Unifoil Metallized Carton Shines in AIMCAL Awards
A curved, metallized holographic carton for Cadbury's chocolates produced by Unifoil Corp. (Passaic Park, NJ) captured top honors in the 2000 AIMCAL Metallized or Vacuum Coated Package and Label Competition, held annually by the Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL) (Fort Mill, SC). AIMCAL is an international nonprofit trade association representing converters of metallized, laminated and coated flexible substrates and their suppliers.
Unifoil won the Peter Rigney Package of the Year Award for the Cadbury's Milk Tray, produced for Cadbury Schweppes Ltd. (London) and merchandised in a dramatic 50- or 60-count floor display. The Unifoil package gives an appearance of depth and illumination provided by a Double Rainbow hologram. The judges noted its "spectacular effect when there are several packages together."
To produce the design created by Cadbury, Unifoil transfer-metallizes paperboard from Westvaco (New York) with embossable metallized film from Crown Roll Leaf (Paterson, NJ) in its Unilustre process, which eliminates the need for lamination. Product is contract-packaged by Field Packaging-Bradford (Bradford, England).
Other finalists received marketing and/or technical awards in four categories: Food, Nonfood, Healthcare/Toiletries/Cosmetics and Labels.
Food Category
In the Food category, Unifoil struck again, winning the technical award for a holographic wrapper for Max Air Sugarless Gum from Warner Lambert Co. (Morris Plains, NJ). To produce the Ultraflex Holographic Unilustre wrapper, Unifoil transfer-metallizes 42-pound paper with metallized film from Crown Roll Leaf. To protect the freshness of the gum, the reverse side of the metallized paper is laminated to aluminum foil.
The folds on the ends of the pack, which is contract-packaged by Lawson Mardon Flexible (Weston, ON), fit snugly and smoothly. Not only does the wrap fold around tight corners, but it also eliminates problems with flex-cracking experienced with a previous material. Warner Lambert's design maximizes visibility and impact of the holographic pattern by using transparent inks and total dropout areas.
The marketing award in the food category went to Hazen Paper Co. (Holyoke, MA) for a large Millenium gift box holding four glasses and a magnum of Budweiser beer from Anheuser-Busch Co. (St. Louis). To produce the package, Hazen laminates 0.012-in solid bleached sulfate from Rand Whitney/Temple Inland (Harrison, DE) and 48-gauge polyester metallized by Adherent Technologies (Granby, CT).
Healthcare/Toiletries/Cosmetics Category
Unifoil also won in the Healthcare/Toiletries/Cosmetics category, capturing both technical and marketing awards for what the judges called "an interesting combination of metallizing, coating and labeling" for a gift box designed by Estee Lauder Inc. (New York) for the 1999 holidays.
The festive setup box features a red lid produced by applying Unilustre Holographic Rainbow paper to the boxboard. Using metallized film from Crown Roll Leaf, Unifoil transfer-metallizes 80-pound paper from R. Hochman Paper Inc. (Great Neck, NY). The metallized paper with red tinted rainbow features a particularly large 40x28-in shimless format. A pressure-sensitive label centered on the lid completes the package, which is filled by contract packager Plaza Packaging (Bronx, NY).
Nonfood Category
In the Nonfood category, Vacumet Corp. (Wayne, NJ) swept the awards, taking both marketing and technical prizes. The technical award was presented for a metallized carton for a new line of golf balls from Taylor Made Golf Co. Inc. (Carlsbad, CA).
Designed and contract-packaged by Shorewood Packaging (Indianapolis, IN), the cartons consist of 48-gauge SP65 polyester from SKC America (Mt. Olive, NJ), metallized and corona-treated by Vacumet and laminated to 0.018-in solid bleached sulfate board by Hazen Paper. Hazen then UV-prints and coats the laminate with a proprietary water-based acrylic, which protects the finish from scuffs and scratches. The package offers rich color achieved with the ultraviolet inks and water-based coating.
Also in the Nonfood category, a unique approach to selling puzzles — in a gussetted standup pouch — was commended with the marketing award. The packaging of the jigsaw puzzles from Lombardi Marketing, a division of University Games Inc. (Burlingame, CA), picture various snack foods.
Vacumet metallizes 48-gauge DuPont 813 polyester from DuPont Co. (Wilmington, DE) for converter Kapak Corp. (Minneapolis) to use in the pouch structure — reverse-printed, 48-gauge polyester/adhesive/48-gauge metallized polyester/adhesive/200-gauge low-density polyethylene. A recloseable zipper is incorporated into the pouch.
Label Category
Promo Technologies Inc. (PTI) (Franklin, MA) (the former Van Leer) dominated in the Label category, winning both the technical prize for holographic neck and body labels for glass bottles of Miller Lite beer from Miller Brewing Co. (Milwaukee, WI), and the marketing prize for a holographic wrap label for cans of Spaghettios 2000 from Campbell Soup Co. (Camden, NJ). PTI supplied the substrate and performed the metallizing for both labels.
The rotogravure-printed paper label for Miller Lite was converted by NorthStar Print Group (Norway, MI) and was designed to provide a festive look for a millenium celebration promotion. Holographics play a prominent role in the graphics, and both transparent and opaque inks are effectively used.
Also developed for a millennium promotion, the Spaghettios 2000 label adds "2s" to the "Os" in the canned pasta. Converter Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (Greensboro, NC) prints PTI's microdot-patterned HoloPRISM holographic paper #717 on an eight-color KBA Rapida printer with in-line perfecting unit and coater. The backside of the label is printed first, then the paper is flipped over to print the holographic side in one pass.
Although Campbell has used holographic labels previously, this is the first time it has put the sparkle on the outside. Judges recognized the label for its shelf impact.
For more information: AIMCAL, 2166 Gold Hill Rd., Fort Mill, SC 29708, Tel: 803-802-7820, Fax: 803-802-7821, Email: aimcal@aimcal.org.
Contributed by Hallie Forcinio, AIMCAL Editor