Winning hand

Winning is important to both the printer and the supplier, writes World Label Awards chairman Tony White

The World Label Awards (WLA) is a mature competition which has been running for over 20 years. In the beginning only three label associations were involved and it was more of a 'challenge' than a competition. Over the years changes have been made so that the awards reflect the ever changing face of the label industry. In the coming months the competition will change yet again with the input from the recently formed L9 group of label associations. It is now a truly worldwide competition with most of the major continents represented. To some degree the World Awards reflect the way in which most of the 'local' associations have re-organized their own competitions.

Although the entries for the WLA have to be technically excellent the end use of the label is also extremely important, after all it is the label that the consumer sees on his supermarket shelf. This is the reason that several associations have been including categories which have a marketing bias e.g. cosmetics, wines, pharmaceuticals etc. in their domestic competitions. It is also the way that converters 'sell' their printing capacity to the end user or brand owner. In this case the emphasis is not on technicalities but on how the label can sell the product on the container. This is also the reason why some major suppliers to the label industry promote their products, especially substrates and inks, to the printer via the brand owners.

It is interesting to note that despite the recent economic crisis most of the associations are receiving more entries than ever before. This appears to mirror the more aggressive marketing campaigns being introduced by many brand owners and supermarket chains. This in turn means that more entries are being received for the marketing and end use categories. It is also a fact that all commercial labels are used to identify and give information about a product in more focussed market segments. The process used to prepare a label is of little consequence to the end users (e.g. consumers).

The way in which digital printing technology has become an integral part of the mainstream printing processes is remarkable; its use can be seen in many market segments and is adding value to the label and flexible packaging production chain. The boundaries between the processes are becoming more blurred which is fuelled by the widespread use of combination presses so that many labels are a mixture of several printing and finishing disciplines.

Entrants to the WLA must have won an award in their own domestic competition in the past year. At present entries from seven 'local' associations from around the world representing the continents in which they operate are pitted against each other.These include FINAT (Europe), TLMI (USA), JFLP (Japan), Lmai (India), LATMA (Australia), SALMA (New Zealand) and PEIAC (China). It is expected that other major continents will join the L9 group of associations giving the WLA an even more global presence.

The task of judging a label in a fair and impartial manner is a highly complex and challenging job requiring the individual judges to understand the technical nuances of each of the printing processes used in label production and have an appreciation of design elements, fitness for purpose and most of all shelf appeal. They must also be independent of any printing/converting company which might be involved in the competition. The regular judges tend to be technical managers or retired senior officials from many sections of the label industry who have considerable experience of what to expect from a label irrespective of which market segment it represents. It is expected that they will have considerable customer/consumer exposure which includes dealing with printer/converters and brand/ procurement managers.

What does or should winning a World Label Award mean to the individual entrant? Winning means that an entry stands out both technically and design wise, in the opinion of the judges, as the best label in the world selected from the entries submitted by all the associations worldwide. It can be argued that there are 'better' labels out in the industry but unless they are entered in a local domestic competition in the first place then we shall never know. Winning an award is important to the printer because he can now say with some justification that he has produced a world award winning label. In addition, the brand owner can bask in the glory of having an award winning label on his product. It is sensible to assume that the award can add impact to any marketing campaign organized by the printer or supplier.

What of the future? Just as the label is dynamic in its technical and design developments so must the WLA competition grow and adapt to changes. There are several ways this will happen. The classes of entry will eventually be reduced in number to take more account of the marketing end use areas of the industry. This would eventually require a considerable degree of standardization between the respective label associations.

There is a case for adding more formality to the structure of the World Label Awards, which until now has operated in a semi casual way. Recently a website was introduced which gives some background information about the WLA and shows the winners from the past year’s competitions. As more major associations become involved so the need for a definitive organization increases.

The World label Awards are evolving all the time, make sure that you keep up with developments in the industry worldwide.

Pictured: Tony White, chairman WLA

This article was published in the L&L Yearbook 2012.