McDowell Label Impresses With Crisp Graphics and Text

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Executing crisp graphics and tight registration on a 50-micron shrink sleeve film could be a daunting task for some label printers. But when a longtime customer approached Plano, Texas-based McDowell Label about developing packaging for a new line of foaming hand soaps, there was never a question that it would be done to the customer’s exact specifications. John McDowell, president of McDowell Label, explains there wasn’t a time during what he describes as “the innovation and ideation” stage where the company had to reject any of the customer’s ideas.

“What makes me most proud is that we’re able to give our customers freedom of design,” he says. “There was never a point during this mutual dialogue of building this brand package that we ever told our customer, ‘no.’ We enjoy being able to deliver everything a customer wants when they’re building a brand new brand package portfolio.”

Not only was the Australian Gold Raspberry Vanilla foaming hand soap a brand new product, the brand owner had never utilized this specific film, adding to the excitement, McDowell explains. But because the film is very thin, special care had to be taken to achieve the high level of graphic reproduction and registration needed for the label design, he says.

“We were able to employ our crisp-dot technology on our HDUV platforms to get an exceptionally crisp and fine vignette, not just on this SKU, but on all the various ones within the portfolio,” he says.

By using crisp-dot technology, McDowell says the graphics would be clearer, more authentic, more pleasant to look at and even more engaging for the consumer.

“What’s unique about this brand package is that it emits the highest level of opacity for a shrink sleeve, so you get complete and total barrier protection from any light source affecting the product fill,” McDowell says. “Because of the opacity, when you have a portfolio with various product fills of different colors, none of those colors of the product fill affect the shelf appeal or the brand image to the consumer whether it’s in a lineup with the complete portfolio of SKUs or they’re individual stand alones.”

To execute such a difficult job, McDowell explains that the team worked closely with the customer during the ideation process.

“We walked through several conversations of all the desired brand essence criteria that [the customer] wanted to positively affect, from a shelf appeal capacity to a consumer experience capacity,” he says.

In the end, McDowell says the team was able to “pull off everything they asked for and more,” by actively listening to the customer and offering options and solutions to meet their needs.

“We have a vision statement, which is simply ‘We’re one company, one team, with one purpose — to provide innovative brand packaging solutions for those who demand excellence,’” he says. “But we have an unwritten, often spoken mission statement, and that is ‘We’re on the quest to print the perfect dot.’ And this brand package truly represents that quest.”