Metallic packaging jumps off the shelf

Metallized papers and films add pizzazz and value to products.

PEOPLE ARE ATTRACTED to shiny objects. It's innate. And whether they know it or not, people carry their fascination of luster into the grocery store where they tend to opt for products in sparkling packages.

It's that gloss and glimmer catching the consumer's eye that makes metallized papers and films ever increasingly popular materials with brand owners and package printers.

"Metallized substrates are proven substrates in helping to gain market share," said Robert Hazen, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Hazen Paper Co. (Holyoke, Mass.). "The emerging trend is to use metallized products, including holography, to help encourage sales," he continued. "We are seeing a number of markets, and not just packaging, using these materials to help in developing a perceived increased value in a given product."

Perception is key. A striking package automatically adds value to the product inside, and makes the product immediately recognizable in crowded market segments. That ability to attract attention is what has made Unifoil Corporation's (Fairfield, N.J.) UniLustre® so successful. UniLustre is a non-laminated, transfer metallized paper or board that can be stripe or pattern metallized. The substrate does well on the retail shelf and also earned the company its second AIMCAL Peter Rigney Product of the Year award for Elizabeth Arden's Forever Elizabeth cosmetic set up box.

"The unique aesthetic qualities of our metallized paper, film, and now plastic, enable brand managers to make a powerful statement, and distinguishes a product on the retail shelf and with a vast array of promotional items," said Unifoil President and CEO Joseph Funicelli.

The best of paper and film

Metallized paper and film, though both radiant substrates, have very different attributes. Metallized paper is known for its aesthetic value, but there's more to it than that.

"Metallized paper converts and prints easily because it is similar to paper," said Ruth Kemp, marketing programs coordinator of PROMA Technologies (Franklin, Mass.). "It performs exceptionally well under the harsh conditions of beverage bottling lines. Metallized paper is a proven substrate for high-speed bottling applications because of its ability to be glued quickly and efficiently, and pass through the bottling lines efficiently at high speeds."

The appeal and ability of PROMA's HoloPRISM® holographic metallized paper is what motivated Molson Brewery and Inland Printing Co. to use the substrate as commemorative labels to celebrate Molson's 100th anniversary.

Besides bottled goods, metallized paper is ideally suited for a host of cosmetic and personal care packaging markets, Funicelli said.

Metallized films have the same eye-pleasing qualities that metallized papers do, but they have something metallized papers don't: barrier properties. "Barriers are the No. 1 reason people use metallized film," said Dan Roy, director of marketing at Toray Plastics (America) Inc. (North Kingstown, R.I.).

Metallized film comes in three main materials: PET, OPP, and OPA. Metallized PET, an oxygen barrier, is used for products with aroma issues such as coffees. It is very thermally stable, Roy said, and can be run at high production speeds without deforming or melting.

Metallized OPP is a moisture barrier and is applied most often as snack foods and candy packaging. It is the least expensive of the three.

While metallized OPA has both oxygen and moisture barrier properties, and it is used in products like balloons, the substrate is often overlooked because it is expensive.

"Metallized films enable the packaging of products that are susceptible to degradation from water, sunlight, oxygen, oils … Barrier protection in packaging can help expand the market in a variety of ways," Funicelli said, adding that barriers allow for the addition of flavor-enhancing ingredients, give a product longer shelf life, and enable products to be stored under stressful conditions.

There are metallized films for numerous applications. Toray's 45-Gauge Torayfan PC-2 metallized OPP is typically used for liquid and stand-up pouches, while its new line of metallized PET can be used for food, dairy, lidding, coffee, board laminations, and many other applications. "Metallized films are very functional," Roy said.

by: Kate Sharon