Beverage brands seek clear advantage

As competition in the global beverage market hots up and brand owners look for innovative ways to catch consumers’ attention, the label is emerging as the primary message carrier. Carol Houghton reports 

In the increasingly competitive beverages sector, the impact of labeling in launching new products has never been greater.

Martin Usher, sales account manager at Chesapeake, supplier of cartons, labels and leaflets, and specialist plastic packaging, agrees: ‘There is very little product differentiation in the market at the moment; companies are looking at using different materials and finishes to make their product seen’.

Brands are looking to bring consumer customers closer to the product, building associations with social status, class and sophistication – particularly in the higher value spirits category. According to Rik Olthof at international branding and packaging design consultant Claessens Cartlis, ‘branding has become an experience and brand owners should be creating an image that consumers want to share.’

These trends have impacted the way label converters work, says Jan De Roeck, director of solutions management at EskoArtwork: ‘It’s clear that shorter press run lengths are the main trend in the beverage market, driven by product diversification and personalization of the marketing message.’ A range of technological solutions enable converters to respond to this demand, including online communication and web-based approval, integrating business systems, digital printing, color management, 3D virtual prototyping and automation of prepress workflows.

Label technology

Glue applied technologies continue to dominate in the beer, carbonated soft drinks and wine markets, but brands are increasingly being pushed towards self-adhesive technology with its ability to provide product differentiation. The global beverage market is now the third largest end-use segment for self-adhesive labels, taking 15.6 percent according to the TLMI’s North American Label Study.

Brand differentiation is seeing a variety of finishes and effects being used on a wide range of face stocks, including textured papers, foils and clear films using both conventional and digital print processes. Tactile printing, for example, has crossed over from Braille to be used by the Co-op for its vodka and gin brands. The same process can be used to create labels with a ‘grip’ that stops the bottle slipping from wet hands.

Kevin Lyons, sales director at The Label Makers predicts the next stage for beverages will be lenticular and 3D labels, although these are very much in the development stage at the moment (see L&L 3 for a feature about special finishes). Lyons adds, ‘limited edition labels for special occasions and promotions are not only possible but affordable with digital technology.’ 

The label is estimated to be between two and five percent of the total packaging cost for beverages. In a traditionally wet glue market, self-adhesive technology meets design and application demands for quick changeovers, but materials are twice as expensive, packaging line speeds are lower and a significant investment is needed in application equipment.  For high value products the improved reliability and consistency of self-adhesives outweigh these disadvantages, notes Paul Johnston-Knight, director at paper agent Papico: ‘If your product is worth £50 per bottle, every single label must be perfect and identical, without any glue spillage
or migration.’

There are also issues surrounding liner waste and label removal from returnable bottles. The main issue with self-adhesives in Europe is the challenge of removing labels from bottles for reuse at breweries. Glue applied labels are easily removed in a caustic wash bath, so converters need a competitive solution.

Martin Hardman, sales and marketing director at Chadwicks, shrink sleeve label specialist, offers an alternative. ‘More brands are beginning to consider using shrink sleeves as the preferred choice of primary label for maximizing the shelf presence of their products.’ Sleeves are durable, provide total bottle decoration and can incorporate tamper evident features, while the use of UV flexo allows cost effective production of high quality shorter runs. ‘Shrink sleeves provide the perfect, contemporary packaging solution,’ believes Hardman. ‘With advancement in technology and special features, together with the relatively low costs, sleeves are now a viable option for most products.’

Cider, sparkling wines and premium spirits often use secondary packaging and security features to prevent tampering and prove authenticity. Holograms, security threads and anti-theft devices can be built into self-adhesives. ‘Holographics are a relatively cheap way to add value,’ Kevin Lyons commented. ‘They are easily available and good for security as well as marketing. There is a massive counterfeiting risk in the market and many are working on covert and overt methods to verify the original label.’ There is particular scope for an innovative solution in China, a hotbed for counterfeiting problems, especially in the wine market.

Wine and spirits

Traditionally, wine brands spend less on advertising than other beverages so the label is crucial at the point of purchase. World wine retail sales are expected to increase by 62.5 percent over the next decade.

The UK is one of the world’s biggest per capita consumers of wine. ‘Wine is increasingly being shipped to Britain in tankers to be bottled and labeled in the UK, giving English designers more freedom and flexibility’ said Kevin Lyons, The Label Makers. ‘People are thinking more about their carbon footprint so this trend is stronger now than five years ago.’

Thermochromic inks are being increasingly used as brand differentiators following the success in the beer segment of Coors Light’s Blue Mountains. Inland Labels recently helped Domodimonti Societa Argricola Winery become the first winery to utilize Hallcrest’s color change technology. The hidden message, ‘Natural Wines’ appears on the wine’s self-adhesive label when it reaches ideal drinking temperature. Caroline Brownstein, director of sales and marketing, North America for Domodimonti Società Agricola says ‘Inland has definitely enabled our wines to stand out on the shelf. Our importers and distributors along with our customers are all extremely impressed with the quality and originality.’

Spanish company Canals is digitally printing wine bottle capsules to match the label. Canals primes the capsules with the print-receptive coating required by HP Indigo technology before printing. Poly-laminate is used for higher end products but 60 percent of the capsules are PVC. Canals aims to build its online presence with a new website to help customers market digitally printed capsules and allow them to track their jobs. Guasch Soler, general manager, sees a major opportunity for digital label printers to color-match bottle/capsule decoration solutions to wineries.

Self-adhesive label manufacturer Label Apeel has entered the German beverage labeling market with a deal to supply self-adhesive wrap around bottle labels to Weignut Herbet Becker, a vineyard in the Kraichgau region. Label Apeel’s design will replace the front and back bottle labels, erasing the color issues experienced in using wet glue. Managing director at Label Apeel, Stuart Kellock said ‘in the German industry, there are few labeling businesses willing to invest time and effort for smaller brands.’ 

The niche boutique wine industry has increased in value globally in the last 15 years, demanding labels that reflect the wine’s high quality. HP Indigo’s WS4050 has allowed Tapp Technologies to cost-effectively supply small orders to wineries in this under-served area. According to Bill Knopka, senior vice president of Tapp Technologies, the wine industry needs to be flexible and tailor solutions to fit customers’ needs.

Special purpose adhesives can be delivered to accommodate for ice bucket performance and long storage in damp conditions essential for vintage wines. UPM Raflatac recently launched a UV-hotmelt adhesive for use on film food and beverage labels which provides good adhesion and clarity even when applied to moist bottles. RC 7B is resistant to water-whitening throughout the label’s lifecycle, including immersion in water after labeling. A high temperature tolerance also makes it suitable for bottling processes with pasteurization. The adhesive is claimed to perform well on a range of substrates including glass and PET, and is suitable for no-label look applications.

Shrink sleeves are becoming increasingly popular with spirit brands, partly because security features can be incorporated into the sleeve.

Paul Johnston-Knight, director at paper agent Papico, says wines and spirits are moving from glossy, coated and metalized labels to a more natural, rustic look with uncoated paper labels. He also notes that a significant proportion of the labels business which traditionally supplied wet glue for whisky and spirits is moving towards pressure sensitive labeling.

An example is John Watson, a wet glue label specialist which purchased a Gallus RCS 330 offset combination press to produce self-adhesive labels. The company mainly prints for the traditionally wet glue Scottish Whisky industry. Robert McLachlan, joint managing director says ‘pressure sensitive labels are becoming easier to apply and can have much more intricate designs.’ He adds that because of these attributes some of their major clients are looking to make the move from wet glue.

Digital printing is being used in the spirits category, finding particular favor for Scotch whisky brands running limited editions. Vila Etiketten, the Dutch label specialist, recently produced 2,000 labels for a limited edition of the ‘Dutch Genever’ whisky by Zuiddam Distillers on its HP Indigo ws6000. Each uniquely numbered label was printed using color and white ink on a silver adhesive material with a metallic ink effect. ‘The customer was impressed with the superior quality of the finished product’ said managing director, Robbert Vugts.

Beer

The beer market is dominated by glue applied labels, but has perhaps the biggest potential for growth in self-adhesives. Consolidation is evident in Europe, and the Russian market is now dominated by international brewers. Carlsberg, InBev, Heineken, Efes and SABMiller now own around 75 percent of the global market. Beer Business Daily cites Heinken’s global revenue growing by 9.7 percent in 2010.

Beer labels favor gravure printing, but swayed by higher speeds and efficiency, Heineken and Bud Light are leading the switch to self-adhesive labels. Self-adhesive usage grew between 10 – 20 percent in Europe and North America during 2008.

Papico’s Paul Johnston-Knight notes that beer and cider brands are switching from metalized paper labels to coated white paper, printed with metallic inks. Embossed papers with metallic inks ‘give a more striking effect then the substantially more costly metalized alternatives.’ He believes brands that consider their front body label too iconic to change are starting to allow changes to neck and back labels but keeping the metalized element on the front.

Camilo Perez, general director of Impresora del Sur says ‘the label is the first thing that the consumer looks at.’ The printer helped SABMiller rebrand its products in 2007, replacing standard rectangular labels with irregular shapes and introducing varnishes and metalized paper for premium brands. With self-adhesives, complex label shapes can be die cut and multiple labels applied in one pass on the packaging line. The rebranding also saw one label on the bottle become three; one on the front, back and neck.

Smyth Companies recently used its Red Rock application machinery to add value to the Boston Beer Company’s Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Two-ply labels with a promotional code on the front were applied to the inside of unfolded bottle cartons in-line with the manufacturing process at high speed. Customers visit the website to enter their code – found by lifting the top ply of the label – thus extending the brand experience online.

Craft beers are one of the fastest growing segments of the industry, particularly microbreweries. Between 2005 and 2008 the segment increasingly used film labels. The ‘no label look’, created by applying a moisture, temperature and scuff resistant clear film to clear bottles, is particularly popular. In January the USA reported that domestic sales were down by 4.4 percent, but both craft beers and flavored alcoholic beverage (FAB) sales grew by 12 percent. There are opportunities for self-adhesive growth in the FAB market. Targeted at young females as an alternative to beer or wine and often drunk from the bottle, they have a strong emphasis on image.

An interesting alternative to ‘no label look’ PS labels is clear film wet glue (or ‘patch’) labels. Henkel, for example, recently launched a third generation of synthetic adhesives, Optal LG 30, for wet glue labeling applications. The adhesive allows transparent label application without the investment in self-adhesive label application equipment.

Non-alcoholic beverages

Papico’s Paul Johnston-Knight has noticed a trend to use paper, rather than plastic, in the water, smoothie and juice markets. Usage of uncoated or part-recycled paper is becoming more common to achieve a ‘natural’ look and feel.

The fizzy soft drinks sector, once dominated by direct printed cans, is seeing a move towards wrap around or shrink sleeve labels. Premium water brands mostly use self-adhesive labels on glass bottles, but PET bottles are mainly using wrap-around film or PE stretch sleeve labels.

Jeff DeLiberty, Amcor Rigid Plastics, producer of PET packaging, says ‘beverage marketers continue to look for ways to make their products "jump off the shelf".  Many try to accomplish this through custom shaped bottles, however the cost to design and buy custom molds for those unique bottles can cost $100K and more. That's why offering eye catching label designs and substrates on stock bottles has become a popular way to achieve differentiation on the shelf without the cost of paying for a custom bottle.’ Amcor’s PowerFlex technology is a patented panel-less design. As they don’t have sidewall vacuum panels, the bottles, used for All-Natural Coconut Water, are easier to label and packers don’t experience the ‘ripple effect’ created when labeling over panels.

On the other hand, Avery Dennison is enabling brand managers and packaging designers to use bespoke contoured bottles. Irregular shaped bottles stand out from competitors but don’t suit self-adhesive labels. Polyphane Fit, a roll-fed shrink film that delivers shrink ratios up to 50 percent, presents converters with an alternative solution. At the same time, Avery has launched its S7200 adhesive, offering quick stick for high-speed dispensing lines and improved chest performance and wet stick, overcoming condensation issues in the bottling process.

Chadwicks Sleeves has seen a lot of activity in the non-alcoholic beverages sector, and recently created innovative sleeves for the launch of a new health category drink, AloeVit. The 50 micron film is seven-color UV flexo printed with subtle color tone work to provide a quality finish and enhance shelf presence. Richard Cutworth, business development manager, said ‘We produced a sleeve that would distinguish AloveVit from other fruit water drinks while also being appealing to customers. The low cost origination for UV flexo shrink sleeves makes them a viable option for new healthcare products like AloveVit.’ 

This article was published in L&L issue 2, 2011

Pictured: UPM Raflatac technology for the no label look on a clear bottle