Innovative Pouches and Films Offer Extra Ways to Build Brand Image

The interior surface of Toray's Lumirror® PA30 film can be reverse printed, while the outer surface enables firm tack-sealing to produce a stable pouch.

Brand marketers know that visual presence is key to sales. Visual presence encourages consumers to reach out and touch a package, but high-performance materials and tactile surface treatments can further reinforce the brand message.

Visitors to Pack Expo International 2006, October 29 to November 2 at Chicago's McCormick Place, will once again be able to view exciting new containers, films, printing inks, and other materials designed to help packages capture consumer attention for their brands. Innovation fuels trends in package appearance and function, new trends in turn fuel more innovation, and each builds on the other.

The flexible film stand-up pouch has had great success in the past decade, and new films from Toray Plastics Inc. are allowing even more packages to have this eye-catching packaging. Toray's new polyester Lumirror® PA30 is a symmetrical transparent film that is modified on both surfaces for improved printing and laminating adhesion. The two sides of the new FDA-compliant film can even offer two different performance capabilities.

Toray has also developed a new metallized polypropylene film, Torayfan PC1, which can replace foil in pouches. The bi-axially oriented film is treated on one side with a high corona surface treatment to enable better ink and sealant acceptance, while the other side is treated with Toray's proprietary ultra-high energy surface treatment to accept metallizing. The result is a pouch with the brightness of foil but not subject to the wrinkling and creasing that so often plagues foil pouches.

Films continue to advance

Xenith3(tm) film conforms easily to odd shapes without risk of damaging the product.

A bottle is a bottle is a bottle—that is, until it is dressed up in an eye-catching shrink sleeve. New films in past years have allowed greater shrink to accommodate more shapes and produce more luminescent colors. Gilbreth Gradiance, a Gilbreth Packaging Systems exclusive product co-manufactured with Engelhard Corporation, is an iridescent optically active film that reflects light across the entire visible spectrum and changes color and look depending on the hue of the package, the product, and the inks used—as well as the contours of the package.

Gilbreth will show a new holographic film at Pack Expo that has an array of patterns that create innovative effects. Studies show that while visual appeal may urge a consumer to pick up a package a unique touch sensation can quickly close a sale. In addition, tactile finishes can differentiate personal care products targeted to male and female consumers. Gilbreth's micro-embossing of a corporate logo or brand signature with a standard holographic pattern can create a unique consumer experience.

Xenith3(tm) is a new tough, clear film made by the Cryovac® Division of Sealed Air Corporation. Cryovac claims Xenith3 is the toughest soft film—or the softest tough film—available today. It conforms easily to odd shapes, yet wraps products without bending or crushing them. It also shrinks at a relatively low temperature, and can therefore be used to package heat-sensitive products. The remarkable clarity of Xenith3 allows the products themselves to shine through.

Another material developed to replace secondary packaging like corrugated boxes and paperboard cartons is Bemis® Clysar® ShrinkBox(tm), a clear multi-layer polyolefin film. Its clarity and strength protect products while letting consumers view them clearly. This year, Bemis Clysar will be introducing a new generation of ShrinkBox at Pack Expo—the ShrinkBox(tm) EZ material. The new printable film, usually used clear, responds to the growing consumer demand for easy-open packages in every category. n

For more information about Pack Expo International 2006, visit www.packexpo.com or contact PMMI at 703-243-8555 or expo@pmmi.org.