Thursday, 07 October 2021 09:18

The packaging is a part of the gift

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There is hardly a time when consumer trends become as apparent as in the year-end business. At the moment, individualization, premiumization and the unboxing experiences are trending and thus shaping the expectations around holiday gifts. Online retailers who understand these trends and cleverly address them in their packaging design can stand out from the crowd and exploit their sales potential in the year-end business.

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More and more brands are entering into competition with large suppliers by setting up their own web stores. The Covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated this trend. In order to be able to go toe-to-toe with e-commerce giants on a contested market, niche providers in particular must differentiate themselves by making the added value of their brand a compelling experience for consumers along the entire customer journey. As e-commerce eliminates the presentation options of brick-and-mortar retail, the importance of packaging as a brand communication tool skyrockets. This is especially true in the year-end business. The period before the holidays resembles an annual creative competition for the most appealing and individual packaging. This is precisely where the opportunity lies to stand out from the crowd with a well thought-out, appealing packaging concept, especially since many e-commerce giants take a more pragmatic approach to packaging. Last but not least, the hype surrounding unboxing videos has created an unprecedented platform for staging creative and customized packaging concepts in an impressive way.

Especially when it comes to gift shopping, consumers attach great importance to a luxurious presentation and staging of the goods – reinforced by the current trend towards premiumization. After all, the appreciation customers want to express to their loved ones through their choice of gifts should be felt from the very first moment during the exchanging of gifts. Luxurious and creative packaging can help create an unforgettable unboxing moment. Two aspects play an important role in the effect of the packaging: appearance and feel. Rich colors, gloss, embossing and finishing - all of these create an impression of luxury. There are virtually no limits to creativity in terms of material properties and design. The skilful use of packaging techniques offers manufacturers an effective tool for standing out from the crowd.

Luxury you can see and feel

maginficent green with blind embossingmaginficent green with blind embossing

Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper (UFP) is committed to providing an experience of luxury through premium paper products. With its portfolio of uncoated fine papers, Mondi appeals to designers and manufacturers of packaging for luxury articles as well as finishing specialists, among others. The heart of Mondi's portfolio is the premium design paper brand PERGRAPHICA®. With its PERGRAPHICA® range of uncoated design paper, Mondi addresses the needs of artists as well as manufacturers of premium packaging.

For five years, the Mondi Pergraphica range of design papers was lean and mean, consisting of three shades of white and two surfaces in both machine directions in the key sizes and weights. Later, an ivory paper for book printing and a black paper for creative and packaging applications were added. In autumn last year, Mondi added 30 new, vibrant colours to the Pergraphica colour range, including ten dark and deep colours as well as PERGRAPHICA® Infinite Black. According to market studies by Mondi, dark, intense colors have a particularly luxurious appeal and are therefore increasingly in demand by packaging manufacturers for luxury articles. These colors are particularly difficult to produce and have to withstand a lot of use without fading.

Mondi InfiniteBlack with metallic hot foiling

To produce colored paper, dye is added at the very beginning of the process, at the point where the pulp is mixed with water, to create a mushy mixture the paper is made from. During machine processing, the dye is diffused into the fibres of the pulp, thus creating paper that is colored all way through, as opposed to dye just being added to the surface or even printed onto the paper. The effort involved in producing through-dyed papers pays off, especially when it comes to packaging: No white edges are visible, nor does a white core break out when folded. Extensive stress tests have shown that Mondi's Pergraphica papers meet the high demands placed on packaging materials without losing their strength and appearance.

The finishing touch

Gentle Brown with laser cutting on the outside and multilevel embossing on the insideGentle Brown with laser cutting on the outside and multilevel embossing on the insideAs Pergraphica papers are also very suitable for finishing, they are a popular packaging material for gifts of all kinds and other high-end products. Embossing, debossing and hot foil stamping processes show the level of detail that can be achieved with the right paper, using the right techniques. With laser cutting, tiny patterns can be embedded in the paper. Laser engraving is a particularly interesting choice for coloured papers, as the heat of the laser changes the colour on the engraved areas. PERGRAPHICA® is part of the Mondi CO2 neutral portfolio and is FSC certified. This makes PERGRAPHICA® the paper of choice for sustainable reasons as well as looks.

Mondi offers some of its uncoated fine papers in high grammages or as liners for board used for premium packaging and shopping bags. Liners are papers that are laminated onto corrugated board to give less premium materials a more sophisticated look and feel. Especially in the premium packaging sector, brands can thus underline their high quality and visually differentiate themselves.

Pergraphica papers as packaging materials provide packaging manufacturers with an effective tool for positioning their goods as unique premium products. After all, especially in the year-end business, appearances count.

About Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper

Uncoated Fine Paper is a business unit of Mondi Group. In six operating sites in Austria, Slovakia, Russia, and South Africa, Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper produces pulp and environmentally sound office and professional printing papers tailored to the latest professional digital and offset print technologies. The company complies with the strictest international certification standards to support sustainable production processes through the responsible management of forest, water and air resources. All Mondi uncoated fine papers belong to the Green Range of papers that are FSC™ or PEFC™ certified, 100% recycled or bleached entirely without chlorine.

Its renowned brands such as Color Copy, PERGRAPHICA®, NAUTILUS®, NEUJET®, IQ, MAESTRO®, BIO TOP 3®, DNS®, Snegurochka or ROTATRIM are used in office environments on laser or inkjet printers and by professional printers on digital or offset presses to create brochures, transactional material, folders, invitations, business cards, letterheads or other high-impact communication. Converters appreciate the excellent printability and smooth handling of Mondi’s professional printing papers.

About Mondi

Mondi is a global leader in packaging and paper, contributing to a better world by making innovative packaging and paper solutions that are sustainable by design. Our business is integrated across the value chain – from managing forests and producing pulp, paper and plastic films, to developing and manufacturing effective industrial and consumer packaging solutions. Sustainability is at the centre of our strategy and intrinsic in the way we do business. We lead the industry with our customer-centric approach, EcoSolutions, where we ask the right questions to find the most sustainable solution. In 2020, Mondi had revenues of €6.66 billion and underlying EBITDA of €1.35 billion.

Mondi has a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange (MNDI), and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited (MNP). Mondi is a FTSE 100 constituent, and has been included in the FTSE4Good Index Series since 2008 and the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index Series since 2007.

Author: Bernhard Cantzler, Head of Marketing & Innovation Mondi UFP

About the author:

Bernhard Cantzler has more than 15 years experience in business development in the paper industry. As Head of Marketing & Innovation at Mondi he is responsible for the development and marketing of innovative fine paper products, including for the premium packaging sector.

Read 1012 times Last modified on Thursday, 07 October 2021 09:24