7 minute read
Expert Roundtable: Key Industry Label Trends
We kickoff this label journey with our global MCC experts who connected virtually to talk about the current trends in the automotive and chemicals industry. They discussed how to combat SKU proliferation, counterfeiting and product authentication, label embellishments for your products and sustainability. Apply these insights to your next product launch to stay up to date and to stand out from your competition.
How can MCC combat the large SKU proliferation that takes places in the automotive and chemical industry?
Hal Hunt: Historically we’ve seen brands grow from only two or three variations of a motor oil to now having several variations of the SKU. This rapid change has caused us to change how we operate with brands to ensure a successful product launch. One way to combat this is with digital printing. Digital printing is great for low volume orders when brands need to add that extra SKU. In addition, digital is a unified technology at MCC and with our presses across the world, we can easily print the same label in different regions of the world at the same time. This allows for a global campaign to be run simultaneously.
Another way we can help combat this is partnering with customers to focus on inventory and forecasting. Our customer service reps work closely with supply chains to make sure that when these SKU changes are happening, there is no obsolescence, and they have inventory to stock the shelves.
John Eyres: We can also tackle SKU proliferation thanks to our various printing technologies available for customers. They include flexographic, digital, lithography and rotogravure. This enables us to offer ‘right size printing’ which is picking the right print technology based on the size and scope for your order. If you have a large order volume or short run needed, we will match up the right print technology with your artwork to get the job done.
What can MCC do to help prevent products from being counterfeited?
Yann Quinche: MCC can help you protect your product by adding layers of security to the packaging. We can create custom security label solutions that combine authentication and identification features. I get the question all the time, ‘what is the difference between authentication and identification?’. Authentication is to ensure your end users that the product they purchase and will use has not been tampered or counterfeited by anyone. While identification is consumers need to be sure the product they buy or consume is sold in the intended market. Supply chain visibility and integrity are at the heart of ensuring consumers trust and safety.
John Eyres: Some of the security label features we can add to packaging include security inks, graphics, secure QR codes, RFID, NFC and EAS tags. Each of these have their own unique benefits depending on what your brand wants to accomplish. Like Yann said, we prioritize the challenges your brand faces and the trends we see in the industry to provide you with tailored security solutions.
I also want to mention that in addition to help prevent counterfeiting of your product, security solutions can protect your brand image, control your supply chain and defend your revenues and ensure trust and safety for the end user. These are important benefits to think about when deciding if you want to add some form of security to your packaging.
What are the top ways brands can stand out from their competition?
Hal Hunt: The automotive and chemical space is a very competitive market. Brands are continuously fighting for market share. If you want to stand out, you need to add some type of label embellishment to your packaging. Some of the most effective include foil embellishments, high gloss varnishes and focusing on your brand identity. You could make a section of your package shiny with cold foil to really attract the consumer. If a brand can focus on their brand identifiers like colors or logo, it can draw the consumer to their packaging and disrupt purchasing habits.
Shayne Kitts: You can implement a multi-teared approach for your product line. For a new product you could introduce a very high end, premium label with the embellishments Hal mentioned. Then as time goes by, you slowly reduce the number of embellishments on your products. You can do this because over time your brand loyalty and consumer interaction will increase based on the initial new product launch. But what I want to stress is that is very important to add embellishments to the right products to make that difference. Later on in this whitepaper we are going to cover multiple embellishments that you can implement to kick off your multi-teared approach plan.
John Eyres
Asia Sales Director at MCC
Yann Quinche
Global Security Solutions Expert at MCC
Hal Hunt
North American Global Key Account Manager at MCC
Shayne Kitts
North American Automotive & Chemicals Sales Director at MCC
Jason Bang: Instead of adding a premium label embellishment or in addition to one, brands can run promotional campaigns on their products using a QR code. You can create a rebate program that the customer can participate in by scanning the QR code to fill in their information and get that rebate. This simple trick can go a long way with being top of mind for the consumer and its just one way to utilize smart label technology.
How can automotive and chemical brands connect with their consumer?
Shayne Kitts: Jason briefly touched on this in the last question, but there are several ways to connect with the consumer. You can add augmented reality to your product to transform it into an intelligent package. The label will come to life after scanning it with your phone! Integrating this innovation enables you to showcase branded content, communicate the benefits of your product, technical information and so much more. For example, you can add augmented reality to a paint can and when the consumer scans it, they can see that exact paint color on the wall in front of them. Another idea could be adding an NFC tag to your lubricant oil bottle and when the consumer scans it, it brings up an instructional video on how to change their oil. The possibilities are endless when it comes to adding smart label technology to your packaging.
They can also partner with brand ambassadors to hold a contest. Every time the consumer purchases your product, they scan the NFC tag to see if they won the prize. The brand ambassador would appear on the smart phone telling them if they won or not. This gets the consumer excited about your product and ‘connect’ with the celebrity.
How do you increase speed to market?
Jason Bang: Two words: digital printing. MCC’s digital print platform and can provide you with quick turn solutions, enabling your brand to go to production quickly and also easily pivot when needed. We have seen an increased need for agile supply chains and fast time-to-market. Digital printing helps your brand achieve this and more especially when time to market speed is everything. Without the tooling, setup and production times needed for alternative printing methods, digital print jobs can be turned around extremely quickly, often reducing lead times from weeks to days. Digital printing drives supply chain efficiencies and accelerate speed to market. Shayne Kitts: We also stress early engagement between us and your company. This is the best way to mitigate risk and get your product on shelf. If there is an artwork change or an initiave gets changed, our team can work with together with you to ensure that if problems arise, we will solve them. Early engagement is also crucial with the number of regulatory changes that are constantly taking place within this market. Our teams can begin working immediately after the new label artwork is received to ensure the process is smooth, successful and hits the product launch deadline.
One final question, what are some sustainability trends we are seeing in this market and how can MCC help automotive and chemical customers address those?
Stijn Billiet: The biggest sustainability trend we are seeing right now is decarbonization. Companies want to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions originating from their products and processes as can be seen from the vast number of pledges and targets. Recently, several brand owners took this to the next level by targeting net-zero in the (near) future.
As a global supplier of premium label solutions, MCC wants to provide the market with label upgrades that meet those sustainability needs.
For the automotive and chemical customers, we have several options available that reduce material usage, such as introducing recycled content, reducing material thickness or introducing smart label technology. If you would like to know more, we highly recommend reaching out to us so we can bring you in contact with our local sustainability team, ensuring we provide you with the most sustainability solution that fits your needs.
Dr. Stijn Biliet
Global Director Sustainability at MCC
Jason Bang
Asia Business Development Regional Manager at MCC
Jason Bang, Asia Business Development Regional Manager at MCC
