Best Dressed: ASL Print FX Receives Top Honor in packagePRINTING Excellence Awards

To help distinguish each of the table wines under its Girls’ Night Out brand, Ontario-based Colio Estate Winery emblazons an image of a dress on each label, with each variety of wine featuring a different dress.

But after “wearing” the same dress for more than seven years, the team at Colio Estate Winery decided it was time for its Girls’ Night Out chardonnay to don a new outfit.

Allison Modesto, the Girls’ Night Out brand manager, explains that she wanted this dress to be different, so the winery decided to create a little competition.

First, Girls’ Night Out contacted two local colleges in Toronto, George Brown College and Seneca College, which both offer fashion design programs. Students were brought on board to submit dress designs and the staff at Girls’ Night Out narrowed the submissions into three finalists. The idea was that three separate labels would be produced, adorned with one of the finalists. Then, Modesto explains, consumers could vote for their favorite, which would become a permanent fixture on the chardonnay.

Modesto explains she knew that printing a run of three individual labels wouldn’t be easy, but luckily for Girls’ Night Out and Colio Estate Winery, ASL Print FX, one of the premier label converters in the industry, is located nearby in Vaughan, Ontario.

“All of the treatments that are on the labels really came at the recommendation of ASL,” Modesto says. “We knew we wanted to do a holographic foil on the sequined dress, but it was ASL that made the suggestions of where to put the embossing, the gloss and the certain details to call out. In doing so, they really brought the dresses to life on the bottles.”

According to Charlie MacLean, president and CEO of ASL Print FX, there are two essential keys to creating a standout label. First, he says the printer and brand owner need to communicate frequently, so both parties are on the same page as to what exactly is desired. Second, the printer needs to assess the technology they have in their arsenal and how it can be maximized to achieve the customer’s vision.

“It’s looking at all the tools we have available to be able to say, ‘Here’s what we can do with this,’” MacLean says. “It takes a strong communication effort to appropriately merge what the customer design is trying to achieve and how we can make that a reality on press.”

ASL Print FX ran all three labels simultaneously on its Gallus RCS 330, using a process developed in-house to produce the multiple images. In addition to the varying graphic on each label, the job included foiling, holographic elements and raised varnish.

But, according to Stacy Daly, ASL Print FX’s VP of operations, what really stands out about this label is its precise registration.

“If I’m a printer looking at this, the thing that’s going to amaze me is the registration, especially as you start adding other mediums,” Daly says. “Registration on just straight plates is one thing, but then when you add silkscreen and you add stamp — all of those things combined make this a difficult process.”

Anita Birus, an account manager for ASL Print FX, worked closely with Girls’ Night Out to help transition the designs submitted by the college students into graphics for the wine labels. She explains that through consistent communication, both parties worked together to make it a seamless transition.

“We worked with [Colio] to properly capture the students’ design intent on press, combined with identifying which design elements to enhance so as to create the desired ‘pop’ on the shelf,” Birus says.

While both ASL Print FX and Colio Estate Winery were thrilled with how the labels came out, they also amazed the judging panel of the 30th annual packagePRINTING Excellence Awards. The label received Best of Show accolades in the competition, along with first place in the Wine and Beer Labels — Flexo (Line and Text) category.

“This was a great print job incorporating many decorative effects,” said Bill Enright, applications specialist for Mark Andy. “The interesting mix of different images repeating add to this label’s appeal.”

Click here to see the full list of winning entries from the 2016 Excellence Awards.