Labeling with a No-Label Look

Want a way to make a product's label look great? One answer is to make it look like there's no label.

THE CLEAR, NO-LABEL-LOOK label is a rage with consumer products companies (CPCs). These companies are driven by the need to differentiate their products and to make them look fresh and unique. And right now, one means to create that unique shelf appeal is coming from clear film labels. "The no-label-look is a way that marketers and end-users [CPCs] can create differentiation to gain market share," says Terce Henriquez, vice president of global label sales for AET Films.

Meeting market needs

The no-label look has captured or is gaining momentum in some key market segments. These include personal care, beverage, and food.

Chris Weir, market development manager for Avery Dennison, Fasson Roll North America, lists personal care as the largest market segment for the no-label look, with beverages coming in second. Of these, however, he sees beverages as the segment with the greatest growth potential.

Part of the momentum he sees building in the beverage category stems from the success of what he calls "new-age" drinks such as Arizona ice tea, Snapple, and Frappucino drinks. But both Weir and Henriquez mention the initiative that Anheuser-Busch has taken with its Bud Light brand as the fuel behind the growth potential in beverages.

Beer in glass bottles has typically been labeled with cold-glue-applied paper labels. Bud Light, which Weir says is the number one selling beer brand in the United States, has been successfully marketed with a clear pressure-sensitive label. With the No. 1 brand leading the way, he expects others to follow.

The clear label has spawned much interest in pressure-sensitive labeling, because as Weir says, it's the "Rolls Royce" of the no-label look—the quality standard that everything is measured against. Pressure-sensitive labeling does have a "marginal cost difference for the labels themselves," says Weir, "but we can now show through case studies that the total applied cost of labeling has delivered increased production capacity at end-user locations. When you take a look at how much it costs to add packaging equipment these days, the savings from efficiency gains far outweigh the marginal additional cost of pressure-sensitive labels."

With the no-label look as a driving force, development efforts are in high gear from at least two different directions. One is to continue to decrease the cost of pressure-sensitive labeling so that it can take advantage of the demand in cost-sensitive markets. The other approach is for other application technologies to achieve the quality benchmark standards established by pressure sensitive.

Avery Dennison is working on the approach of reducing the total applied costs of pressure-sensitive labeling systems. It has established an alliance of value chain members that "work in unison to deliver working solutions," says Weir. The initiative began about five years ago and is now picking up steam. "From film and container manufacturers, to laminators, printers, labeling equipment manufacturers, and recyclers, everyone is working together to reduce the cost of pressure-sensitive labeling. The objective is to get the finished label closer to other technologies, with the benchmark being paper labels with cold glue, and as of late, we have been very successful in doing so."

While recognizing that pressure-sensitive labeling is the No. 1 choice for the no-label look, AET Films has implemented a significant development program to provide a cost-effective cut-and-stack alternative. It is introducing its new technology, called the TOppCure® Labeling System, which provides a high-speed labeling system for glass, plastic, or metal containers using modified cut-and-stack equipment.

"The TOppCure Labeling System provides the no-label-look appearance, productivity in terms of label speeds, value with regard to cost benefits, label durability, and system robustness," says Henriquez. It can achieve speeds up to 700 bottles per minute and can also be used with opaque, metallized, or holographic OPP film, he says.

Materials considerations

Two common substrate materials used with clear labels are polyester (PET) and polypropylene (PP), usually in the form of oriented PP (OPP) or bi-axially oriented PP (BOPP). Steve Sargeant, director of new business development for Toray Plastics (America), says that the objective of substrate selection is to have the surface gloss of the substrate match that of the container so that "the eye is fooled and cannot perceive the label."

According to Sargeant, a lustre-type PET substrate is typically used when higher print quality or durability is required. "Lustre is a generic term that quantifies the gloss between about 25 GU to about 50 GU. (GU=gloss units, a standard measurement of reflected dispersed light). Again the goal is to match the surface gloss and color of the substrate so that the marking is seen but not the carrier film."

Eric Bartholomay, product development manager for Toray Plastics, also says that the thickness of the film label needs to be considered. "Too thick a substrate may have a no-label-look effect from the top, but the sides of the label will be readily apparent," he observes.

In addition, to achieve the no-label-look with excellent clarity, a polyester release liner is often used because of its smoothness during the release process, says Henriquez. "Paper release liners can often inhibit a truly clear look."

Plastic Suppliers is introducing a new compostable label film and liner material, EarthFirst™, that can be used for no-label-look applications says Marketing Manager Roger Brown. This new label material is made from NatureWorks™ PLA, supplied by Cargill Dow LLC.

EarthFirst is designed to be used either as a supported or unsupported substrate and is produced from an annually renewable resource, corn. EarthFirst provides users with an alternative to petroleum-based products.

Ritrama offers a mix of film and adhesive combinations to meet the needs of a variety of no-label-look applications. A thin-gauge polyethylene (PE) for full-squeeze tubes and a 2-mil PP for semi-rigid prime-label applications are available in white or clear on glassine or traction-coated polyester liners.

According to Bryan Baab, Ritrama's technical director, both the PE and PP offer a no-label-look for clear or white tubes. "The polyethylene is crimpable and no matter how hard or how often the tube is squeezed, the film maintains its strength," he says. "Even in such environments as the shower, any label printed on this film will retain its appearance."

What's ahead

With such an exciting new look on the store shelves, you can be sure that efforts are underway to expand its use through cost reductions, and to further differentiate the unique look of the label. Although screen inks are typically used, Henriquez says that UV flexo and gravure inks are starting to be used to improve the economics of the no-label-look. In addition, tactile (raised) and thermochromatic inks are starting to gain popularity, along with the use of holographics.

Avery Dennison is ready with a "myriad of functionality options" that it has developed through the use of coating technologies, says Weir. He expects different looks to be used, such as brushed materials, soft translucent, and "frosty" looks.

by Tom Polischuk

editor-in-chief