Search results matching tag 'packaging'

Plain sense?

2288289 — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:47:00 GMT

Travelling to other countries - including such far-flung locations as, um, Austria - it's a real shock to go into a café and find someone on the next table lighting up.

Here on the small island many measures have been introduced to curb cigarette consumption, the latest being the restrictions on point-of-sale displays.

I can see the logic in the point-of-sale thing but I'm not really sure what difference the fresh proposals to move to plain packaging would have. But there's evidently a powerful lobby calling for it and organisations such as ASH are on the front foot with more than 70,000 signatories supporting such a move.

If one takes the Australian plans as the blueprint for what could be in store, cigarette packs would have a standardised shape and look that involves a large and gruesome image of cigarette-induced nastiness (an example can be found here), big warning messages and the brand name appearing in a standard font. For example Marlboro, Camel etc in Helvetica.

This would appear to be great news for counterfeiters and those engaged in the massive black market for cigarettes imported from overseas and thus avoiding duty. Not such good new for legitimate print suppliers. And per our story, where indeed will it all end?

If the proposal does go through, there'll be a guaranteed market in printed 'skins' for cigarette packs. Probably with a raft of jolly designs that young folk will love.

Plenty of time to take in print panoply

2288289 — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:22:00 GMT

Last night I queued for two-and-a-half-hours at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. This was a form of self-inflicted penance for being a complete maroon and not acting immediately upon the "must book tickets" thought that flitted across my withered brain when the David Hockney: A Bigger Picture show was first announced.

While standing around in the increasingly chilly evening, shuffling along with all my fellow maroons, I decided to fill time by conducting an ad hoc anthropological survey into print and other media use involving those present.

We were all looked down on by a giant fabric banner of Hockney himself, attached to the building. This was mirrored by smaller vinyl-type banners mounted on poles in the square.

In the queue I lost count of the number of people reading the Evening Standard. At least a dozen folk were reading paperback books, two people were reading on a Kindle, one person was doing something with a Nintendo and one other was using an iPad. Many were doing stuff on their smartphones.

An array of branded disposable paper coffee cups were clutched; sourced from nearby outlets including Pret A Manger, Eat and Costa Coffee. Costa also seems to have a nifty cardboard cup carrying device (cups slot into it and there's a handle on the top) that I hadn't seen before.

A woman in the part of the queue that snaked around opposite me was carrying one of those posh, rope-handled paper carrier bags but in an unusual format - imagine something a bit bigger than a landscape A4 folded lengthwise.

I was so intrigued by this I had to ask where the bag was from. Turns out it was from an upmarket macaroon shop on Piccadilly - the sort of place where a single macaroon can cost the best part of £3, so naturally exquisite packaging is required and one would want to carry them home in a suitably luxe bag, oh yes.

Another on-trend item is the printed cotton bag, which seems to have become the accessory of choice and not just as a giveaway - you could buy a bright green Hockney version in the RA shop for £3.95, or a more upmarket canvas variant for £14.95.

The shop was rammed and other souvenirs included postcards, greetings cards, books, posters, exhibition catalogues (printed in Italy, damn) the list goes on.

And as for the actual Hockney artworks, his iPad drawings were printed on paper (by an unspecified method, would love to know who and how) and mounted on Dibond.

The long wait was worth it and proved one thing at least: from maroons to macaroons print in one form or another is always part of the big picture.

Feeling the love with print

2288289 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:53:00 GMT

Valentine's Day. Hopefully a bumper period for people involved in various aspects of print production.

Cards, obviously. And an increasing amount of personalised ones, although these are likely to be a straight replacement rather than an additional print piece. That said, a personalised card is more likely to be produced locally than shipped in a container from the Far East.

Many, many boxes of chocolates in suitably lovely packaging.

Flowers - if ordered online will need a nice big transit packaging box to keep them pristine. And I'm sure florists up and down the country will have stocked up on suitable wares from the likes of Fleurwrap for what must surely be their busiest day of the year.

Champagne. Needs a nice label, obviously. And possibly a swanky box too if it's a really posh bottle.

A beautifully printed and bound book of poetry, or perhaps a romantic novel. An e-book, or indeed a hated e-card, just doesn't cut it (well, certainly not in these parts) if a person is attempting to demonstrate some sort of genuine strength of feeling.

Something to amuse, such as the personalised banners available from Massive Message. Judging by the firm's Pinterest board there's no shortage of people willing to go large with their lurv.

And for the broken-hearted? 3D printing will, one day, be able to mend it.

Use self-locking cartons for packaging

2103610 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:42:00 GMT

Use self-locking cartons for packaging that don’t use glue or stitching and don’t need to be segregated when recycled, says Alex Vergopoulos, Meriden Paper director

We continually endeavour to cut down on potential waste and cost. This year, for instance, we have been focusing on packaging and reducing our sellotaping for our boxes.

We have now started to use self-locking cartons in some products as trialling continues. This is a die cut packaging and there is less energy used and no gluing or stitched involved as it locks itself away. Hence it's more environmentally friendly to recycle as you don’t need to segregate it. The paper and fluting used to make our boxes is around 75% recycled cardboard and the product is 100% recyclable.

This has not only cut down on cost but some of our customers even consider it friendly to re-use themselves, in some instances personally for their use.

Sainsbury's to say Cheerio to cereal boxes

2245952 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:25:00 GMT

I popped into Sainsbury's in my lunch break the other day. Not the most thrilling blog you are thinking, but it gets better, so stay with me.

I was looking for milk, so petrified was I that I would have to wake up the next morning without a cup of tea, that I actually gave up my lunch break to brave the hordes of Hammersmith.

It was with some bemusement that I noted a new promotion in the store – milk in a bag. A big, floppy polythene plastic bag filled with two pints of calcium goodness. I picked it up. It felt rather like a giant udder, I would imagine. I wondered how easy it was to pierce, how durable it was, and most importantly, how hard would it be to pour into my teacup with one eye closed at 7am on a weekday morning.

The point of it, I have since discovered, is not to create an edible stress ball, but to cut down on plastic – by as much as 75%. Honourable, but is this really a good way to reduce plastic? How more likely are we to wash out and recycle a big plastic sack, as opposed to a bottle that's easily left in the sink and swirled? And seriously, how will I pour that perfect cup of morning tea with any finesse?

So it was with interest that I read this morning that Sainsbury's is also set to become the first supermarket chain to get rid of cardboard cereal boxes.

Despite the century-old tradition, Sainsbury's is going to rid its shelves of own-brand cereal boxes, replacing them instead with recyclable plastic packets, a bit like those used for crisps. Cereal heavyweight Kellogg's is also said to be considering the idea itself.

Not only is this going to pose problems for transportation (those Coco Pops will look like dust by the time I get them home), but also for marketers. Long have the cut-out pack promotions ruled in cereal-land, for both adults and kids. And I must admit I am faintly nostalgic about those toys/stickers to be found at the bottom of the box which inspired many WWF-style wrestling matches with my brothers.

It may seem strange to care at all about cardboard boxes in any form. Yet cereal boxes, I believe, will hold some strange sugar-coated place in our frostie (sorry) hearts. It's like drinking out of a plastic wine glass or dry-slope skiing. A bit naff and unauthentic.

The bright and colourful boxes that line every house in the country would look odd if covered with lots of hard-to-seal bags slouching like teenagers? Plus, plastic bags look messy – this won't do my OCD any good. And will the cornflakes magically last for years like the ones in my house do now?

What with bags of milk and sacks of cereal, the misty world of breakfast time is certainly changing. And with the end result probably being a better attitude towards the environment, I can't complain - it's great that these big companies are prepared to shake things up a bit. And so long as I get my tea in a bag, I won't go getting myself in a stir.

Chocolate

981919 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:01:00 GMT

Its Easter so there has to be a chocolate printing story somewhere!

I remember when I was a child my father used to take his printing diploma students on annual day-trip from Watford to Birmingham to the Cadbury factory in leafy Bournville just south of the city. This was not an indulgent trip to sample the chocolate but it had the educational purpose of visiting the Cadbury’s in-house printing unit and showing the students how a large in-house dedicated printing unit functioned. It was a trip that I looked forward to more than the students’ as dad would return home laden with miniature samples of the whole Cadbury range all packed in a tin box with a printed image of the Bournville factory on the front.

Bournville was – and still is – a vast site. From the 19th century onwards every element of cocoa and chocolate production - from the roasting of the beans to the design, printing and production of packaging materials - took place at the Bournville factory: it was many factories within a large factory and everything needed for the business was produced on site, with tin box pressing plants, carton making units, a design studio and, of course, the printing plant.

I know very little about the Cadbury’s printing works, other that it disappeared before I was old enough to visit the place. But if anyone out there used to work for the Cadbury press I would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact me via this blog.