Packaging With a Golden Touch

Today's packaging needs to sell itself, and metallic inks and metallized paper and films are making that job a little bit easier.

IT'S BEEN SAID, "All that glitters is not gold." However, a glittering package can defy that age-old adage.

With the help of metallic inks and metallized substrates, a package can pop off the shelf, attracting consumers and leading to sales. In the end, that's money in the brand owner's pocket and repeat business for a package printer.

But how important is it really, to add glitz and glamour to a package of razors or a bottle of iced tea? Very, according to Joe Braschayko of Zen Design Group.

"A typical shopper spends approximately two to three seconds viewing products as they travel down the aisle," Braschayko said. "The use of metallic papers, foils, and metallic inks grabs the attention of the consumer. They make ordinary packaging stand out from the rest. All things compared, the packaging may make a difference in the purchase."

Let it shine

Glitzy materials are everywhere in packaging. From beverage containers to cracker boxes, shiny substrates are popular with brand owners and designers, alike.

"On approximately 20 percent of the packages we design, we suggest some type of hot stamp or metallic as a design element," said Mark Nuccio, president of Design Edge of NY Inc.

While foils are the preferred substrate, cost and printing hardships can be an issue with the material. "Usually most printers are able to print with metallic inks and on metallic papers, and the additional cost increase is relatively small," Braschayko said. "Unfortunately, a specialty printer is required for printing on foils, making the additional cost substantial."

Where cost is a problem, many of today's metallic inks are a good alternative. For the past several years, ink manufacturers have worked to refine their metallic inks, striving for a foil-effect. The result is ultra-brilliant metallic inks that are shinier and easier to lay down than metallic inks of yesteryear.

Water Ink Technologies' Water Metallic Bright inks offer increased trappability, longer shelf-life, low gassing, and superior metallic sheen. Water Metallic Bright inks are also easy to print and easily printed over with other inks, including black inks.

Eckart America LP's ULTRASTAR® GS-2807 and GP-2152 are ultra-bright silver metallic inks that offer a cost benefit over foils and are press-ready, one-component inks for flexo, gravure, and screen printing.

ANI Printing Inks offers its MetalGlow line of printing inks, which are metallic inks that provide printability and consistency throughout multiple runs.

Metallized paper and films may not be a more cost-effective alternative than foils, but they offer physical properties in a way that foil can't, including stronger barrier properties. Toray Plastics (America) recently introduced a foil-free packaging solution for packets and stand-up pouches, called PCF-2. The 45-gauge metallized barrier OPP film is ultra-thin and puncture-resistant, and also provides moisture and oxygen barrier durability, and improved economics over traditional foils.

Graphic Packaging International's (GPI) Composipac™ is a line of laminated metallized cartons that provides strength and barrier properties. The material-making process includes reverse-print graphics on clear film, vacuum-metallization behind the inks, and then laminating the film to GPI's paperboard stock.

Give them what they want

The theories behind the marketing and visual aesthetics used to draw consumers' attention to one product on a shelf of many are tried and true. However, the theories can be boiled down to giving consumers what they want, Braschayko said.

"The consumer wants to touch, hear, smell, and see what's in the box," he said. "We develop packaging with voice chips, lenticular lens, and 'try me' areas. Almost all of them use one type of attention-grabbing, shine-related material."

The future of metallic inks and metallized paper and films is as bright and brilliant as the materials themselves. In a high-tech world where "consumers look for sophistication and visual appeal," Nuccio said, packaging materials that shine will always attract attention.

"Metallic paper, films, and inks have an extremely important role in the future of design, marketing, and packaging," he said. "I believe we are still in the infancy of its potential."

By Kate Sharon

Associate Editor