Getting on the Path to Labeling Success
By understanding their options and choosing wisely, companies can get moving in the right direction - toward securing lucrative labels.
By Joanna CosgroveBringing the elements of a new package together can be a challenging process. Bottles, closures, cartons, and labels need to come together to achieve the right overall look. Labels often prove to be the most important components of a package, because they serve to inform customers and market a brand, creating a statement on the shelf that is designed to get a product noticed. When a label doesn't look appealing or when it fails to convey product details in an easy-to-read format, consumers will pass on the product, opting for a competing item instead. To prevent consumers from looking elsewhere, manufacturers are evaluating their labeling options and investing resources to polish their packages with the best possible labels.
Relabeling for a Higher Profile
It's never too late to find the right label for a product. Just ask Andrea Fowler, creator of a line of all-natural personal care products, Country Herbals by Andrea. Fowler decided to broaden her product marketing from her Wyalusing, PA - based locale into stores across the country. "Everyone loved our packaging, but hated our labeling, so we decided it was time for a change," she says.
The original ivory-on-brown labels lacked distinction and didn't "pop" when applied to the line's cobalt-blue bottles, so Fowler worked closely with Jake Ritz, sales director for Label Graphics (Whitehouse, NJ), and Carol Clemens, graphic designer for Parallax Design (West Patterson, NJ), who helped redesign the labels. The result is an upscale appeal that still manages to retain the line's signature country allure.
The new labels are constructed of durable 2-mil white polypropylene stock and feature a light noise screen in the background that creates a parchment-like effect. "Andrea wanted labels with a soft finish, so, rather than using a gloss UV varnish, we suggested a matte UV varnish," says Ritz. The label was flexographically printed in three colors with 100% ink coverage. The noise background was one PMS color, while the copy and the brand's cameo-shaped logo were treated separately. "This provided a higher level of quality overall, and it made [making] changes easier," says Ritz.
Label Graphics also addressed how each label would represent the various scents in Andrea's line. To give each label a distinct identity, a pattern UV feature was designed, onto which a changeable "capsule" label could be affixed. The "capsule" labels carry the names of the different scents and can be attached to the larger label depending on the product run. "This helps smaller companies, because they can maintain a lower inventory of the more-expensive large labels," says Ritz.
Fowler anticipates that the new labels will help further raise the profile of her products. "Early on, certain stores carried my line because the clerks were believers in my products, and they would convince their customers likewise, but now, due to our new label, we can be positioned on the shelf next to other like products and compete successfully for consumer attention," she says. Although her company's humble beginnings were in handmade soaps, Fowler's Country Herbals by Andrea product line now comprises 142 stock-keeping units (SKUs) and everything from all-natural soaps and lotions to essential oil candles and baby products.
Finding the Perfect Color
Natural, micronized mineral cosmetics from Colorescience (Houston) are anything but ordinary and thus require specialized labeling. The company's Protective Face, Lip, and Eye Colore products merge science and nature using only naturally derived pigments and ingredients. To meet the company's special labeling needs, Colorescience founder and president Diane Ranger turned to Labels West (Woodinville, WA).
"Colorescience wanted a label with a pearlescent look," says Tom Medved, sales executive at Labels West. The label was to be for the company's new Achromatherapy Gem Spritzer product, which, according to Ranger, incorporates aromatherapy, color therapy, and gem therapy. "The iridescent [aspect] was brought in to connect the color therapy to our second-most unusual product, liquid crystals, which we sell in several amazing colors. Liquid crystals are brilliant rainbowlike products that get their color from heat and look like liquid opals."
Labels West investigated pearlescent inks first, but, according to Medved, that didn't work out because they were too costly and the available colors were not specific enough to meet Colorescience's needs. "The company was particular because they felt that color was a major selling feature," says Ranger. But attaining the desired colors proved to be a daunting task. "We had a real problem getting true, clear, bright colors using PMS colors that most closely matched our original color choices," she says. "When we received the proofs, the colors looked muted and dull."
To solve this problem, Colorescience and Labels West went through the PMS color chart to view how the colors would actually print in a full-color process, selecting the colors that most closely matched their original choices and that printed clearly, not muted. In the end, a five-color process effectively retained the integrity of the herb and flower artwork on each label. "We ended up using metallized polyester label stock with a coating of white ink that allowed a little of the silver metallized look to show through tinted colors," says Medved. "We looked at pearlescent laminates, but they didn't provide the variation of shades and graduated colors." Labels West also supplied a multi-ply label for the top of the package to accommodate ingredients and usage information.
Doing a Test Run
Despite all of the usual planning that goes into a label, sometimes companies will come across opportunities for success almost by surprise. Take, for instance, Bob Norris, account executive for I. L. Walker (Los Angeles), part of the Impaxx Group. He was out on a routine sales visit to make sure his client, contract manufacturer Aware Products (Simi Valley, CA), was satisfied with the cartons his firm was supplying to Aware's premier customer.
"We were running boxes for Aware's client, a global marketer of personal care products, and I asked if [Aware] would consider us to print the labels for a new bath and body line they were running for a chain of stores in the Midwest," says Norris. "At first they declined, but then we offered to do a test run at no charge, to see if we could meet or exceed their quality expectations. They took us up on the offer."
Making good on their offer was no small feat. Aware's line of bath and body products included between 60 and 70 SKUs with each product available in 2- and 8-oz sizes. "Aware originally wanted to go with a silk-screen process with a four-color process printed over the top, but we offered them a UV white with an overprocess that packed a substantial cost savings," says Norris.
Joanne Robertson, creative director for Aware, was very pleased with how the labels came out. "Cost is always a factor," says Robertson. "The challenge [for I. L. Walker] was creating a white that was opaque to [make] all the copy Ôpop,' and they did the best job I've ever seen with just a single hit of white."
Aware's first order was for an estimated 1.6 million labels. According to Norris, I. L. Walker is currently filling the company's third order.
Weighing the Options
What a company wants in terms of labeling, a company can surely get. From redesigning existing labels to previewing a label's potential in a test run, the paths to labeling success are many. Considering all of the options available, chances are the perfect label will be just within reach.