Eco Friendly Water Wash Printing Plates

Eco Friendly Water Wash Printing Plates

Water Not Solvent

For many years, one of the last remaining chemicals in our shop has been plate making solvent. In order to make high quality photo polymer printing plates, the plate material must be etched away to remove the non-printing area and leave the raised print impression area.  In the past this was done with a solvent and a brush, but not anymore.

New Technology – No Chemicals

This week Rose City Label became one of the first shops in the country to install a high quality Water Wash Printing Plate system.  This system uses a different type of printing plate than can be etched with just soap and water – no solvent required.  This is revolutionary technology that we have been waiting for for many years.

Faster Processing TimesWater Wash Printing Plates

An additional benefit of this new system is a 60% reduction in plate processing times.  This means plates are on press faster, with less downtime.  This is important for all jobs, but especially new, complex jobs that may require an adjustment on press.  Now we can be back up in running in less than one hour!  With no solvent to absorb into the plate, there is no need to wait for this solvent to evaporate.

Processing time is cut from 2.5 hours to 55 minutes!

Better Print Quality, too!

Quality Water Wash Printing PlateOne final, very important benefit of this new system is a better quality printing plate.  The detail and the image quality from these plates is superior to any previous plate we have seen.  We tried several different technologies before we selected this system, and I am confident that these are the best printing plates that any label company has to offer.

 

Best Quality – Faster Processing – Earth Friendly

Thank you to all our customers that continue to trust us with their very important label printing jobs.  Because of all of you, we are able to invest in the latest technology to grow and build our business.  We appreciate everyone that has been with us on this amazing journey.  We will continue to grow and innovate as we move forward into the future.

What can we do to help you?  Please call us today with any label project – we are here to help.

Beautiful Debossed Wine Labels – New Seasons Market

Beautiful Debossed Wine Labels – New Seasons Market

When our customers collaborate, everyone wins!  We were pleased to provide some very high quality wine labels to our favorite neighborhood retailer, New Seasons Market, that they prominently displayed in all their stores.

Right Wine – Right Chanel

The wine was actually produced by John Grochau from Grochau Cellars.  We have been in contact with John about some additional labels for his winery, but this was a great opportunity for us to all collaborate together since we have done many other labels for different food products for New Seasons in the past.

Getting a top wine maker and a very high quality retailer working together made this a wonderful project for us.

Quality Wine Labels

Having a great product and excellent placement within the store are certainly the main reasons for this wine’s success, but having a great label helps the process too.  Here is what we added to the mix:

  • Very high quality HP Indigo digital press printing
  • Textured paper to provide an upscale feel in the consumers’ hand
  • Deep debossing to highlight the wine name with a clean design
  • On time production, delivered per the bottling specifications

We are proud to be a part of this team.  It takes a partnership to bring this vision to life.

Partner with a Leader

If you want your wine, beer, or food labels to stand out and get noticed on the retail shelf, we can help.  Call us today to discuss your project.  We continue to grow and prosper because we keep our commitments to important people like you.  Thanks in advance for your trust and confidence.

 

How Well Do You Know Your Nutrition Food Labels?

How Well Do You Know Your Nutrition Food Labels?

Eating right is difficult – you need to read Nutrition Food Labels. Reading food labels should be a great way to learn about what you are eating, right?  Yes and No – you need to read the labels, but you need the ‘food label decoder’ to make sure you are getting the straight scoop.

 

This article from the New York Times has a great quiz to test your food knowledge – click here to view the full article. The article is based on an excellent new book – click here to learn more about Devour.

What are they looking for?

There are several great tips in this article – here is one of the best – What are your consumers looking for on Food Labels?  Consumers are looking for foods with these attributes, according to the Food Marketing Institute.

  • 41 percent of respondents sought foods labeled “low sodium.”
  • 37 percent looked for “no artificial ingredients”
  • 29 percent sought “no/low fat”
  • 20 percent sought “certified organic.”

What about Sodium?

This is in line with recent research indicating that while Americans are generally improving their overall dietary quality, sodium is a big area where we fall short.  And, an estimated 80% of sodium consumed is actually added to the food by food manufacturers and restaurants.  Read the full article in JAMA Internal Medicine here.

How does this Affect Your Products?

We never advocate our food customers to chase the latest trends. You need to produce your core products – the items that align with your mission and core values.  If ‘low sodium’ isn’t a part of your current offerings,  consider them in future product design.  Don’t throw out your current recipes and start over.  Pay attention to the research as you evolve, but don’t try to be something you aren’t – that is a ‘recipe’ for watered down, passion-free products.  Yuck!

What is a Brand Owner to Do?

Follow these tips and you will be able to communicate your value directly to your consumers. Give them clear, compelling reasons to pick you when they are selecting a product in your category:

  • Stay true to Your Authentic Brand – never vary
  • Learn the intricate details of Nutrition Food Labels terminology
  • Create new products with consumer research findings in mind
  • Design and print labels to highlight your best attributes
  • Keep your products mix and your label design fresh and clean

Need Help?

If you need help with label design and printing on your Nutrition Food Labels, call us today.  Keep reading this series of posts to learn more, and tap our many years of expertise to help you along the way.

Marketing Your Craft Beer

Marketing Your Craft Beer

When looking to market a craft beer, it’s assumed your beer’s going to be great. You need a different edge.

Working out what that edge is of course, can be a trick. You have to figure out what combination of factors will get people to buy and try your beer.

If you’re anything like me, you’re a sucker for championing the underdog, so some against all odds start up story, or unique background to your passion for great beer-making might be your edge.

For others, it might be a cause. Perhaps you brew to support a favorite charity, or to champion local schools, or give back to society. Or maybe you are a hub of local small businesses, and look to develop more a “local niche”.

Whatever it is, when thinking on these things, you’re trying to find an emotional connection between your beer and your beer customers.

If you don’t think your story is unique enough to hold an entire brand together… you’re right. Today’s market is flooded with micro-breweries, and I’m willing to bet at least 50% of these have a truly remarkable start-up story, or do good with societal impact. So, what else?

THE EXPERIENCE OF YOUR BEER

Brewing a good beer and telling a compelling brand story is the entry cost of a competitive market. However, the experience of your beer is what will keep people coming back, and sharing how great your beer is with others.

So with all the focus on marketing, paying attention to the experience people trying your beer will share with you. This is more controllable if you have a location you sell out of, such as a Brewery, but even if you don’t, pick your distribution partners carefully, and educate them on the experience you want your brand to portray.

BRANDING


If you don’t think your story is unique enough to hold an entire brand together… you’re right. Today’s market is flooded with micro-breweries, and I’m willing to bet at least 50% of these have a truly remarkable start-up story, or do good with societal impact. So, what else?

Distinctive, attractive branding is a great way to distinguish a brewery. Good branding understands how a brand will connect with the audience most likely to buy. It draws people in to pick up your bottle, read your story, and allows you the time to make the connection you have been working for above.

Branding determines how people feel about your company. Everything from your brand name, the colors used, the language chosen to articulate your story, everything builds this brand. Having unique packaging, a great label (goes without saying that we would bring this up), delivery trucks and a great website can work wonders in convincing people to buy your beer.

In 2017, we’ll be discussion one micro-brewery brand from Oregon in depth each month. You won’t want to miss our insights!

How important is your label?

Never judge a book by it’s cover we’ve heard time and time again. But we do, at some deeply emotional level, a cover either resonates with us or it doesn’t. The same is true of wine labels.

The market for wine labels is forecast to grow by 2% between 2016 and 2018, but in the Pacific Northwest, we’re pretty sure the growth’s going to be stronger that that.

With an increasingly competitive market, incorporating local producers, those from other parts of the United States, and international producers, wineries have to consider carefully the decisions they make on product marketing in order to maximize profitability for their product.

Consumers, faced with around 750 bottles to choose from (in a US supermarket) consumers will rely on wine labels, rather than looking at wine guides, reviews, advertising, and even above asking employees.

Label design has greatest influence in persuading wine novices than for connoisseurs. However, wine novices represent the vast majority of the wine market, at least by volume. They tend also to be the more price sensitive. This means therefore, that a good label design can help persuade a novice buyer to spend a little more on one wine over another, based on nothing else at all.

Generally, the advice we give out to up and coming wineries is to spend almost the same attention to planning the branding and image for your wines as you do their taste.  To read more about good wine label design principles… we’ve shared this great presentation found on LinkedIn.