This New Acrylic Package Has Star Qualities That Go A Long Way Beyond Skin Deep

What do Paris Hilton and this month's nomination for Wow! What A Package! have in common?! If you said beauty that's only skin deep, surprisingly, you'd be wrong.

Yes, both are stunning in their outward appearances. But one has a hidden beauty not obvious to its admiring public. It has been groomed to stand out in a crowd of wannabes, it has earned the accolades of an entire industry, and it accepts its fleeting moments of fame and its role as just a pretty face.

The other is a spoiled, rich, bleach-blonde brat with the brains of, well... a ream of copier paper.

Even at just 30 microns thick, the beauty of the oriented polypropylene copy paper ream wrap converted by Coating Excellence International, Wrightstown, WI, runs Grand Canyon deep, and is stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous both on—and beneath—the surface. When this acrylic ream wrap (ARW) is laminated, the thickness doubles to a whopping 60 microns.

Flexo-printed in six to eight colors for both Boise Paper Solutions/Office Max and Weyerhaeuser/Office Depot, the laminated structure's crystal-clear, print-receptive surface affords point-of-purchase differentiation versus opaque paper ream wraps that use color-coded end-labels that "indicate" to would-be buyers the color or brightness of copier paper. Either standing or stacked on Office Max and Office Depot shelves, the package lets customers actually see the product they are buying.

By allowing consumers to see through the package and determine the actual paper color and brightness, retailers eliminate shrinkage caused by inquiring consumers who rip open paper wraps to see what color they are really buying, and then hide the half-opened package back on the shelf before taking an unopened pack to the checkout counter.

Beyond its wonderfully decorated skin, the ExxonMobil 30ARW/adhesive/30ARW tri-lam film has "differential" co-efficient of friction (COF) properties that give it "location-specific" COF performance properties that enable it to be run through high-speed copy paper ream wrap packaging lines—increasing production speed and efficiency. Because the film is heat-sealable, it eliminates the need for pressure-sensitive end-labels or messy glues to hold the wrap tight around the ream of paper.

The film's inherent stiffness makes for crisp edges all around the package, and give each individual ream or group in-store display a star quality that compels consumers to whistle like construction workers at a passing blonde, and yell: "Wow! What a package!"

David Luttenberger, a certified packaging professional (CPP), is the director of Packaging Strategies, an intelligence briefing service for packaging markets, technologies, and businesses. He can be reached at (610) 436-4220 (ext.18) or at dluttenberger@packstrat.com.