Johannesburg, 20 Sep 2023
Winning a FINAT Global Award is no mean feat and it clearly means a great deal to the team at Lebone Paarl Labels – coming as it does in the wake of their recent successes in the GAPP Awards. We spoke to the team in Paarl to learn more about the significance of this award and how it was achieved.
They explained that this award vindicates their claims to be able to compete at the highest levels not just within the South African market, but internationally too, and has helped the company benchmark itself against the global industry. They attribute this notable success to a combination of people, relationships and technology, and to the impact of great design.
Winning formula
Lebone Paarl Labels has always based its approach to business on long-lasting, personal relationships with customers, and on introducing value-added innovations such as fluted foil embossing. The labels that won this award originated in a customer request – further proof of the trust and confidence that customers have in Lebone Paarl Labels and their ability to think outside the box.
Relationships with designers and design agencies are also a key part of this success story – they enable everyone involved to push just that little bit harder and achieve labels that are not merely functional, but are true works of art. Labels, in other words, that have that elusive and all-important ‘wow’ factor.
Exploring possibilities
Lebone Paarl Labels has always been deeply committed to research and development, and to collaborating with designers to see what can be created. Each innovation results in an increase in capabilities and initial experiments become replicable, commercially viable processes. In this case, the company worked closely with consultant Brad Gold and a local design studio to develop and pitch a design concept to the customer, Neil Ellis Wines, in Stellenbosch.
Something new
The requirement in this case was for a fresh concept – something that would reflect the authentic Western Cape origins of these wines and also help the bottles to stand out by catching consumers’ eyes.
Given that producing wine is a year-round occupation (with each month involving different stages in the process of growing the vines, harvesting the grapes and turning them into wine), it was decided to produce a series of 12 different labels – each with a variant design on the theme of the ocean, and each explaining what the winemakers do in January, February, etc.
The final design choices came down to the interplay of aesthetics, substrate choices and the technical challenges involved in fluted foiling. The fonts on the labels involved numerous swirls, and for the sake of legibility, it was vital to avoid filling these in. Thanks to their R&D time investment, Lebone Paarl Labels was more than able to meet the requirements.
Rewarding project
Over and above the fact that they won the FINAT Global Award, the team greatly enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with the customer, and the fact that it has provided a strong foundation for future projects. News of the award has also been very warmly received by the workers in the printshop.
Creativity wins out
Taking a closer look at the winning series of labels, each has a slightly different, abstract design involving waves crashing on a sandy shore. This effect was created in layers, beginning with HP silver metallic ink under the beach area of the design, followed by the addition of a sandpaper UV varnish to give the label a tactile finish and provide a pleasing contrast between the smooth effect achieved for the Neil Ellis brand name (using a glossy high build UV varnish) and the ‘grainy’ feel of the beach.
The FINAT judges were unanimous in their praise: “Beautiful texture (sand), beautiful image and great storytelling. An interesting concept not seen in the FINAT label competition before.” Now that they have received their award certificate, the team at Lebone Paarl Label are taking a moment to savour winning a FINAT Global Award, and the fact that the labels have been so successful that multiple repeat runs have already been ordered by Neil Ellis Wines.
The company’s management team have been able to use this award as the basis for extensive marketing work, staff motivation and as part of a PR drive. They also revealed that they toasted their success with – what else? – a Neil Ellis Sauvignon Blanc.
To learn more about labelling and embellishing solutions from Kemtek, contact Mags Govender on (+27) 071 899 0620 or by e-mail at magsg@kemtek.co.za, or Wendy McLoughlin on (+27) 082 417 7188 or by e-mail at wendyl@kemtek.co.za, or visit https://kemtek.co.za/prod_brand/hp/.
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