Case Studies
| Innovation | Quality | Customer Service | Sustainability |
Innovation
Background
MillerCoors, a loyal customer of Inland Label, is the second largest beer company in America with over 288 years of brewing heritage. MillerCoors has partnered with Inland Label for numerous years to supply high-quality labels for their flagship brand, Coors Light.
The Challenge
Several years ago, the brewing industry started to see a decline in beer sales as more consumers turned to alternative alcoholic beverages, such as wine and spirits. Consumers were starting to become bored with the beer category, yearning for brands that were more unique and inspiring. After examining the Coors Light brand and its packaging, it was apparent that its simple square cut label was not doing enough to differentiate the brand and make that all important connection with consumers. Inland Label and the Coors Light marketing team recognized this problem, and saw a tremendous opportunity to leverage packaging innovation as a means to differentiate their brand and grow market share.
Inland Label's Solution
In order to differentiate the Coors Light brand, Inland Label worked intimately with the Coors Light marketing team to develop innovative packaging ideas tailored to the brand. Inland Label employed a focus group study as a means to generate label innovation ideas that would meet the wants and needs of consumers and exemplify the cold and refreshing attributes of Coors Light. After evaluation, a revolutionary idea was chosen, temperature activated color changing inks. The thermochromic ink was used in the mountains of the label, which turn from white to blue when the beer is at optimal drinking temperature. The newest version of this label, known as Coors Light Super Cold, was launched in February of 2011. Super Cold labels have two areas of thermochromic ink that turn blue at different temperatures, indicating when the beer is cold enough to drink, then when it is at its ultimate drinking temperature (super cold).
The Result
This innovative technology and brand campaign successfully differentiated Coors Light and reinforced the cold and refreshing attributes of the brand. As a result of this packaging innovation, Coors Light gained market share and became the #3 beer brand in the United States. With the newest version of this label, Coors Super Cold, Coors Light is positioned to overtake Budweiser as the second best-selling beer brand in the United States. This success is a true testament of Inland Label’s ability to work with clients to develop innovative packaging that delivers results.
| Innovation | Quality | Customer Service | Sustainability |
Quality
Background
Inland prints labels for many business partners worldwide, including the North American brewer highlighted in this case study. Because of this customer's familiarity with Inland's quality cut and stack labels, the brewer requested the production of new pressure sensitive beer labels. The pressure sensitive beer labels were designed to enhance the look of one of their latest lager products.
Their previous label supplier used an expensive foil stamping technique to achieve the silver metallic look the customer felt was necessary to showcase their brand. This technique added cost to the beer label, and even then, the correct graphics could not be achieved due to registration limitations. Another issue was that the label appeared cloudy following the pasteurization process with its clear film "no label look."
Inland's Solution
Inland researched the current issues and found that if foil stamp replacement silver inks were used, this could reduce the cost of foil stamping by up to 30 percent. In addition to cost savings, the foil replacement inks permitted a more metallic silver to be present within the beer labels. Another advantage of using foil stamp replacement inks was that the thin border around the labels could now be printed in metallic silver because of Inland's capability to print sub-surface (on the backside of the label.) Sub-surface printing has many other advantages, one of them being total print encapsulation for added protection against scuffs and abrasion. Inland also suggested using a hot melt adhesive designed to withstand pasteurization, therefore producing pressure sensitive beer labels that delivered the high-quality look the customer wanted for their brand.
Result
Through Inland's expertise and recommendations, they were able to reduce this customer's cost by approximately 30 percent. With sub-surface printing, Inland's team of label experts delivered accurate graphics with the use of foil stamp replacement inks. Sub-surface printing also protects the beer labels from harsh environments while enhancing graphics for added shelf appeal of the customer's brand.
| Innovation | Quality | Customer Service | Sustainability |
Customer Service
Background
Recently Inland was awarded 100 percent of a client's bottled water label printing business. The client's new plant manager contacted Inland several years ago when they realized their current label supplier was not meeting their expectations. The plant manager was familiar with Inland's extensive beverage label printing expertise. Some issues this customer experienced in the past included: bad cut tolerances, curling substrates, poorly marked cartons, and labels that were not shrink-wrapped.
Inland's Solution
The label experts at Inland initially printed one of the SKUs on three different substrates to determine which stock worked the best on the client's labeling equipment. Inland then demonstrated the use of templates in finishing to ensure consistent sizes of all beverage labels.
All the bottled water labels were shrink-wrapped to help with curling issues and a carton tag was created to inventory the labels more efficiently. An ordering system was also implemented so each plant could send in orders every Wednesday. Due to this organized ordering system, Inland was able to efficiently print the client's bottled water labels so they were available to the client often times in less than one week.
Result
With the added volume from all six of the client's plants, Inland was able to reduce the client's costs by approximately 10 percent. With the new ordering system in place, the client receives their labels within a one-week turnaround time compared to the previous three-weeks.
In addition, Inland was able to improve the client's label quality through the use of better printing and finishing techniques.
| Innovation | Quality | Customer Service | Sustainability |
Sustainability
Background
In the mid 1980’s, the beer industry as a whole was experiencing changes. Not only were reusable bottles being replaced with one use bottles, the labeling process was also evolving. Labeling machines had improved to allow brewers to run bottles through at faster speeds. In addition, more beers were being bottled in cold, wet environments instead of the warm conditions that historically had been the norm in the industry.
The Challenge
The switch to one use bottles caused the glass to be more susceptible to breaking on the filling and labeling lines because the glass was thinner. Cold Fill, a solution that covers the bottles, allowed the bottles to flow through the line more easily by creating less friction but also strengthened the bottle. Although it helped solve one issue, it created a problem with the chemistry between the label, the glue, and the bottle during the label application process. After the labels had been applied, brewers were seeing problems with flagging and labels falling off the bottles when placed in an ice chest or wet environment. It was determined that the stiffness of the paper substrate was a leading cause. To counteract the stiffness and weight of the paper substrate, Inland Label started using heavier embossing on their beer labels and had seen some improvements, but felt there was more that could be done.
Inland Label's Solution
It was determined that a lighter weight paper would help alleviate the issues brewers were seeing. Inland Label together with a key industry supplier developed a lower basis weight paper stock that could be successfully printed on existing printing equipment and improve performance on the labeling line as well as in the market. Lighter weight paper with wet strength properties had only been previously available in Europe, effectively making Inland Label the first US label supplier to offer this solution. The new substrate ran better on labeling lines and effectively solved the issues brewers were seeing in the market.
The Result
At the start, the beer industry was using 90gsm (grams per square meter) paper stock and by the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s had successfully reduced the weight to 60gsm. Even though Inland Label had reduced the weight of the paper stock, making the paper thinner, there was less flagging and the durability and quality were significantly better. Inland Label was able to decrease its raw material levels by roughly 30%, leading the way for huge advancements in sustainable practices. Inland Label forever changed the beer labeling industry and continues to lead the way with sustainable and innovative solutions for the labeling industry.
