Precious metals make their case

Des King, Packaging News, 22 October 2008

 

Despite attempts by many sectors to lightweight, metal is beginning to shine in premium product packs, says Des King

 

Metal is under attack in traditional safe seats such as tinned tomatoes, pet food and even baked beans. Lighter-weight alternatives, including cartons, pouches and plastic are presenting themselves as convenient and carbon friendly.

 

However, when it comes to premium products, brands are voting for the heavyweight prestige of metal.

 

Presentation packs for malt whiskies, shelf-differentiating gloss for fragrances and cosmetics, even the elevation of a ready-made meal to gourmet status – they're all proving to be a diverse and natural magnet for the consumer confidence that only a solid metal solution can provide. Tinplate packaging is more likely to equal trust than rust.

 

"We reckon that around 17% of our pan-European £160m turnover is accounted for by the UK," says Simon Birch, sales manager at tinplate applications manufacturer Crown Speciality Packaging. "While the key markets for us are what we call 'twist-wrap' – confectionery, beverages, biscuits and, latterly, tobacco, which is making quite a strong comeback in a promotional format, the biggest sector of all is best described as 'other'."

 

Metal packaging at the top-end is not, nor ever will be, volume business. Speciality tinplate packaging represents less than 6% of Crown's global business, and is totally out of kilter with prevailing time to market criteria. For one thing, global supply of steel for packaging is in short supply. Also, the lead-time required to deliver a metal packaging application – even assuming local manufacture and no glitches – is around three months. Other products can have taken flight, crashed and burned in less. But when a brand wants to make a statement, the message that metal conveys in design terms can be highly articulate.

 

Webb Scarlett deVlam's response to repositioning Dunhill's luxury cigar portfolio is a case in point. The line-up consists of highly finished, lacquered wooden gift boxes and, for out-of-home occasions, a range of sliding cartons holding fewer cigars.

 

Fine finish

The distinguishing characteristic across each of the wood applications is the inclusion of an iconic aluminium de-bossed plaque; the extra touch that elevates the presentation from stylish to special, says Dominic Burke, a senior designer at the London-based agency. "You get a very light finish with aluminium that contrasts with the wood to dovetail modern with traditional, and on which the embossing works well to create a luxury image.

 

"Aluminium is relatively inexpensive to apply, and yet is highly effective in reflecting product quality. In my experience, the most successful executions are where metal works in conjunction or combined with other materials."

 

Global head of Dunhill Cigars Ron Reinders certainly agrees. "The new signed range has great brand standout in store and perfectly reflects the quality and heritage of the Dunhill brand. The new packaging identity has played a key role in increasing distribution, which by the end of 2008 we expect to extend to 70 countries as demand continues to grow."

 

Burke cites work done for items within the Hugo Boss skincare range as a further example of how aluminium can lift a product's shelf appeal. "To what is basically a rigid plastic construction, we added an aluminium base, pump cover and a 360-degree de-bossed collar – as effective as embossing in the round but easier and less expensive to undertake.

 

"Manufacturers will often resort to vacuum-metalized components to try to create that effect in cosmetics applications, as arguably the consumer won't always realise the very small, subtle differences that they're picking up on. Metal's tactile properties, however, are the giveaway that positions it between something that is luxury and otherwise commodity."

Lewis Moberly production manager Ciaran O'Connell concurs that going the full metal Monty "tends to represent the

 

luxury end of a product range". London-based Lewis Moberly and Crown Speciality Packaging, based in Ireland, created the distinctive triangular formed 'Tround' outer presentation pack for Glenfiddich malt whisky, echoing the bottle shape.

 

Golden opportunity

In the Tround, the metal acts as an extra colour. "You start with a chrome colour and then by simply printing a litho yellow you get a gold effect – and then an infinite variety of shades of gold," explains O'Connell. "It's quite a cost-effective way of getting a luxury appearance. By simply putting an ink straight down you tend to get a fairly brash effect. What we used on the Tround design was a combination of varnishes to soften down the metallic effect, so you'll find areas where there are high shine and others where it's more of a satin look."

 

Sounds straightforward enough, but from a manufacturing perspective it proved to be quite a challenge, says Crown's Birch. "Metal will always try to spring back, so even though it's wrapped around the mandrill and the two raw edges hook into each other to lock the seam, all of the curves and the slightly bowed side will try to get flat again. For this kind of application we use a patented size, bead and curl machining technique that sizes the open aperture to the same size as the footprint at the bottom of the can."

 

Aluminium's capacity for illuminating colour can be its passport from commodity to high-end application. This was certainly the case with the seven-colour printed top and base produced by Rexam for the new 'Attitude' antioxidant drink launched by Energiser Brands, and claimed to be a world first for beverage cans.

 

"The problem with can-making is that it's very capital intensive. In the past, customers have been very price focused because it was thought of as a commodity product," notes Rexam marketing manager Ann Bonner. "But with the market demanding differentiation and consumers eager for innovation there are opportunities for a more premium product.

 

Microwaveable metals

 

"You can have a Mini or you can have a Mercedes with a can. You can have an aluminium bottle; thermo-chromic inks; de-bossing – and eventually, I believe, you will have shape. That's not so far away, and we're looking at other markets as well as beverages," adds Banner.

 

Another commoditised application on the metallic track to the higher end is the predominantly cPET packaged ready meal. After four years of development, Impress is due to commercialise a microwaveable steel tray within the next few months, confirms strategic development executive Doreen Decker.

 

"Most ready meals come in a plastic container, which looks cheap and nasty, and consumers don't like to eat directly from them. Plus they can melt and lose rigidity after heating. Our research has shown that microwaves only enter into the food to a depth of 3cm, so we've produced a shallow container with a height that doesn't exceed that and with a maximum filling volume of 650ml.

 

"Furthermore, the tray can be over-printed – thereby reducing the requirement for wasteful over-packaging – and it is, of course, 100% recyclable."

 

Despite the can's humble origins as a means of transporting food to soldiers, it is making its way out of the aisles of low value processed food and into the ranks of the premium and pricey. Although not quite precious metals, when it comes to packaging, steel, aluminium and tin are certainly proving they can have quality printed and embossed all over them.

 

A classy cuppa

The combination of relatively low volumes and the prestige synonymous with the Harrods name made a tinplate tea-caddy the natural choice for a range of six different blends under the Opulence name, says London-based Honey Creative managing director Doug James. "Customers are taking a piece of Harrods home with them: they'll use it, they'll drink the tea, they'll then keep the tin afterwards. Individual colour-coded labels easily peel off to reveal the Harrods logo.

 

"If you're buying one branded tea over another one and they're both packaged in metal, this is where the graphics make their point of difference. Harrods has maintained its archive back to 1849, so we replicated original artwork depicting the Greek goddess of abundance Fortuna, which was associated with the store for over 100 years. Gold embossing the design into the tin gave it incredible definition as well as adding rigidity as we'd lightweighted down the metal as much as was practical."

 

Manufacture was undertaken in China by GM Metal Packaging, says Harrods brand and packaging manager Sarah Paskell.

 

"To be honest, tin production is normally a 12-week turnaround time anyway, whether it's coming from Basildon or Beijing, but the graphic required seven layers of very labour-intensive embossing. What swung it was the intricacy of the work. We were working with a supplier we'd used previously and we knew the quality of what they could do was high."

 

According to GM Metals' Sunil Gidumal: "The Opulence design entailed more than 20 separate semi-automatic stages including the slitting and trimming of the corners prior to forming. Lower tooling costs enable us to produce a greater range of shapes than can be made in Europe and brought in at an affordable price despite the four weeks on the water."