Church Street Brewery

How a Packaging Alliance Can Drive Customer Engagement

Church StreetIn the spring of 2016 Anderson & Vreeland formed an alliance with three partners to accomplish a single objective. From the very outset the goal was to use some of the latest technology to create and produce high quality labels for a new beer from Chicago’s Church Street Brewing Company. A few months later the alliance was a complete success, from label creation to wrapping the new labels around bottles and handing them out at the soft launch of the new brew at Labelexpo.

Driving customer engagement

Special HellesMoreover, it showcased how leading edge software and printing technology can work together to help enhance customer engagement. Any brand owner with a retail presence is actively seeking the so-called moment of truth when a customer spots a package on a shelf and takes it down for a closer look. This fragment of time is driven by the three-foot-effect—the visual impact a label or package has from a few feet away—and is especially important for new products. And, because consumers’ finely attuned senses often seek out the smallest details of a new label or package, every element must be as close to perfect as possible.

To help ensure the desired look and feel was part of the labels for Church Street’s latest brew, Anderson & Vreeland gathered three partners; Hybrid Software, GMG, and Screen USA. Each brought a unique set of skills to the project, as is completely related in a new white paper.

A Workflow for Color Printing

Hybrid Software created the workflow using its PACKZ and PRINTPLANNER tools that linked seamlessly with GMG’s OpenColor, ColorProof, ColorServer, and SmartProfiler RIP-agnostic color management software. Then the files—wrapped in a color managed PDF—went to a Screen Truepress L350UV press. Using CMYK and white and UV inks, a 3 picoliter drop size, and printing on a metallic substrate, the 164-fpm press printed had the labels ready for laser cutting in short order.

PackZ

A screenshot of a label in Hybrid Software’s PackZ

The process was faster, easier and required fewer steps than conventional methods. More importantly, the same process can be used to create print ready files for virtually any digital press, as well as for streamlining workflow and color management for flexo and offset presses. This flexibility demonstrates the value state-of-the-art software offers print providers in digital, conventional and mixed print environments.

For Church Street Brewing Company, the process delivered superior quality labels faster and with less labor than traditional methods while helping make sure that the retail moment of truth fosters customer engagement with the company’s new beer.

Church Street Helles

For all the details, be sure to download the new white paper and learn how your business can leverage a technology alliance for driving customer engagement.

You can also stop by and see us at Booth # 929 at Label Expo to get your very own sample of the beer and its label, fresh off the Screen L350 UV.

You can also learn more about the process and workflow by joining us for our cocktail hour on Tuesday September 13 from 3pm to 5pm.