5 Labeling Trends For 2019

5 Labeling Trends For 2019

In 2018, product packaging gave manufacturers a lot of innovative ideas and options, both functionally and aesthetically. 2019 promises to be just as innovative, and continue to grow with more color, graphics and material in exciting new ways.

Here are five labeling trends for 2019:

Label Personalization

“Share a Coke” was one of the most successful label personalization campaigns in 2018. Coca-Cola mastered product personalization when they put the top 250 names in the U.S. on their bottle labels, and encouraged consumers to share a Coke with someone special.  The “Share a Coke” campaign generated positive publicity for the company when consumers started sharing their experiences with the personalized product on social media.2019 Trends

Many industries, including the food and beverage, cosmetics, household products and even some pharmaceutical markets are turning to personalized labels to attract buyers. With the use of digital printing, distributors are empowered to streamline the label personalization process. Digital printing allows for short run capabilities, quicker turnaround times, decreased expenses, less scrap, easy customization and flexibility, high quality and durable toner without a laminate cover.

Plastic Free Packaging

A growing trend in the industrial packaging workforce is ‘plastic-free’ containers. Paper and cardboard materials are the main contributors to packaging waste, followed by plastic and glass, with a significant percentage coming from the food packaging sector.

Each year, there’s more and more advancements in the science behind the materials that are being used for packaging. From hemp wrap and mushroom Styrofoam to algae-based plastics, real alternatives to plastics are being created to lead to a more efficient and sustainable future.

To that end, in 2018, the first plastic-free aisle was created in a shop in the Netherlands, a fantastic proving ground for compostable biomaterials.  The choice between plastic and plastic-free products starts to become a real option for consumers—hopefully on an increasingly large scale in 2019. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – three words consumers are hoping to see more often.

Transparent Labels

In addition to less plastic, and more sustainability, consumers want transparency in their product labels – literally and figuratively. The average consumer wants to see what they are buying; not just guess at the contents. However, they also want the full list of ingredients, benefits of the product, and production process. In other words, the label should go beyond the basic ingredients, contain verbiage like ‘farm-to-store journey’, etc., to set the product apart.

Smart Labels

With labels being sustainable and including all the necessary product information, you’re going to ask – how do we fit this all on one label? That’s a fair question, and there is a solution: smart labels. By including a particular code on the product label, consumers can simply scan the code, which will take them directly to a landing page which can contain endless information about the product.

Black and White Packaging

While stripping down your labels to just two elements might seem restrictive, it always turns out to be an incredibly versatile way to communicate your on-brand packaging message. The dynamic created is impossible to ignore, and is an incredibly effective way to create separation between the elements of the design, and to establish the relationship – or lack thereof – between them.

It may seem a challenge at first, but a black and white only design can be very influential when the consumer is making a decision. The final results are surprising.

With the different labeling trends on the horizon, it can be difficult to decide what is right for you. Along with that, is the determination of the best method for printing and coding individual labels. The experts at Griffin-Rutgers can guide you to the correct solution. Give us a call today and we will put our know-how to work for you.

Posted in Label Printing, Labels, Labels & Labeling.