Interactive Synergy

Packaging Connects Product to Consumer & Manufacturer in New Ways

The challenge that consumer product companies face – to retain customer loyalty to existing product lines, as well as to draw consumers to new products – depends more than ever today on getting the packaging right. Development of printed packaging is a key value in the success of all product lines and is the basis for future marketing investment.

Flexography is providing the packaging world with enhancements that improve the characteristics of the final product. Interactive packaging – which includes sensory packaging, active packaging and intelligent packaging – takes printing beyond the realm of enhanced graphics and into the realm of immediate product definition. This packaging identifies, categorizes and sensitizes the final package in ways that directly connect the package to the product, for the benefit of the consumer and the consumer product manufacturer.

Aroma, texture and visual enhancements, for example, can be applied to all packages currently on the market, and add value to packaged products for the consumer. They also open the door for flexographic printing to markets that were customarily set aside for litho and more costly rotogravure.

Active Packaging
The basis of active packaging is a scientific solution to a packaging problem that directly relates to the product inside. One example of active packaging is the preservation features of a liquid packaging carton that keeps perishable products inside fresh longer. For instance, special caps and heat-seal enclosures that are part of a fruit juice carton prolong the life and taste of the juice inside.

A further example of active packaging is cartons that are designed to eliminate certain defects or inconsistencies within the product itself. This includes package additives that detract certain odors or gases from the product through the design structure. Such additives promote the life of the product and in most cases stabilize the exact taste for all products, regardless of the date or location of manufacture.

Active packaging can be applied to products to provide a tamper-evident form of security to protect, for example, pharmaceuticals with shrink-wrap packaging. Additionally, tamper-evident packaging is effectively used in product promotions. Sonoco prints promotional language on the outside of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Gum Plen-T-Pack offering a prize if a code printed on the inside matches the code posted on the Juicy Fruit web site. Because the code is printed on the inside of the package, consumers can’t cheat. Food-grade ink ensures that the ink stays on the pack and does not transfer to the product. Another tamper-evident technology involves graphics that are placed inside two plies of film. Instead of completely laminating the plies together, Sonoco applies a patterned adhesive that is dropped out of a pre-registered spot where a winning number or coupon has been printed.

Sensory Packaging
Through sensory packaging, the exterior of the package achieves a direct connection to the consumer through the senses of touch, vision or smell. While the active packaging process protects the interior (the actual product) from releasing any of the value of the product within the package, sensory packaging establishes the exterior theme of the product through use of fragrance, texture and sight.

One type of sensory packaging takes flavors extracted from the product – such as baked goods, chocolates or fruit flavors – and incorporates them into the production of the adhesives or coatings used in the packaging. This creates an aroma in the packaging that establishes a connection between the product and the consumer.

Another goal of this type of sensory packaging is to maintain the integrity of the product. For example, one corn chip manufacturer considered adding the flavor of the chips to the packaging materials in order to stabilize the consistency of the product.

The recent Coca-Cola promotional roll-fed shrink label for a recent movie is a good example of sensory packaging that engages consumers visually. A question about the movie appears on the label, produced by Sonoco. To find the answer, the consumer must buy the bottle of Coke and put it into the refrigerator because the answer is printed in thermochromatic ink, visible only when chilled.

Intelligent Packaging
Intelligent packaging connects the product with the manufacturer rather than the consumer by providing the manufacturer with information about the product inside. Intelligent packaging is the technical combination of current marking and monitoring systems into an expanded tracking format for checking product data. This monitoring sequence can range from local checks of color on the press to advanced tracking of trends in product usage provided by computer chips located within the package itself.

This procedure uses sensory and active packaging principles to monitor the product through internal sensory elements or through advanced bar code and label information systems. For example, intelligent packaging applications can be found in products that use bar-code systems and incorporate tracking devices in the printing process.

UV and EB inks utilize a 100-percent transfer that eliminates any distortion of bar codes. With a more precise database of detail detection, packaging experts can choose to print the full bar-code element or develop ways to use data chips or micro-dot detection systems.

Applications for intelligent packaging include monitoring deviation in the packaging structure or materials. One example is checking the density of paperboard during its manufacture for liquid packaging. Such monitoring will ensure that the paperboard will stand up to the demands of the product; i.e. that the orange juice or milk will not leak out of the carton on the grocery shelf.
With laser detection technology, devices can check many aspects of the package, including micro constructions within the inks used in the packages. Additionally, detection lasers can monitor and cross-check each data line within a very large sector of the market after the product leaves the shelf.

A new development in laser technology is micro cross fibers, which enhance the structure and moisture barrier of the package. They can be modified to change their appearance or texture for immediate fault detection. These enhancements do not add to the cost of the material, but rather allow savings.

Advanced Flexo Imaging
With the use of advanced flexo imaging systems, the graphic process is perfected to allow focus on ink consistency and print reliability. Advanced imaging provides the means to improve control of pigment and color fastness variables.

The light transfer feature of a solid color requires an advanced imaging system to produce a consistent microdot on the surface of the substrate without changing the value of the image. When paperboard is produced, for example, surface tension and smoothness are monitored to produce the desired sensory effects. If the surface of the product is not perfectly smooth, the graphic enhancement of the product can be affected.

The ideal imaging process has to lock in the values of the interactive package over and over throughout the press run and again and again each time it is re-established on the press. Once the press line is complete, inks and fingerprint become the priority.

An Interactive Future
Applications for interactive packaging are growing, with standards that will drive the packaging industry toward innovation regarding additional package usage once the product inside is gone. For example, one manufacturer designed the interior of a beverage carrier carton to be used as a seat cushion once opened.

By applying intelligent packaging to new designs, a higher level of interactive packaging can be achieved. Products that are able to transfer data within the graphic content of the package, as well as within the chemistry of the package, give us ways to reduce the overall cost. For example, through advanced UV and EB inks and the use of digital feedback, a reduction in the package’s coating or lamination can be achieved without reducing its overall protection properties.

With interactive packaging, experts can now develop ways to add graphics to an expanded variety of products. For example, rather than devising methods to enhance existing products already on the market, experts can now look to add graphic overwraps to a multitude of shrink-wrap applications. Some ideas for shrink-wrap include smaller items such as fruit packages, but also larger items such as cars, bikes and wagons.

Consumers can now experience the packaging itself in addition to the product inside. This relationship of consumer to package will set the new standard of participation in marketing feedback and prepare the next page in sales promotion history.