Page 36 - Print21 July-August 2022

Business
Power to cut through
The label has become a key marketing tool, and says Gareth Ward, new technology is enabling print businesses of all kinds to jump on the bandwagon.
At one time a label
was relatively straightforward: it would identify the product, comply
with legal requirements regarding ingredients and then perhaps include a promotional message. Generally marketing took place elsewhere,
the decision to pick up a jar or
bottle being determined before the consumer arrived at the supermarket, let alone the shelf.
Digital label printing began to change this. It has become cost effective to print smaller batches of labels, giving products that might otherwise never have justified a high quality label the opportunity to say something beyond the basic information required of a label.
Turnaround times could be cut from weeks to a few days, justifying occasional changed designs. And then came Share a Coke.
All of a sudden what sold the product was the name on the label, as consumers around the world on occasion literally fought to grab a bottle of fizzy sugary water with their name on it. Their triumph would then be shared on social media, helping promote the product to thousands of consumers with no additional cost
to the brand – unearned marketing
of the most valuable kind. It was
a lengthy and costly project. But Coca-Cola is about selling emotions, and nothing could touch the emotion generated by what many considered a personal bottle of Coke.
All of a sudden every FMCG brand wanted its own version of the label, leading to names and terms of endearment cropping up on Nutella, Toblerone, and other products where brands were looking to share some of that sparkle.
And all of a sudden marketers were recognising the power of the printed label. A study by WARC
(World Advertising Research Centre) released in 2020 examined the effectiveness of marketing spend
on the different channels available to brands. It compared what the marketing professionals considered the most effective channels for
their investment – online, television and social – with what consumers responded to. Online and video were indeed important, but the channel that is effective as far as consumers are concerned, and which is largely ignored by marketers, is packaging.
Spurred on by this, WARC looked at its own database of effective case studies where print, especially digital print, had been involved. This confirmed the findings: a label, pouch or box can have a powerful impact on sales. This is instinctive
in many instances: digitally printed labels help artisan beers and crafted spirit achieve stand out, amid a
sea of similar and largely unknown brands, to create appeal with their target customers. It is also used effectively by many established brands for the same reason.
“It has become cost effective to print smaller batches of labels, giving products that might otherwise never have justified a high quality label, the opportunity to say something beyond the basic information required of a label.”
If organising a personalised product is tough, the use of HP Smartstream Mosaic software can result in unique shrink wrap labels using the same basic design, so that every bottle on the shelf can be different. Danone has used
the technology in a campaign
for its Aqua D’Or water, which,
accompanied by matched point of sale promotional work, raised sales by 68 per cent.
Custom short runs of labels can also create an affinity between brand and the consumer. In Mexico, Nescafe ran a campaign identifying the 100 farmers in the country that supplied the beans for the coffee. This resulted in a set of labels with the different farmers pictured, allowing consumers to select the producer they preferred.
Key to both applications has been that there is minimal impact to the existing supply chains – any forced change is a big no-no for big brands where costs are controlled fiercely. It is no use proposing a personalised labels campaign for low margin high volume products, where the additional cost would eliminate any gain in revenue. Margin protection is key.
Not all products are in this
36 JULY/AUGUST 2022