Luxury packaging makes a difference
21 September 2012 – When a consumer lifts a package of Wagner Pralinen chocolates from the shelf, he or she can immediately tell that these chocolates are special. Wagner Pralinen’s name appears in embossed lettering, lending the overall packaging a delicate design. Window cut-outs offer a mouth-watering view of the chocolates themselves and provide added depth to the packaging. A spot-coated circle and embossed frame enlarge the image as if viewing the chocolates with a magnifying glass.
These are just a few of the elements incorporated into the specialty package finishing that clearly denote that these Wagner Pralinen chocolates are no ordinary treats, but are gourmet chocolates from a renowned praline manufacturer who uses the finest ingredients—in both the product and the packaging.
To achieve this outstanding effect, Wagner Pralinen commissioned Hammer-Lübeck Faltschachtelwerk and the Michael Derpmann agency (Derpmann Design) to develop and produce fine packaging for the firm’s family of chocolate products.
Derpmann Design’s stated aim was not to develop a wrapper but to develop a product that made emotions tangible, linking emotional product appeal with packaging that would stand out on shop shelves and denote luxury products from a highly individual brand. This was accomplished with high quality design, unique special finishing effects, and the best materials in the marketplace.
In constructing the packaging, Hammer-Lübeck faced the additional challenge of designing a package that would allow relatively thin and fragile chocolate bars to be delivered without damage. Using a design with a double-worked reverse side effectively addressed this issue. Hammer-Lübeck also took into consideration the requirement of Wagner Pralinen to offer its products under private labels in relatively small, customised runs, ensuring minimal tool changes to accommodate a change in branding.
“Because the Wagner Pralinen chocolate bars are very thin,” explains Christoph Grund, sales manager at Hammer-Lübeck, “one layer of paperboard with a basis weight of 300 g/m2 , with double rear-wall reinforcement, offered the necessary product protection. The design allowed us to process these special folding cartons mechanically rather than finishing them by hand, which would have increased the cost exponentially. We were also looking for a bright white board that would optimally highlight the embossing. And, of course, the combination of the board, made from virgin fibres, and the selected inks and varnishes, needed to conform to all current food packaging manufacturing regulations.”
Hammer-Lübeck also had to produce a variety of packages to accommodate a number of different product and branding versions, including the private label versions already referenced. Hammer-Lübeck was able to implement this variation cleanly and elegantly to provide consistent branding across all packaging types with minimal tool changes that kept the packaging affordable, regardless of the version or lot size for an individual version.
Hammer-Lübeck’s production process included the following stages:
• Bright white virgin fibre paperboard was covered with a special primer and a matt varnish.
• ‘Wagner’ lettering was applied with hot foil stamping in gold followed by the application of spot UV textured varnish.
• The various pigments produced a textured, glittery effect, emphasised by the use of matt and gloss textures.
• The ‘Wagner’ lettering, which is repeated across all white portions of the packaging, was embossed in a separate operation, as were the frame and the circle logo.
• The experts at Hammer-Lübeck then created the punch-outs in line with the specifications—window cut-outs which were either round, square or none, depending on the target product.
The final operation was the adhesion of the second layer of board on the reverse side of the carton to provide extra package strength and protect the delicate chocolates from breakage
