Embossing helps dog food achieve shelf appeal

- Pouch praised for innovation in DuPont Packaging Awards 2012

 

- Embossing on flexible substrate gives dog food ‘charisma’ and shelf appeal

 

The Happy Dog “My Little Africa” range of dried dog food from Germany shows how embossing on flexible substrates can have an impact on the shelf and at the point of sale for all markets, according to specialist packaging research and analysis organization Pack-Track.

 

Interquell’s Happy Dog pouches won a silver award for innovation in the DuPont Packaging Awards 2012 earlier this year, with Mondi Lindlar accentuating the packaging by using stamped silver 3D lettering, matt OPP film and a high-definition flexo printed packaging motif.

 

Stefan Gutheil, managing director of Mondi Consumer Packaging, said on receipt of the award: ‘The use of embossing, one of the most interesting finishing processes for printed products, is an excellent way to make consumer packaging stand out.

 

‘It can be used not just for lettering and logos but also for picture elements and entire images, with impressive results.’

 

Gutheil added: ‘In addition, the high-definition flexo print technology results in images with sharp definition of contours and strong colours giving the pet food pack an even more appealing look.’

 

Pack-Track said Happy Dog printed packaging is “indicative of the care many pet owners lavish on their animals and of the quality they have come to expect from the packaging of their beloved Rover’s food products”.

 

The pouch format has become commonplace for premium pet products in recent years, but precise 3D embossing raises the Happy Dog pack to another level, Pack-Track noted.

 

Andrew Streeter, innovations director of Pack-Track, said: ‘Dog food that has charisma? Yes, I think we have it here with the clever dog character but importantly for us in packaging terms is the application of embossing on flexible substrates.

 

‘The value this embossing captures is so powerful. You have stand-out at point of sale; the desire to touch the pack and feel the embossed brand name Happy Dog – getting the consumer to do that is a bit of a wow in itself. 

 

‘This is a basic format, a four-side seal stand-up pouch, with an extra to it; part of that trick is executing the conversion of the pack with precision. 

 

‘The accuracy of embossing is reflected in the precision of vertical wall manufacture and states excellence.’

 

Streeter added: ‘I first saw this embossing technique over three years ago in Japan, where it was used on refill packs for the Tsubaki hair care range. There it was equally overt but on a less busy background. In both cases some house rules apply, one in particular is the application of metallised finishes to highlight the embossed feature.

 

‘The other side of this coin is that embossing raises a string of technical issues, and costs, with microscopic breaks in the barrier caused by mechanical pressure and heat distortion. 

 

‘There is something of a skill here, I guess, in embossing this material undamaged.’

 

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