contract packager actionpak does more than salvage more than 2 million in product with outofcompliance nutritional labeling a limitededition promo sleeve boosts image of nos energy drinks among nascar fans.by contract packaging magazine staffenlargerecently, fuze beverage, owned by the cocacola company, found itself stuck with more than one million 12oz. cans of its carbonated nos brand energy drink in storage. the product, valued above 2 million and targeted as "fuel" to nascar race fans, couldn&39t be sold asis because it was out of compliance with updated nutritional labeling regulations.there was no practical way to repackage the drink inside the cans, so labeling seemed an option. one early suggestion was made to salvage the cans by using a pressuresensitive label with updated nutritional information applied over the old infomration. contract packager actionpak inc., bristol, pa, was part of the discussions, and explained why this approach was impractical.&ldquowe were concerned that use of a label might give consumers the impression that there was something potentially wrong with the product, or that it was a knockoff of the original,&rdquo explained ira smith, ceo and president of actionpak. &ldquoplus, it would be virtually impossible to perfectly match a pressuresensitive label to the can&rsquos seam line. further, we were concerned that consumers would be reluctant to buy, let alone consume, a product that had the appearance of a defect.&rdquo in order to salvage the existing product, the outofdate nutritional information would have to be covered over with the new, correct data in a manner that would be undetectable by the consumer.the great flexo coverupactionpak recommended a printregistered flexoprinted shrink sleeve. applied properly, it would completely cover up the information in question, and in a manner that would bear a very comparable graphic appearance and texture to a normal decorated aluminum can.delivering more than a coverup solution, actionpak made another suggestion designed to increase the product&rsquos appeal to its target audience, while also giving subtle rationale to the rather unconventional use of a shrink sleeve label for the nos cans. &ldquoknowing that nascar followers were an important target audience for this brand, we suggested positioning the product as a &lsquospecial premium edition,&rsquo" smith explains. &ldquoby coincidence, the spokesperson for the brand, race car driver kyle bush, was having an amazing season. as a result, our client readily welcomed our suggestion to designate the package as a limited edition version featuring kyle bush.&rdquothe next task was to make the transformation of the can completely undetectable by eliminating any possibility of bleedthrough. after experimenting with several background coatings, the ideal solution was identified. by printing both surfaces of the shrink sleeve &ndash the outside of the sleeve with the new graphics, and the inside flooded with silver &ndash none of the original graphics would be visible through the label. &ldquowith this solution, actionpak was able to solve a serious packaging dilemma, and create a marketing opportunity at the same time,&rdquo says smith. &ldquoin cases involving a package graphic coverup, shrinksleeve labeling often represents a viable and more costeffective option compared to the lost revenue of discarding thousands or millions of units of product.&rdquoactionpak maintains multiple lines of shrink sleeving equipment at its pennsylvania facility, and promotes both short and longrun copack business of conventional as well as multipacks such as those used in club store pallet displays.&ldquoin addition to correcting label information, small volume shrink sleeve labeling is an ideal solution for brand identity transitions, market testing, regional customization, seasonal or specialty editions, and crosspromotions.&rdquo 
