Curvy strikes Gold

Sun care products supplier Australian Gold increased a product’s sales by five percent as the first end user in the world to utilize Avery Dennison’s Curve Appeal innovation, writes Danielle Jerschefske

In a highly competitive industry, with a multitude of different brands to choose from, sun care products manufacturer Australian Gold is always looking for new ways to differentiate its product packaging at retail. In March 2012 the company rebranded the existing prime pressure sensitive label for its Moisture Max 30 sun protection factor (SPF) lotion using Avery Dennison’s new Fasson Curvy film, which combines both pressure sensitive and shrink sleeve label characteristics.

While the redesign called for a larger label panel, more prominent graphics and additional regulatory information, the existing bottle shape challenged Australian Gold to find the right application. The contoured bottle has a molded handgrip in the middle, which makes applying a standard pressure-sensitive label tricky and limits the surface area of a label at the same time.

The former four by two in pressure sensitive label featured the brand’s signature logo – a sunglass-wearing Koala Bear riding a surfboard – anchored at the top of the label. Just under the logo, printed palm trees were enhanced with gold foil tucked behind a golden sunburst affirming the SPF value. In addition, the label included key FDA labeling requirements, such as ‘Broad Spectrum SPF’ and ‘Water Resistant (80 Minutes).’

The Curve Appeal application technology, coupled with Fasson Curvy pressure-sensitive film, allows the label to be applied to complex curved container shapes beyond the edges of the typical flat plane. The Fasson Curvy film label increased the labeling area by 40 percent and permits Australian Gold to maintain the graphic impact popular with consumers.

‘Competition is fierce in the sun care market,’ says Brian Starrett, general manager for Australian Gold. ‘The ability for more label coverage allows us to increase messaging and graphics that will help win customers at the shelf.’

The primary label for its Moisture Max 30 SPF lotion was slightly altered by the Australian Gold design team to take advantage of the larger prime label footprint Fasson Curvy affords. At the top of the label is a violator featuring the new antioxidant formula, which includes green tea. Just below, the Australian Gold logo retains its dominant position. The sunny gradient background remains, with a slight differentiation in colors from the previous label design. All other label graphics have been enhanced with the new film. The lotion is now bottled in a light gold plastic bottle with a dark gold cap, putting all of the elements together to create a cohesive and graphically balanced front panel.

Curvy Details

The redesigned label was produced by WS Packaging Group at its plant in Algoma, Wisconsin. The label measures six by two and a half inches, and carries nine colors, including varnish and cold foil for dimensional accents. The labels were run on a Nilpeter MO-3300 combination rotary offset and flexo press.

The Curvy film is semi-conformable and available in white or clear. The material can be decorated like any traditional PS material using hot stamp, tactile varnishes, foiling and colloidachrome techniques. Foiling can be used without cracking or becoming foggy, which is a difficult hurdle when embellishing shrink sleeve material.

Also, Curvy offers the same level of opacity and color consistency as typical pressure-sensitive material. While the Australian Gold application called for a top coat white to create an appropriate color bed for building the graphics, only one pass was required to achieve ideal opacity.

Chris Doerr, executive director of national sales at WS Packaging Group, says, ‘Brands that want to maintain integrity of color and artwork will embrace Curvy. The label material enhances shelf appeal for special bottle shapes.’

Dan Ray, technical manager at WS Packaging explains, ‘We didn’t experience any issues converting the Curvy film. It ran like we would expect from a standard pressure-sensitive film material. Compared side-by-side to the previous label, the increase in label size is dramatic. And when you combine the foil accents with the color gradients, the label graphically pops with enhanced shelf impact.’

Available exclusively through Silgan Plastics, the Avery Dennison Curve Appeal labeling system combines the use of Curvy material with linear label application equipment manufactured under license to Harland Machine Systems, an established manufacturer of pressure-sensitive labeling machines. The new Curvy labels were applied to the bottles at the Silgan Plastics plant in Ligonier, Indiana.

Tim Monacella, manager of decorating and intellectual property for Silgan Plastics, says, ‘The cutting edge Avery Dennison Curve Appeal system offers our customers more labeling options on more difficult compound curved containers. In the past, contoured containers have limited customers’ options to the use of shrink sleeve labeling and in many instances have forced customers to reduce their label size.’

The new Australian Gold label was introduced to the marketplace in June 2012.

Contour catches consumers

‘Package shape is a key driver for creating differentiation at the store shelf,’ says Jay Gouliard, vice president segment innovation, Avery Dennison label and packaging materials. ‘Avery Dennison Curve Appeal provided Australian Gold with an exciting new opportunity to enhance the image of its brand by combining the power of an eye-catching label with iconic three-dimensional packaging geometry – delivering the best brand experience for its consumers.’

Avery Dennison and Australian Gold partnered in a retail trial in the Florida market conducted by Trade Partners Consulting Group to test the impact of the new label and research what drives consumers towards particular brands of sun care products.

When comparing head-to-head the old and new labels, 94 percent (9:1) of respondents chose the product with the newly designed Curvy label. The Curvy decorated bottle came out as one of the top six SKUs that attracted consumers. This was confirmed by a five percent increase in sales compared to the previously decorated bottle.

‘Hands down, Curvy is a winner,’ says Kerry Gould, president of Trade Partners Consulting. ‘We spent hours with shoppers in store, talking to them and observing behavior at shelf during the height of sun care season in Florida. Australian Gold ‘Curvy’ scored high on every research measure we tested – preference, purchase interest, eye appeal and ‘pop’ on shelf. Shoppers noticed and appreciated the extra information the larger Curvy label offered.’ Comments included, ‘it’s easier to read’, ‘it has more information’ and ‘it just popped’.

‘We are very pleased to see a sales increase for this product when we introduced the new Fasson Curvy film label design to the market,’ says Brian Starrett. ‘We are currently looking for new ways that our brand team can incorporate the new Avery Dennison Curve Appeal technology into future labeling opportunities.’

Test results found, strikingly, that bottle type significantly matters. Contour for differentiation is key in the sun care category. Additionally the wider label provides more information – antioxidants and green tea, SPF – which is imperative for skin care, giving consumers the confidence they need to make such an important purchase.

Consumers said the label made them ‘feel good about Australian Gold’, establishing trust in the brand and what the product will deliver.

Australian Gold’s Starrett says, ‘the innovation gives us a unique feature not seen in the marketplace. It expands the capability for a curved bottle and opens up creative opportunity for the graphics team to move forward in multiple ways.’

Team work

When end users first come up with a product, like tanning oil for example, they typically decide what to call it first and then find a container to hold it. WS Packaging’s Doerr says, ‘Most companies start with the bottle, often not thinking about how important it is to decorate the bottle and what limitations may arise due to a bottle’s shape.’

Only after a container is selected is artwork created and a printer chosen to produce the labels. Problems frequently arise when a standard label cannot be applied easily, or artwork readjusted to fit accordingly, limiting embellishment opportunities. ‘It makes more sense for the graphic designer and label converter to convene with the end user as the bottle or container is being selected to avoid any label design issues or application barriers.’ With the new Curvy material, there’s more opportunity to overcome such barriers within a rebranding situation no matter the shape of the bottle.

Pictured: Australian Gold is the first brand to use Avery Dennison’s Curve Appeal labeling system

This article was published in Labels & Labeling issue 1, 2013