CURSES, Foiled Again!

In the words of John Giusto, senior vice president of manufacturing, Curtis Packaging, foil decorating “is still probably the most significant enhancement that can be made to a package.” That’s a pretty strong choice of words, but not entirely out of line. Foil decorating is a very useful way to differentiate one package of graham crackers from another as they stand side by side on a supermarket shelf. It permeates high-end cosmetic packaging. “A high-end cosmetic package is not a high-end cosmetic package unless it has foil stamping on it,” says Giusto. “It just exudes quality or upper end.”

High quality means higher value, and using foil can help achieve both. “Foil decorating primarily is used not only to attract attention to a product in a competitive retail environment, but also to indicate that the product has a higher value,” says Stewart Glazer, vice president of sales and marketing, Crown Roll Leaf.

But, according to Myron Werner, area sales manager, Kurz USA, the reason to use foil is “to significantly differentiate your product on the shelf and drive more sales.” He adds, “foil can deliver an upscale image or create a significant eye-catching graphic with creative diffractive patterns and colors.” He adds that foil decorating techniques also can offer brand recognition, brand protection, and brand authenticating features. Dave Carlson, principal, creative director, The Vyant Group, concurs. “I see a lot of brands vying for [the consumer's eye], and the use of foil stamping to capture their attention seems to be apparent today,” he says.

The same, yet different

As foil decorating has become more pervasive, techniques have improved and options have increased. But to a certain extent, foil decorating is what it is. “The only newer things are the more significant types of patterns and the effects they’re [creating],” says Giusto. He adds that technology has gotten to the point that much more intricate patterns are possible. “But pretty much, leaf is leaf,” he says.

At Crown Roll Leaf, a new technique is producing packaging that is environmentally friendly, profitable, and ­aesthetically attractive. “We are deeply involved in transfer laminating for a variety of packaging applications,” says Glazer. “The foil products that are transferred are generally holographic by category and leave no polyester on the substrate.”

Werner points to cold foil transfer as a driver for change and expansion of foil usage. “Cold foil has become a fairly common, and certainly [a] fully commercial process for many narrow-web label and carton converters that apply cold foil inline on typical roll-to-roll printing presses,” he says. “The newest commercial cold foiling technique is now the inline foiling units available on offset, sheetfed presses. Since both of these processes are inline on printing presses, converters are able to create their own foil colors using transparent inks to let the metallic look show through.” He adds that this technology has opened up new applications and design concepts previously unavailable.

Foil options that exist today include silver, golds, metallic colors, pigments, special effects, selective holographic images, pearls, and tints. “The effect on each package is an issue determined by the designer and end user of the product,” says Glazer. Werner describes foils options as unlimited. “This answer is truly infinite,” he says. “This is true because of the many stamping techniques, colors, finishes, holographic designs, unique die designs, and embossing with foil, multiplied by the number of packaging concepts available.”

Some applications are better than others

Brand owners’ need to ensure their products get as much exposure as possible and maximize the packaging’s ability to draw people in is omnipresent. The market for employing foil to maximize the packaging’s ability to attract people’s attention is growing, but suppliers caution that using foil is not for every application.

Substrates play a big role in whether or not foil decorating should be employed. “Foil is good to use when it is compatible with the substrate and the application technique used by the converter,” says Glazer. “Issues of concern are printability and compatibility with coatings.” He explains that proper substrates are those that are receptive to the adhesive coatings used for most foil applications as well as laminating. “One major difficulty is compatibility of coatings and the use of UV inks prior to foil applications.”

Werner adds, “As long as you work the foil decorating concept into the initial design phases of the project, both structural design and graphic design, the project can be successful.”

Carlson stresses the difference between foil treatments that are effective and those that are excessive. “Adding flashy or eye-catching graphic elements to retail packaging of POS has been around for a while. However, this can be easily overdone and become counterproductive, so there is a subtle balance between effective foil treatments and annoying foil treatments,” he says. He adds that determining first what warrants the use of foil on the packaging will help achieve the balance, while prioritizing the communication hierarchy on the packaging.

Werner adds that the initial steps for getting into foil decorating are really dictated by converters’ current processes and capabilities. “[These] will define the equipment options available for them to implement a foil-decorating process that will fit their needs.” he says.

Worth a look

Whether or not you are ready to spec out a foil stamper for your operation, you’ll probably field a customer request at some point to provide the eye-catching effects afforded by foil. The market is getting bigger and bigger. “The market continues to expand and include more products as the scale of economic efficiency increases from the use of foil,” says Glazer. He continues, “Although the foil industry is considered a mature industry, there has been a huge product increase in different application processes and includes all packaging markets from cosmetics to greeting cards to holographics and publishing.”

The demand for foil decorating is increasing so much that Curtis Packaging is looking at purchasing a third stamper. “I see it more than I have seen in my whole career. It’s not only high-end cosmetics. You have the low to middle end of the health and beauty aids market,” says Giusto. So the business is growing, and more and more people now see the advantage of hot leaf stamping. It may be time for your business to look at foil decorating, so your customers’ competition looks around and says, “Curses, foiled again! pP