In a glittering end-of-2018 ceremony in Johannesburg, RPC Astrapak Marcom, Verstraete IML and Siqalo Foods scooped a joint gold medal at the 2018 IPSA Gold Pack Awards in the competitive ‘Food category’ for outstanding packaging design for the Rama metallic IML tubs.
Smart move
Rama is market leader in the South African spread category with 30%+ value share. Rama Original is the core of the brand portfolio and plays in both brick and tub formats. The 500g Rama Original brick has over the years become one of the leading SKUs and a benchmark for the category in a recognizable copper bronze foil wrapper.
In 2016, the Rama team comprising of marketing and packaging engineers initiated a project to align the Rama Original tubs to the market benchmark – the shiny, copper bronze brick. The tub version was successfully upgraded to a metallic-look pack in 2016 and sits comfortably on the shelf alongside the shiny Rama Original brick and consolidates the branding in a consistent way that makes it easier for the Rama consumer to navigate the shopping aisle thereby facilitating an easier shopping mission.
New development: Metallic IML
The award marks a breakthrough in South African in-mould labelling. Prior to this development, static electricity proved a major problem that stood in the way of the development of metallic IML labels. During the IML mould entry process static electricity is used to hold the label in place. Because full metallic labels are conductive, they dissipate static charging and this creates instability during injection of the polypropylene. This in turn causes label misalignment and product defects. Under normal circumstances in standard moulds, therefore, metallic labels are not easy to process.
Gerhard van Reenen, General Manager at RPC Astrapak Marcom, says: “In a joint venture between RPC Astrapak Marcom and Verstraete IML, a new label was created via cold-foil printing. The design parameters were amended to ensure that the foiled area did not exceed a specified limit. The solution was a partially foiled in-mould label that means certain areas of the tub are not foiled. To the naked eye, however, the entire tub looks metallic which is testament to the consummate skill of the team. With this type of technology, static charges remain on the non-metallic part and keep the label stable during the injection process. In addition, this development was achieved using a standard, unmodified mould, which opens the way to metallized IML for a much larger market.”
Joe Kaddoum, Regional Sales Manager Middle East & Africa Verstraete IML: “Metallic IML provides the packaging with a look that is consistent with the positioning of the product: exclusivity. Your product stands out on the shelves and catches the eye of the consumer immediately.”
Great collaboration
This unique packaging only exists thanks to the great collaboration between 3 companies:
RPC Astrapak is an innovative pacemaker in design, development, technology and manufacturing of moulded and formed packaging. RPC Astrapak Marcom is part of the Moulding Division and falls within the rigid plastic packaging spectrum.
In 2018, Remgro Limited acquired Unilever’s South African spreads business. The name of the new spreads organization is Siqalo Foods (Pty) Ltd and it will be responsible for manufacture, sales and distribution of spreads products into the Southern African markets (Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa).
Verstraete IML, a Multi-Color company, is a world leader among IML label suppliers, producing over 50 million in-mould labels every single day for numerous segments within the packaging industry, including dairy, salads, health care, and more.
