Member Article

Sun Branding Solutions delivers real gold lux for Comfort limited edition

Comfort has launched its latest fabric softener with real gold particles featuring an innovative on-pack concept through Sun Branding Solutions.

The brand and packaging specialist worked with Unilever’s design agency and print supplier to bring an opulent look for Comfort’s limited edition Luxurious ultra-concentrated fabric softener, creating a 3D effect to the pack using specialist print finishes and innovative ink.

Print trials showed that metallic inks weren’t producing a strong enough finish on the gravure shrink sleeve label, so Sun Branding built artwork using two layers of white to increase opacity, then a solar gold varnish with real gold particles to bring sparkle to the pack.

Sun Branding account director Kevin McAulay says the innovative design would never have come about without a joined up approach between Unilever’s design agency, print supplier and the Sun Branding team.

“Unilever recognised the importance of print trials from the outset,” he said. “That was important because printing a design of this complexity is a delicate art. The project’s success came down to having all the technical experts in the same place from the beginning. We had a clear visualisation of the finished product before it went to press and everyone was aligned the whole way through.”

Sun Branding also used IC3D’s innovative 3D rendering software to bring the product to life before production began, to show the client how the pack would look from all angles, and how the design could be adapted so that the shrink wrap format didn’t detract from the designers’ original vision. This not only allowed the client to review the final product in 3D without paying for costly samples, it meant the whole artwork process was completed in just one week.

Sun Branding previously worked with Unilever on the launch of its new ultra-concentrated Comfort Intense fabric conditioner in March 2015, devising a pioneering shrink-wrap procedure to eliminate distortion and maintain consistency.

‘Luxurious’ is the latest of a series of variants of the ultra-concentrated ‘Intense’ range, following on from ‘Fresh Sky’, ‘Fuchsia Passion’, ‘Sunburst’, and ‘Ocean Pearl’.

Yasemin Kural, European brand manager at Comfort, said: “Comfort Intense Luxurious is our big news for 2016. We have a brilliant product and really wanted to shout it from the pack. Sun Branding Solutions has been crucial to the process with its innovation and experience in special effects, bringing colours alive with mixtures rather than special Pantone colours. The 3D software it used to check every element of the pack secured perfect results first time.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alex Sampson .