Puttin' On the Ritz
- Published: March 31, 2006, By Yolanda Simonsis, Associate Publisher/Editor
AIMCAL Awards
Marketing glitz and glamour equally share the limelight with technical merit in this year’s annual metallized and coated products competition, staged by the Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators March 16 at the Wild Horse Pass Resort in Phoenix, AZ.
Puttin’ on the ritz in true high fashion to merit the Peter Rigney Product of the Year Award (named for PFFC’s late publisher) is Nabisco Entertainment Crackers Four Star collection from Kraft Foods. Strutting its stuff in club-store-sized cartons converted and metallized by Graphic Packaging Intl., Performance Packaging Div., Marietta, GA (which also serves as substrate supplier), the package contains four different cracker varieties in eight sleeves in a Composipac Z-flute carton. The carton sports reverse gravure-printed graphics on metallized oriented polypropylene laminated to 24-pt clay-coated solid unbleached sulfate (CCSUS). Designed by Chuck Tarlton, Marietta, GA, the carton self-palletizes due to reinforcement from 16-pt CCSUS. Jump cuts up the glue seam and glue notch cuts on dust flaps reportedly help manage memory and improve machinability.
Pop & Sizzle
POPZ Microwave Popcorn wins the technical award for Vacumet Corp., Plastics Div. (exclusive North and South American distributor), in the food category. Comprising a nestable, liquid-tight paperboard tub doubling as a cooking/serving bowl for six-month shelf life, the product with 360-deg graphics originates from Soller LLC. A 17-pt solid bleached sulfate (SBS) package base is adhesive-laminated to a high-barrier, aluminum-oxide-coated polyester incorporating demetallized Camcrisp susceptor technology manufactured by Amcor Flexibles-Camvac, Thetford, UK. Attached to the base is a 20-pt sleeve, with a die-cut handhold, composed of CC1S SBS printed five-color flexo plus varnish with a water-based adhesive utilized on the front while a heat seal is used on the back. Filled on top of the susceptor base, the popcorn is covered with an expandable opaque heat-sealable barrier film that’s sealed both to the entire base and most of the walls of the sleeve. Contributions also came from converter Inline Packaging, Princeton, MN; substrate supplier DuPont (UK) Ltd., Dumfries, UK; and package designer Jeffrey T. Watkins, Princeton, MN.
True Colors
Vibrant colors, holographic film, ultraviolet coating, and embossing contribute to make Vivera HP Inks the consumer product of choice. Graphic Packaging Intl., Performance Packaging Div., racks up another award, this time for marketing in the nonfood category. A seal-end carton with hanging fifth panel and an internal divider comprises holographic polyester film metallized and laminated by GP. The carton is colorfully clad with sheet-fed surface printing plus a UV coating with a subtle embossed image to impart a premium quality.
Oodles of Doodles
A repeat performance is given by Vacumet with another technical award, this time in the nonfood category, for a metallized set-up game box celebrating the 20th anniversary edition of Pictionary from Hasbro USA. A custom hologram features two different patterns: a textured pencil image with 3-D qualities and another for the “doodle” background the pencil creates (designed by Hasbro) that shows through transparent tinted and untinted areas. Vacumet employs its patented HoloPRISM process on C1S litho sheet from New Page, Rumford, MA, followed by sheet-fed offset printing at Seneca Printing and Label, Franklin, PA.
All Dolled Up
Sweeping the cosmetics category with both marketing and technical awards, Hazen Paper Co., Holyoke, MA, conjures a magic look for two gift packs from Elizabeth Arden. Provocative Woman garnered a marketing award with Hazen employing water-based adhesive to laminate to C1S 20-pt SBS a 48-ga rainbow holographic polyester, top-coated with an Ultracure acrylic lacquer and metallized by Spectratek Technologies, Los Angeles, CA. Hub Folding Box, Mansfield, MA, provided a 48-ga reflective silver, metallized polyester film on the inside to enhance the box’s strength and appearance while also performing package design and contract packaging services.
Also in the cosmetics category, Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds from Elizabeth Arden earns the technical award for Hazen Paper. Hazen top-coats with an Ultracure acrylic lacquer and converts 48-ga polyester (metallized by Adherent Technology, Granby, CT) to form a polyester/water-based adhesive/20-pt coated SBS construction. The diamond-like holographic bow is embossed by project designer Hub Folding Box.
Simply Dazzling
Unifoil became a multiple winner with Colgate-Palmolive’s Luminous toothpaste in the healthcare/toiletries category, marketing. Unifoil laminates, acrylic topcoats, and optically sheets the registered holographic 60-ga metallized polyester/16-pt clay-coated light pack newsboard combination with UV offset printing. The 60-ga film is Lumbrite U6E film from Toray Plastics (America), North Kingstown, RI. The film is embossed and metallized by ITW Holographic and Speciality Films, Newburyport, MA. Two holographic patterns comprise a Colgate standard Pillars of Light pattern tilted 11 deg to match the angle of the L in the Colgate brand name and a secondary diamond holographic pattern registered behind an embossed diamond image at one end of the carton. Carton converters include Cascades Boxboard Group US, Hebron, KY; Cascades Cartons Plats, Montreal, PQ, Canada; and Specialized Packaging Radisson, London, ON, Canada. A scratch-and-sniff label differentiates the three flavored varieties.
Deck the Halls
Unifoil’s second marketing award comes in the decorative/display category for packages of Scott Paper White Cloud Ultra tissues. Three holiday designs incorporate a holographic snowflake-patterned board, which Unifoil laminated with a Snowflake holographic film and then applied an acrylic topcoat to metallized embossed polyester from Crown Roll Leaf, Paterson, NJ. Toray supplied F65 polyester film. Ling Industries, Warwick, PQ, Canada, was project printer and graphic designer.
Fabulous Fake
For do-it-yourselfers wanting the look of stainless steel appliances, cabinets, or furniture, a pressure-sensitive film, SoftMetal by Alkor-Venilia’s Alkor Deco Design, simulates brushed metal. It earns a marketing award in the industrial category for Dunmore Corp., Bristol, PA, which metallized proprietary film converted by Boekelo Décor, Alkor-Venilia, Gräfelfing, Germany. The polyester is brushed before it is metallized. It’s scratch resistant and durable in temperatures from -10 to 50 deg C.
Hot ‘N’ Cold
Vacumet Corp., Plastics Div., earns a third technical award, this time in the industrial category, also for do-it-yourselfers/crafters. Insul-Bright fabric is an insulating material for household items. Sold by converter Warm Co., Seattle, WA, the fabric comprises hollow, polyester fibers needle-punched through a nonwoven substrate and through 23-ga metallized polyester. Hollow fibers of the breathable, washable fabric resist conduction while the metallized polyester reflects heat or cold back to its source. Vacumet metallizes material supplied by Terphane, Bloomfield, NY.
Hosted by PFFC, judges included: Paula Record, Unilever Home and Personal Care North America; Colleen Zammer, Diageo Global Supply; Dean Lindsay, dean LINDSAYdesign; Mark Spaulding, Converting magazine; Arnie Orloski, Packaging World magazine; and Yolanda Simonsis, Paper, Film & Foil Converter magazine. Moderating the judging session was competition chair Steven Sedlak of ESK Ceramics, a Ceradyne Co.
