When Is The Best Time To Create New Labels And Packaging?

This past weekend I went to the local auto parts store to buy some car wax. I went to the car care products aisle where I was sure I’d find my favorite brand. I looked up and down that aisle and could not find it anywhere. I stopped for a minute, closed my eyes and thought to myself, “If a were a can of car wax where would I be?”

When I opened my eyes I saw it. There was my favorite brand. The logo was a little different. The packaging had changed but it was the same brand that I have been using for years.

Why couldn’t I see my favorite brand the first time? It may have something to do with the other two guys who were in the same aisle looking for car care products. Or maybe it was the small child running around and crying, “Daddy, daddy, look at me.” Or maybe I just didn’t recognize the rebranded products.

Rebrand and Packaging

I understand the importance of rebranding. Adcraft Labels has helped many companies rebrand their products. In fact, our company underwent a rebranding this past year. We updated our logo, website, print collateral, social media, etc.

This whole experience started me thinking. When is a good time to rebrand and update your labels and packaging?

In a recent Forbes article, Crossing The CPG Packaging Minefield, Paul Talbot, president of Southport Harbor, a copywriting and marketing strategy boutique based in Coronado, California, said there are four substantive and strategic reasons for a company to consider rebranding.

1. Production driven, such as the evolution of milk packaging from glass to plastic
2. Showcasing greater quantity by changing package shape
3. Regulatory factors
4. Repositioning of the brand

Let’s take a look at each of these points and try to determine when is the best time to consider rebranding of your product and creating new labels and packaging.

Production Driven Rebranding

Changing your packaging should never be taken lightly. If your product has been around for a while consumers are used to your packaging, your logo, your color scheme, and the last thing you want is a confused consumer. But, if production capabilities have advanced to a level never before seen then producers of household and consumer goods should think about rebranding their products.

Here are some new production capabilities that will forever change labeling and packaging for consumer packaged goods (CPG).

• The ability to personalize packaging while still maintaining brand consistency across a number of product lines
• True Pantone® colors printed inline on the same press as variable digital images and text on each label
• Inks so durable that in many cases varnish and laminates can be eliminated
• Inks that have a texture and thickness that gives a tactile effect without varnish, thus eliminating embossing plates
• Digital opaque white and vibrant CMYK inks that rival that produced by screen-printing
• Foil, embossing and other traditional flexo embellishments together with digital enhancements all inline and on one press
• The ability to create virtually unlimited colors on a clear label

With the introduction of flexo-digital hybrid printing capabilities, like the new JetFlex Technology™ used by Adcraft Labels, CPGs can now create labels and packaging that go way beyond anything ever produced.

Showcasing Greater Quantity by Changing Package Shape

When discussing package shape CPGs must consider the advantages of flexible packaging. Their exterior is designed to showcase the high-end graphics mandatory in today’s marketplace while their interior provides the necessary barrier and shelf life the contents demand.

Flexible packaging also provides convenience, portion control, re-sealability and safety. Combine these with the flexo-digital hybrid capabilities of JetFlex Technology™ and you have packaging with outstanding product brand recognition and superior functionality for today’s grab-n-go lifestyle.

Flexible packaging also offers measureable benefits for the environment with lower production outgassing, less transportation needs and less product to fill our landfills.

Rebranding Due to Regulatory Factors

A recent blog post by Keith Mottram, President and CEO of Adcraft Labels, addressed the impact of regulations from Washington. In his post, What Will Changes In Washington Mean For Supplement And Personal Care Clients? Mottram explains how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) work together when it comes to rules and regulations regarding dietary supplements.

These regulations go beyond supplement and personal care to include CPG products. The Fair Packaging and Labeling Actdirects the FTC and the FDA to issue regulations about all “consumer commodities.”

With new representation in Washington, the FTC says it’s getting to work on cutting down its regulatory footprint in line with President Trump’s agenda. Mottram notes, “It doesn’t matter if there’s a Democrat or Republican in the White House. Anytime the rules change marketing materials, advertising and labeling on product packaging needs to change.”

Repositioning of the Brand

While discussing repositioning of the brand, as one of the four substantive and strategic reasons for a company to consider rebranding, Talbot quoted Priya Raghubir, Professor of Marketing of at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

According to Raghubir, “When a company is trying to reposition itself, for example from being a value brand to a more prestigious brand, this change must also get reflected in its packaging from being more basic to being fancier.”

When repositioning your brand you must take advantage of the new production capabilities now available. These new capabilities will allow CPGs to create, in the words of Professor Raghubir, “fancier” labels and packaging.

One big advantage of JetFlex Technology™ includes the ability to create virtually unlimited colors on a clear label with screen print quality without the screen print cost.

Until now, if you wanted vibrant colors you’d had to use screen-printing. The problem is screen-printing is a very expensive solution. There’s the cost for the screens, one for each color. At $1,200-$1,500 per screen, that adds up to a lot of money. Not to mention having to make another screen, for each color, after they wear out.

In addition to cost there are few companies that have presses with the ability to print using more than one or two screen-printing heads. That’s why you’ve been limited to one or two-color printing jobs.

There are digital options when it comes to multi-color printing but most equipment out there produces muted and bland colors.

Now, with the new production capabilities available CPGs can upgrade and reposition their brand in a beautiful and cost effective way.

Is it time to think about rebranding your product? With the advances in production techniques, package shapes, government regulation and the opportunity to reposition your brand, it seem now is the best time to create new labels and packaging for your products.