Consumer Packaging," call Packaging Strategies at 1-610-436-4220 (ext. 8511) or e-mail at: orders@packstrat.com