Food & Dairy Digital special by MCC Label

Digital Print Unlimited Innovative solutions to boost your food & dairy brand

Dear reader, Today’s consumer landscape is a fast and ever-evolving place. With more choice and access to education than ever before, today’s food and dairy consumers are savvy and demanding. In response to these changing tides, brands today must be agile and responsive. In this whitepaper, we share how MCC’s digital print platform provides quick turn solutions, enabling your brand to go to production quickly, and easily pivot when needed. Digital technology allows for the utmost in individualization, including unlimited design options in a single print run. This capability provides the ability to test-market different design concepts easily or incorporate a Collage of graphics- a feat not doable with other print platforms. With the same impeccable level of quality as other print solutions, digital technology also allows for a wide range of unique embellishments, regardless of quantity. This makes it the ideal solution for low order volumes. For customers typically printing large volumes on other platforms, digital can provide the perfect opportunity for special seasonal marketing releases or limited-edition runs. As well as featuring case studies from around the globe we have included unique digital campaigns for you to draw inspiration from. Learn how you can benefit from digital print’s speed, versatility and personalization to maxmimize your brand’s impact. We are excited to share our knowledge and experience with you, and hope it spurs creativity, drive, and the quest to let your label tell your story. Thank you, The MCC Food & Dairy Team

In this issue

8-25

4-7

Unique Techniques to Make Customization a Reality

Digital Print: The Solution for a Changing Consumer

26-31

Faster Speed to Market

32-35

Cost Savings Won Through Digital

36-38

Going Green with Digital

Visit our website www.mcclabel.com to discover more on how our premium label solutions can meet your needs.

“Digital Print Unlimited. Innovative solutions to boost your food & dairy brand” is a publication of MCC. Copyright © by MCC. All rights reserved. The content of this document, including all copy, images, and attachment(s) are property of MCC and should be treated as confidential. It cannot be shared with or forwarded to third parties and cannot be published without MCC’s prior permission. If you have any questions regarding the use of this document, please email marketing@mcclabel.com.

Digital Print: The Solution for a Changing Consumer The shifting landscape is led by the powerful millennial generation, a group that has managed to disrupt traditional market trends with their preferences. They know what they want and more importantly, they know what they don’t want in the products and brands they embrace.

The millennial generation has several key traits that distinguish themselves from their counterparts: Environmentally conscious They value brands and products that are sustainable, natural, and earth friendly.

Uniqueness is king Individuality and differentiation are important, not only within themselves, but also in the products they use. Personalization is a big plus to this generation.

Social media savvy Millennials grew up in a socially connected world. They are well-versed in sharing their preferences and experiences with others in their network.

Brand agnostic For the aforementioned reasons, millennials choose to make their own mind up about how they feel about brands instead of relying on long-standing history or reputation. They will rally behind brands and products that fit their own lifestyle and preferences.

Seek experiences They thrive on experiences and enjoy sharing these with their friends and loved ones.

“

Today’s consumers are dynamic, creative, and agile. We are proud to offer solutions through our digital print platform that can respond to these needs, with both speed and innovation.” Rachel Tzirin, Global Director Digital Sales at MCC

Product lifecycles are getting shorter 2.25 Years

1980’s 1990’s

1.67 Years 1.08 Years

2000’s 0.62 Years

Today Tomorrow 0

100

Source: Colgate-Palmolive business analysis

200

300

Launch

400

Replenish

500

600

700

800

Phase Out

Responding to the trends: the digital print solution In response to these changing tides, brands today must be extremely agile and responsive. Their offerings must be refreshed often, showing not only innovation and creativity, but a desire to engage and connect with consumers. Above all, the pressure on brands to get to market quickly is stronger than ever before. The product lifecycle has changed dramatically, with speed to market increasing by over 70% over the last several decades. Brands must keep up, or risk being left behind. The digital print platform has been a benchmark of adaptability. Its core benefits make it an ideal and versatile solution for today’s dynamic consumer set. Reduced cost With digital print, you don’t have to be dependent on product life cycles. Print what you want, when you need it.

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. Variable Data Since digital print is a plateless printing technology, the possibilities are literally endless. This flexibility delivers a unique brand experience with the ability to create Collage, variable numbering/imaging, and much more. This differentiation provides countless opportunities for customer engagement, loyalty, and marketing campaigns. The personalization capacity of variable data is one of the most attractive features for creative brands and marketers. Using this innovation, brands can reflect individuality and promote brand loyalty.

Mosaic allows for hyper-customization of labels, with the ability to produce totally unique and customized versions, so every single label could be different from the last and 100% unique. Studies have shown that this uniqueness resonates with today’s consumer. It can also be leveraged for seasonal or specific marketing campaigns, point-of-sale displays, loyalty programs, or any other creative use that can be dreamed up. Similar in concept to Mosaic, digital print can also provide what is known as a Collage effect. Whereas Mosaic prints completely unique images on each

label, Collage takes the same elements, yet renders them differently on each label. Using one file, the art can be rotated, scaled, or changed in color to create different designs, maximizing the overall impact of your packaging. Environmentally conscious Digital print produces less waste, a lower carbon footprint, and non-renewable energy consumption. With its capacity for short runs and just-in-time production, it greatly reduces scrap and waste.

Digital saves you time and money by optimizing production Analog printing workflow

Design & Prepress

Plate making

Make ready registration

Make ready color

Printing

Converting

Finished product

Storage

Digital printing workflow

Design & Prepress

Printing

Converting

Finished product

Storage

Print what is needed, when it is needed! Product lifecycle:

1 Market testing Market acceptance needs to be tested - low volume requirements. Digital permits several short runs as pilots in the market.

2 Product launch Once the product is proved viable, the brand produces the volume needed per reasonable time in the market, 2-3 weeks.

Controlled supply Here the brand enters a phase of fragmented deliveries helping supply chain and reducing inventories / risk.

4 Product Refresh This can last as long as the product remains under one graphic, if there is a need for a refresh, the graphics can be altered at low volume until…

5 Phase Out The brand wants to discontinue this product and orders decrease up until fade out.

3 Unique Techniques to Make Customization a Reality Explore one-of-a-kind personalization to make your brand memorable.

Digital printing offers personal consumer experiences Digital printing offers so many opportunities to stand out from your competition. Your packaging is the face of your brand and is one of the few ways you can build an emotional connection with consumers. No brand has the resources to personally hand-wrap and deliver products to consumers, which means this personal experience needs to be replaced in other ways. The three techniques In this section you will explore three different digital printing techniques that offer the personal experience brands desire. The three digital printing techniques covered are: Mosaic, Variable Data, and Collage. You will first learn the technical aspects of how each technique works, how the design files

are manipulated, what information MCC needs from brands, etc. Creative use cases After you understand more about the technical aspects of a particular technique, you will then discover some creative use cases within the food and dairy market. We have included nice promotional ideas in the following pages, but we invite you to let your imagination run wild with promotional ideas you could implement on your brand. Want some help brainstorming ideas? No problem! We offer workshops with our experts to see how we can enhance your brand’s label through the customized options digital printing offers. See below on how you can request a workshop!

Interested in learning more about digital printing’s techniques and capabilities? Request a workshop with us so we can brainstorm a customized solution for your brand! Contact marketing@mcclabel.com

1. Mosaic

One pattern, endless perspectives Different perspectives of the same pattern will be printed on the label. The output of mosaic labels are endless. The Mosaic software program crops, rotates, expands, and mixes seed files to create randomized artwork patterns that produce a 100% unique label for each unit. Digital print that utilizes the HP Mosaic software can vary the image background or fixed image in many ways.

What is mosaic? • Mosaic is a design tool which enables us to automatically create millions of unique designs from the one pattern we design. • What could be created manually with months of manual labor is executed within minutes.

• The key is to control the automation so each unique outcome is a design you would sign as yours. • Each variation is a masterpiece of your creation!

What does mosaic do? The mosaic algorithm performs three actions: 1. rotate 2. zoom-in (scale) 3. crop It will do so as many times as you tell it, and each time will extract a variation of the original pattern. We control the zoom and rotate ratio’s from the Smartstream Designer menu in Adobe Illustrator with familiar buttons and tool bars: 1. how much to zoom in? 2. free rotate or limited? 360˚?

Seed Pattern

Cropping area

Rotation

Scale

Maximizing automation on the shelf Creating a series of SKU’s with one pattern •

• •

A big challenge for the packaging designer would be to create a coherent series of SKU’s of one product, maintaining consistency and at the same time disrupting a shelf. With mosaic it is possible, and easy to develop such an on-shelf appeal. With one pattern, planned correctly, and a changing background you will automatically achieve this target in minutes!

Mosaic

Case #1

Unique Labels for Brand Anniversary In honor of Pepe the Chili Pepper’s 100th birthday, Spicy Hot Salsa wanted to celebrate by transforming their traditional salsa jar into millions of one-of-a-kind designs. By utilizing mosaic printing, they were able to crop, rotate, expand, and mix seed files to create randomized artwork patterns that output a 100% unique label for each unit. This label upgrade catches consumers’ eyes at shelf. When they are all displayed together, it looks more like artwork than a regular label. Consumers have the fun experience of reviewing all the unique designs and picking their favorite. It also brings nice attention to their accomplishment of 100 years! Spicy Hot Salsa has an additional opportunity to get consumers to buy more than one salsa at a time. Due to the beautiful aesthetic of all the jars together, it is likely that a consumer would be influenced to buy several to create an attractive display at home.

Win for brand owner: • Draws attention to their 100th Anniversary • Catches consumers’ eyes at shelf, increased visibility = increased sales • Influences consumers to buy multiple at a time Win for consumer: • Fun experience to pick the label they like best • A nice display for a party at their home

“

Thanks to the Mosaic technique, we generate millions of unique designs every year based on one single pattern design. Onno Hesselink - Creative Director, iO Belgium

2. Variable data Personalize your label

This type of printing allows you to personalize text and images, which is perfect for adding a touch of innovation and differentiation to your labels. The various print engines recreate randomized or sequential images and data to be featured as another element to your base artwork. You can choose to have variable data/images with or without repeats, which is a great feature for games and promotions, as there will only be one winning number.

What is Variable Data? • Computer aided management of graphics and data. • Driving consumer engagement to increase sales lift and responsiveness. • Create programs utilizing base designs with content windows. • Graphics, colors, content, numbers, codes, dates, and directions can all be modified in unison or individually.

• Quick entry with limited obsolescence is easily achievable. • Computer aided management of graphics and data. • Driving consumer engagement to increase sales lift and responsiveness. • Database feeds directly into software management for impression at press. • Templates created with rules on population by region, date, brand, or overall percentage.

What does Variable Data do? • Create programs utilizing base designs with content windows. • Graphics, colors, content, numbers, codes, dates, and directions can all be modified in unison or individually.

• Quick entry with limited obsolescence is easily achievable.

Input data New York Paris Brussels Rome London San Francisco

Type

Dynamic image

Application

HP Variable Data PRINT

Variable Data

Case #2

Hidden Image Giveaway Salty Snacks company would like to come up with a unique way to encourage consumption of their peanut products. To do this, they are opting to implement double-sided printing (sometimes called ‘sandwich printing’) in conjunction with variable data. When the peanut jar is full, you cannot see the image that is printed on the reverse side of the label. You can only see what image lies on the label once the peanuts are eaten. The motivating factor to reveal the image is that if you get a star image, you win a prize! They can then send a picture of their star label into the brand to collect their prize and show proof they have won. This campaign encourages consumers to eat the peanuts at a faster rate to see if they won. Even if they don’t win on their first try, it encourages repeat purchase so they can try their luck again. This adds fun, excitement, and mystery to any brand wanting to increase sales!

Win for brand owner: • Influence consumers to buy multiple at a time to increase chance of winning • Encourages repeat purchases, even if they lost • Consumers are likely to consume product faster and buy more • Social media opportunities to post pictures of product winners Win for consumer: • Mystery aspect adds excitement to the consumption experience • Opportunity to win a prize

Variable Data Case #3

Contest Inspired Collector Series Dino Cookies’ goal is to make a fun experience for their consumers and stand out from their competition. Through variable data, they can make custom codes on the label for consumers to enter online. Once a consumer enters 10 codes, they win a prize! Imagine little Johnny and his parents shopping in the grocery store. Johnny is very excited to pick out cookies for the week! He is looking at the shelf, then sees the opportunity to win a prize with Dino Cookies! He pushes aside his old favorite cookies because he would love to see what kind of prize he could get with this new brand. When his parents explain that you need to enter 10 unique codes to win, Johnny begs his parents to buy several cookie containers. They leave with more than they were planning and a very excited child! In the next week, they continue to buy more Dino Cookies and eventually win the prize they were working towards.

Johnny has a new favorite brand with this positive experience, and the family fell in love with the new cookies that they would have never tried before!

Win for brand owner: • Influence consumers to buy multiple at a time • New consumers they would have never won before Win for consumer: • Fun experience to enter the unique codes & win a prize • Discovered a new cookie they love

Variable Data

Case #4

Game Piece Promotion Hungry Jack’s | MCC Victoria (Australia) The brand Hungry Jack’s is a popular restaurant in Australia known for their flame-grilled burgers. Looking to increase traffic to their restaurants and engage with consumers, Hungry Jack’s launched an interactive giveaway leveraging the popularity of the classic Mattel card came, UNO™. The challenge The stakeholders knew that many aspects of this campaign must be precisely executed to be successful. Among those aspects were complete accountability for game piece codes, food grade labels that could withstand the various conditions and high-quality labels that looked great on the food packaging. Prizes, odds of winning and giveaway values are carefully calculated, and game codes must comply with contest rules. The game piece labels would travel to the drink cup and fry scoop manufacturer, be applied to the

Win for brand owner: • Influence impulse purchase once they see the opportunity for a prize • Encourages repeat purchases even if they lost • Social media opportunities to post pictures of product winners Win for consumer: • Mystery aspect adds excitement to the consumption experience • Opportunity to win a prize

packaging then travel to each restaurant until it was time to deliver hot fries and cold drinks to the customer. This meant the labels must withstand transportation and the various temperature variations and oils from the food. Finally, the label must attract the attention and present the classic, well-known UNO™ brand. The solution The Victoria, Australia MCC location was well equipped to print this type of controlled label with the required security features to deter fraud and counterfeiting. Keeping track of millions of codes was done by adding additional quality control features into the print process. This allowed us to track game codes ensuring that pieces aligned as they were switched from one press to the other. The result Games and Promotional experts within MCC have decades of experience executing these types of campaigns and used that knowhow to make this a success for Hungry Jack’s. Tens of millions of labels were delivered to the customer and the sweepstake was in market in May 2021. This has been a massive success for Hungry Jack’s. They were very happy with the appearance of the label and the functional construction of the game piece. Through collaboration and bringing skills together from all businesses, an innovative and unique promotion experience has been brought to life.

Sold in Brussels Sold in Paris

Variable Data

Sold in New York

Case #5

Limited Edition Regional Labels Midnight Chocolate Company would like to release a special edition label and product flavor for the holidays. They have always produced their typical milk and dark chocolate year-round but wanted to add a special peppermint chocolate flavor to their product line in the holiday months. In addition to the peppermint flavor, they also wanted to dress up their signature flavors with a season greeting message available in different languages according to country. Geography and time-specific campaigns get the best response from consumers because they feel ‘noticed’ and engaged by the brand. Due to MCC’s global network, campaigns can run simultaneously in different countries. The peppermint flavor addition adds to the holiday spirit and encourages consumers to try the product. The holiday message also allows for consumers to stop and notice this on shelf, and even give as stocking stuffers or small gifts around the holidays!

Digital printing is the clear solution for a campaign like this because you can plan timeframes, print quickly in smaller quantities as needed, distribute easily, and adjust language, SKU, or any other need on-the-fly.

Win for brand owner: • More likely for consumers to try the new flavor and adopt the brand • Increased sales due to increased visibility surrounding campaign Win for consumer: • Unique language and holiday message makes consumers feel noticed and engaged by the brand • New idea for stocking stuffer/small gift

Variable Data

MADE WITH LOVE BY GRACE B.

Case #6

Creator Name Series Ice cream brand, Krazii Kones would like to showcase their craft ice creams and show that each ice cream is made with love. To bring more attention to the human element behind the production of their ice cream, they utilize digital printing to include a message “Made with love by (Insert Name)”. Krazii Kones would submit the names of who was working at each location on a particular day to MCC. The team at MCC would then create variable labels that corresponded to who was creating the ice cream that day. When the consumer notices this on their package, they get a warm feeling that a human was behind making the ice cream, rather than assume it is all just machinery. The consumer feels loyal to Krazii Kones and purchases again to see the next name of the person who was creating their ice cream.

Win for brand owner: • Increased sales due to brand loyalty of supporting craft/small business • More likely for repeat purchases to see what name will appear next Win for consumer: • Feels good about supporting a craft business that places importance on the human element • Surprised and delighted to see the name of the person and wants to share the experience with a friend

Interactive Educational Label Delicious Dash food spice brand wants to inspire consumers with new recipes to try using their spices. Through digital printing’s variable data, they can put custom QR codes on their labels to educate consumers. If someone wants to see cooking videos with a taco spice vs a chicken recipe spice, they will scan a different code leading to customized videos showing the many ways they can use the spices to enhance their dish. At the end of the learning videos, Delicious Dash promotes the other videos available for its spice range. This campaign gives consumers more inspiration and education, providing ideas they never thought of on how to use the spices. In addition, it allows Delicious Dash to increase sales and cross promote new flavors.

Variable Data

Case #7

Win for brand owner: • Increased sales due to consumers using the spices more after learning about the new recipes to try • Ability to cross sell and promote new spice flavors Win for consumer: • More education and inspiration on how to use the spices • Customized content that is convenient and easy to access (right on the bottle!)

3. Collage

Limitless compositions, limitless creativity Collage is a unique technique that allows you to make many different labels using the same components. Each component can vary randomly in size and place. This printing technique changes the elements randomly, giving endless label designs for your product.

What is Collage? • Collage is a design tool which enables us to automatically create millions of compositions from the seed elements we design. • What could be created manually with months of manual labor is executed within minutes.

• The key is to control the automation so each unique outcome is a design you would sign as yours.

What does Collage do? The collage algorithm places icons to create a unique composition per your instructions: 1. how many of each icon? min-max quantity 2. zoom ratio’s for each (scale) 3. how do different icons relate to each other The algorithm will do so as many times as you tell it, and each time will extract a different composition following your criteria as defined above. We control the zoom and number of appearances of each icon; we control the area the composition will fill; Do the icons overlap? do they rotate fully? do they mirror?

Each variation is a masterpiece of your creation!

Collage in practice • • • • • •

You supply the basic elements and define rules Minimum/Maximum number of appearances Minimum / Maximum scaling; Scattering; Flip / Rotate; Relationship between different icons

The ultimate solution for series Creating a product line from an icon •

• •

A big challenge for the packaging designer would be to create a coherent series of SKU’s of one product, maintaining consistency and at the same time disrupting a shelf. Design a series of icons and expand them into millions of different variations! Design a visual language and expand it so the shelf explodes with color and the customers connect and engage!

Collage

Case #8

Design Inspired Collector Series DrizzleDip olive oil brand would like to stand out to consumers while they are passing the store shelf and also prevent counterfeiting. To achieve this stopping power, DrizzleDip is opting to enhance their label though digital printing’s Collage solution. Collage creates millions of variations from one specific image. In this instance, the olive graphics are in different locations within the label. When all placed together, the consumer will see this beautiful display and notice that they are all different. Stopping the consumer to notice this change is huge for brands, as once someone has picked up a product, they are 80% more likely to put it in their shopping cart rather than back on the shelf. The consumer remembers that they have a dinner party coming up and would like multiple options for people to choose from with their olive oils. The labels sitting next to one another is a beautiful display, so they choose to buy multiple flavors with the olives appearing to dance across the labels. This allows the creation of a fun series, liveliness, and excitement on shelf, while maintaining a recognizable look and feel of the brand. To prevent counterfeiting, DrizzleDip places a QR code on the label, that when scanned, shows product authenticity. The consumer walks away satisfied that they have a nice dinner display and can be assured of a quality product!

Interested in brand protection for your product? Request our Intelligent Food Labeling Whitepaper. Here you can discover how digitally connected labels support traceability efforts via unique serialized identities.

Win for brand owner: • Consumers encouraged to buy multiple products at a time • Prevents counterfeiting • Increased sales with better stopping power at shelf Win for consumer: • Beautiful display for dinner party • Assured of quality product

Faster Speed to Market Demand plays a big role for food brand owners. If consumers can’t get their food & dairy products immediately, they will begin to look for new products that are more readily available. Digital printing has the great benefit of speed. In fact, it is the fastest printing solution in the market today. Digital printing offers the fastest speed to market over other printing technologies because it does not require tooling. Plate making and make ready steps are eliminated, allowing you to skip right to printing your labels (see workflows below to compare between analog printing and digital printing).

Premium labels with the same quality and attention to detail as the product Cook’s | MCC San Luis Obispo, California (USA) Gourmet flavoring company, Cook’s takes great care in all that they do, including their package decoration. The brand Founded in 1918 by Angus Lochhead, Cook’s Vanilla has been providing decerning customers with premium flavoring for more than 100 years. Their attention to detail and passion for crafting the highest quality vanilla has resulted in a wide variety of flavor infused vanillas and products that are favored by bakers with the highest of standards.

Success Story: Speed to Market

Cook’s Flavoring

Cook’s can accommodate for every vanilla flavoring need from small home kitchen use to large scale production. Their extraction process and best-inclass manufacturing means they’re able to package anything from 4 oz. bottled extracts to a 250 gallon ‘tote’ for a nationally distributed baker.

Success Story: Speed to Market 28

The challenge Cook’s extensive offering of specialty vanilla flavorings in various sizes and formats added to the complexity of the recent label production. After undergoing a successful label redesign, Cook’s applied their attention to detail to the labels, wanting to make sure brand standards and color consistency were precise. Typically, extensive press checks and the creation of multiple press proofs are required to ensure accuracy and gain color approval. With Cook’s more than 200 SKUs, executing that process would require a daunting 65 plus hours of work. The solution Knowing that quality and accuracy was very important to the customer, MCC developed a time-saving solution to digitally print numerous press-proofs for key SKUs, sizes and formats. This process dramatically reduced the number of press-proofs needed, while still allowing the customer to confirm quality and approve color consistency, density and saturation. “Our complete label redesign here at Cook’s was an exciting project and a big undertaking. MCC was a key ingredient to the success of our re-branding. They were our partners, working closely with our team here at Cook’s to ensure our new labels were perfect. The MCC team is friendly, easy to work with, while at the same time, very thorough, and detail oriented.

“

Our complete label redesign here at Cook’s was an exciting project and a big undertaking. MCC was a key ingredient to the success of our rebranding. They were our partners, working closely with our team here at Cook’s to ensure our new labels were perfect.” Josephine Lochhead, President & CEO at Cook’s

They held our hand through the process, bending over backwards, giving us impeccable customer service and flawless results. No shortcuts with MCC. Every label is perfect! We not only found an unrivaled printer for our artisanal products, but found good friends as well.” says Josephine Lochhead, President & CEO at Cook’s Flavoring Company. The result A perfect combination of premium label enhancements and time-saving value-added services. Cook’s labels are printed on 70# Bright White Felt with embossing on the Cook’s name, highlighted by gold foil and screen gloss. Cook’s was very happy with the final outcome and continues to partner with MCC for their labeling needs.

Success Story: Speed to Market

Rudi’s Pepperfire Hot Sauce Brooks Pepperfire Foods Inc| MCC Montreal, Quebec (Canada)

Helping each customer with the passion and attention that they deserve. Specialty sauce company, Rudi’s Hot Sauce, receives a label worthy of their tasty sauces.

The brand Those who enjoy hot sauce will tell you, there’s something special about their excitement for flavor and their affinity towards delighting their tastebuds with that peppery bite. The passionate people behind Brooks Pepperfire Foods and Rudi’s Hot Sauce have generations of experience with peppers and crafting unique sauces. Brooks Pepperfire Foods is a copacker for many different artisanal companies. When the owner’s son, Rudi Brooks started his own company he hired his Dad’s company to be his copacker. Like any brand owner, Rudi needed to ensure the quality of his product and he was sure that nobody could do it so well. BPFI is now encouraging its other brands to upgrade their labels as well. Great care and attention are put forth to create flavorful sauces each with their own amount of heat. It’s not just the flavor that they care about, it’s also the ingredients. Rudi’s prides themselves on leaving out preservatives, making them all-natural, gluten-free and no GMO’s. The challenge As Rudi’s expanded their sauce offerings and appealed to an ever-growing fan-base, their bottle needed a label that was as premium and high quality as their product. Entrepreneurs with passion for their product often do whatever it takes to get their product to market. In this case, the owners were spending countless hours with antiquated printers self-applying homemade paper labels that were easily damaged during the application process or transportation. The solution MCC has solutions for businesses at all stages of their growth path. We make sure each customer feels cared for and appreciated regardless of order volume or contract value. In this situation, we knew that we could drastically improve the customer’s label quality and attractiveness while providing the low volume quantities this small business needed. Our team in Quebec, Canada knew this project would be perfect for our digital printing option. Digital

“

Before (left) and after (right) the label redesign

printing would deliver the attractive embellishments and allow for the lower volume production run. The result A label that is an improvement over the previous version in every way. Their new labels enhance the visual appeal of the product and present a more polished final product. The embellishments attract attention and ensure what’s inside was carefully crafted. The label is printed digitally using CMYK ink variances and runs on a metalized BOPP substrate with a protective varnish. These pressure sensitive labels were the perfect update this product needed. The improvements have allowed the owners to redirect their attention away from label printing and application and towards developing new flavorful creations. Brooks Pepperfire Foods and Rudi’s is very happy with their new labels and conversation have already began for their upcoming products outside of hot sauces.

MCC was fast and accurate. They helped us transition to a more automated label application system. The first printing of labels was personally delivered to us, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome.” Greg Brooks, CEO & Peppermaster at Brooks Pepperfire Foods Inc.

Cost Savings Won Through Digital Digital printing eliminates the need for tooling costs. If you have a short run or low quantity of labels needed, it can often be costprohibitive to invest in tooling to make a printing plate or cylinder. Explore success stories on how brands were able to get a better bang for their buck!

The Real Dill | MCC Algoma, Wisconsin (USA)

Success Story: Cost Savings

The Real Dill Sees Real Value in Digital Printing Justin and Tyler, owners of The Real Dill, started out by just making pickles for fun. As time went on, they spent all their free time dreaming up new pickle recipes and perfecting their craft. After a year and a half, Justin got married and supplied a batch of pickles as a wedding favor for guests. The overwhelming positive feedback from guests confirmed they have something special and should get more serious about making this into a business. A happy accident In 2012, Justin and Tyler joined the local farmers market circuit and quit their jobs. Their small product lineup began to grow. One of the ways their lineup grew was through a happy accident. During their pickling process, a delicious and refreshing cucumber-infused water is made. Instead of dumping it down the drain, the pair developed a Bloody Mary Mix featuring this unique byproduct as the star ingredient. Their Bloody Mary Mixes are so popular, Justin and Tyler joke that they are no longer a pickle company, but a Bloody Mary company with a pickle problem! Expensive pre-press costs As the business continued to flourish, The Real Dill began to attract more clients wanting to sell their product. A large Deli in the Denver area approached The Real Dill saying they would like to sell a private label Bloody Mary Mix under their house brand.

Producing many different SKUs with varying artwork would normally involve a significant investment in prepress costs. Each new SKU would need a new plate. Costs to make these plates would add up quickly! The solution: digital printing The Real Dill reached out to MCC asking how we could accommodate his client. They wanted to offer the private label, just couldn’t justify the upfront costs for tooling. MCC informed The Real Dill that we have digital printing capabilities. Because digital printing doesn’t use plates, you eliminate the costly pre-press and version change costs. The Real Dill agreed that digital printing was the answer for this project. The combination of small volumes across multiple SKUs, and no pre-press costs made it clear digital was the winning solution. The Deli in Denver received their Bloody Mary Mix private labels, and The Real Dill was able to deliver it at a reasonable cost!

Success Story: VINELLA

Der Kuss für den Gaumen

“Schwarze Nüsse” VINELLA Vinella | MCC Bingen (Germany) VINELLA - Der Kuss für den Gaumen treats its customers‘ palate to sensational and culinary delights. On their way to becoming a national brand, the Rapp family made an impression on many with a modern, albeit classical, label design. The subtle details enhance and reflect their exceptional quality products.

Situated in the heart of the Nahe region of Germany, VINELLA, a family-owned and run business and producer of exquisite delicacies, makes a range of home-grown, untreated delicious fruit jams, chutneys, mustards and other tasty morsels. The Rapp Philosophy; regional, organic and homemade, which is apparent in their famous “Schwarze Nüsse” (Black Walnuts). From harvesting and hand-stirring of the infusion with a wooden spoon, through to bottling and labelling, all processes take place by hand from start to finish. Those who discover these delicacies are literally rewarded with a “culinary kiss”. So what is so special about “black walnuts”, also known as “Pfälzer Trüffel”? They are harvested earlier than usual whilst still soft and their preparation is a timely one, including six

months of maturation. As an accompaniment to soft cheese, game pâté or even with vanilla ice cream, this speciality is absolutely perfect for any special occasion and rewards all “Food Addicts” with an explosive taste-bud experience. Such delicacies are worthy of a classy label, refined yet at the same time exhibiting the handmade character of both product and family philosophy. The cornerstone has been laid and together with the fresh, appealing and colourful eye-catching Design, VINELLA is well on it`s way to becoming a national Gourmet Brand. The labels were digitally printed, produced in small numbers and finished with gold hot-foil embossed lettering and baseline. The outstandingly beautiful result reflects not only the high-quality and exclusivity of the Rapp family products, but also their passion-driven work.

“

Both design agency and MCC were geared to our needs. The professional and efficient teamwork has definitely paid off.” Dr. Andreas Rapp, VINELLA-Der Kuss für den Gaumen

Looking for more inspiration on label embellishments? Request our new LabelTalk magazine

Sustainability

Going Green with Digital With Digital print’s plateless technology, there is no need for tooling costs. This not only saves brands on cost, but it also has advantages for the environment. Read on to discover more!

Sustainability

Why Sustainability Matters Consumers today demand greater and more ardent responses from vendors on their sustainability efforts. Brands need to take the lead on seeking ways to lower their carbon footprint, reduce pollution and be responsible citizens of the world. In response, brands are putting sustainability objectives at the top of their agenda and most companies have set goals around sustainability policies and printed materials. Digital printing is well placed to help reach these goals by reducing waste and lessening the environmental impact of printing.

75% of Millennials & Gen Z only engage with brands that protect the Earth

Brands are responding to environmental legislation & stricter consumer demands

Governments are accelerating new sustainability regulations

The transition to a circular economy is driving change in packaging

Sustainability

Go Green with Digital Printing Sustainability in printing Whether environmental impacts are a driver for choosing digital printing from the outset or simply an add-on benefit downstream, digital printing offers clear advantages in this area. Traditional printing has some environmental impacts throughout the process, including: • Plate production • Plate cleaning (including high water requirements) • Disposal of plates after use • Wasted packaging due to changes, outdated materials or printing more than needed. With digital, you print only what you need, where and when you need it. From long runs and large inventories that may go unsold, to short-run, on-demand printing, it’s the nature of digital to make printing more sustainable. Advantages include: • The ability to prevent and reduce waste because of the minimal print setup. • Overall less material & energy usage by avoiding the need for plates/cylinders and its cleaning. At MCC we aim to provide our customers with the most optimum label offering that is also going to provide the most sustainable solution. This is not only taking into account the label construction but also the way this is produced. We optimize our supply chain and production process, by maintaining a continuous improvement approach in each facility globally. Where

“

With its capacity for short runs and just-in-time production, digital print offers the opportunity to reduce scrap and waste, leading to a lower carbon footprint.” Stijn Billiet, Global Director of Sustainability at MCC

our aim is to reduce energy and water usage, as well as implementing waste reduction strategies. For lower volumes, digital printing is the perfect solution to provide a high quality label that is produced in a sustainable way. MCC has digital presses across the globe and the number is still increasing. MCC invests in presses that are designed to work as sustainable as possible and use water recycling in combination with green cooling systems. The last additions to our digital printing assets were even produced in a carbon neutral way.

Create efficiencies via short run printing • By integrating technology in supply chain • To lower costs and avoid minimum order quantities • Launch NPDs and better manage tail SKUs

Amplify sustainability messaging via consumers • To accelerate sales • To strengthen consumer engagement via personalization

Want to learn about more sustainable label solutions? Request our Sustainability Roadmap

Discover our Knowledge Center! Discover educational topics in your favorite format such as video, whitepapers and offline magazines to help you grow and innovate your business. Click here to visit the Food & Dairy Knowledge Center

Webinars Providing you with dedicated Food & Dairy webinars.

Whitepapers Learn about the latest market trends and innovations in our Food & Dairy whitepapers!

3 reasons to get in touch with our digital experts from around the globe

Digital print provides a quick turnaround time, enabling you to get to market quickly.

Capability for small order volumes and multiple product SKU’s gives your brand flexibility.

Interested in learning more about digital printing? Request a workshop with us so we can brainstorm a customized solution for your brand! Contact Rachel Tzirin to get you in touch with your local digital solutions expert

Stay relevant and maintain brand identity with easy change of graphics.