With a family recipe more than 75 years old, Texas-based Best Maid Products Inc. has grown from a single-kitchen operation to a beloved brand known throughout the southwest region of the United States. What started as a sandwich condiment–using pickle relish—sold out of the Dalton family’s grocery store has grown into a multi-building operation housing manufacturing, processing, warehousing, shipping, distribution and offices. As the company continues to grow, so too does the need to reflect the evolution of the brand, while still maintaining its heritage.
As the competitive consumables market pushes brands to stand out at shelf, maintaining the visual integrity of recognized products while delivering an effective package becomes key to success.
Wanting to promote the freshness of the product with a broader visual backdrop and improve the graphic appeal of the label, the company turned to Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials (label.averydennison.com/en/home.html). The solution—pressure-sensitive film labels.
“Our initial challenge was making the label pop and we wanted to keep with our heritage, but show a fresher, more premium image to our existing consumers, while enticing trial from new customers,” says Jeff Robinson, vice president of operations, Best Maid Products Inc.”
Previously, the Best Maid brand’s product featured glue-applied paper labels, which created downtime and were susceptible to tearing and scuffing.
“We felt clear film, pressure-sensitive, versus glue applied labels, showcased not only our product, but our vision as being the premium pickle in the market,” Robinson adds.
The labels are now featured on all of the company’s products including pickles, relishes and dressings, except for its mayonnaise items.
Pressure-sensitive application provides solution
Pressure-sensitive materials have clear advantages over traditional glue-applied labels. They provide more brand-building and creative freedom, while blending attractively with the substrate, to enhance product image and raise consumer awareness, which ultimately helps boost sales.
“Clear-on-clear self-adhesive labeling helps brands position themselves as contemporary and allows additional graphic attributes to be added to the label,” says Tina Hannan, film product line director, Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials. “In addition, the clear-on-clear label design creates a premium no label look that grabs the consumer’s attention and lets the product stand out on shelf.”
Combined with the brand-building capabilities of high-end graphics, self-adhesive labels are also cost-effective due to a host of operational efficiencies that factor into the production equation for end users. They allow for shorter production runs, faster labeling changes, cleaner processing and better quality results compared to glue-applied labels.
“Due to the flexibility and versatility of pressure-sensitive label decoration, there are many facestock adhesive options available for a wide variety of application needs,” Hannan says. “And with its plug-and-play clean application attributes, pressure-sensitive is widely viewed as one of the most efficient decoration technologies—achieving some of the highest labeling application speeds with the least downtown.”
With the no-label look capability offered by pressure-sensitive, the Best Maid brand’s new labels allow consumers to see more of the company’s products in the jar, giving a better sense of its freshness. While leaving the brand’s legacy elements intact, including its iconic caricature “Smiley,” who is said to be the likeness of the founders’ granddaughter, and vibrant colors, the clear label provides an updated contemporary appearance.
New label pops at the shelf
“Our new labels were created by the Quake Group,” says Isabel Lamb, brand manager, Best Maid Products Inc. “The Quake Group performed the design work, then it was transferred to our in-house team to duplicate the designs for all 102 retail products.”
Featuring Avery Dennison’s 2.0 Clear BOPP material, the pressure-sensitive labels were produced and printed by Smyth Companies LLC, Minneapolis, MN, using UV Flexo on an Omet Varyflex press with eight colors.
“The graphics were fairly straight forward and presented minimal production challenges,” says Bill Orme, marketing communications manager, Smyth Companies LLC. “The feedback from Best Maid Products has been very positive—they liked the overall appearance and print quality.”
In May 2012, the updated, premium-look label hit store shelves in 17 states offering enhanced shelf-appeal and product image for the brand. Since the introduction of the new label, sales have increased3 to 5% with longer-term expectations of 7 to 10%.
