Stand Out Series 5: Foil and Embossed Labels
Capture Your Buyer’s Attention with Foil & Embossed Labels
It’s subtle, yet powerful. A gleam of life coming from the shelves. It subliminally catches your eye causing your head to jerk back and take a second look. You might not realize it but soon, you’re fixated on one product out of a sea of others. Running your fingers over the label you feel it – the texture of the slightly raised, slightly rough material. If the label is this enticing, imagine what’s inside?
In this fifth edition of our Stand Out Series: How To Make Your Labels Stand Out On The Shelf, I’m showing you how to make your product the one that captures your buyer’s attention with subtle, yet effective accents. It’s this slight difference that’ll make your labels stand out on the shelves.
The Magic Behind Foil and Embossed Labels
Foil is a familiar staple in most people’s pantries, but the process of foil imprinting is vastly different than you might be accustomed to seeing.
Foil imprinting is advanced. When the heated metal plate meets the foil ribbon, the design image transfers onto the label, bringing it to life. This process creates dramatically captivating results compared to standard inks. You’ve probably seen “it” but not recognized what “It” was. It’s the shiny, silver material used for a myriad of household necessities and health and beauty products. This metallic, reflective-like surface is equally useful on specialty labels.
Embossed labels are also effective. These labels have an image pressed into the surface of a plain or metallized paper label through a process called foil stamping. It raises the surface making the imagery literally jump off the container.
Combine these two elements and you have a recipe for success.
Who Uses Foil/Embossed Labels?
While foils and embossed labels can be found in a wide range of industries and products, the most frequent types of products that use these eye catching designs include:
- Vitamin/supplement labels
- Wine bottle labels
- Logos
- Health and beauty labels
- Cosmetic labels
Winemakers are one industry seeing tremendous results using foil and embossed labels. Visit the wine section of your favorite grocery store and chances are you’ll be overwhelmed by the options. Many wine drinkers whittle down the choices based on which labels catch their eye. With a shiny and slightly 3-dimensional appeal to a wine label, a shopper is more inclined to pick up the bottle and put it in her cart.
This is just one example. Many industries benefit from this style of label.
Are Foil and Embossed Labels Right for You?
If you’re looking for a way to spice up your labels, you might want to consider this method. Here are some ways in which foil and embossed labels will make your product stand out on the shelf:
- Grab shoppers visual attention. The gleam of the foil will catch your buyer’s eye while the embossing will intrigue your buyer to pick up your bottle. It’s this combination that quickly grabs the attention of most shoppers and stops your customers in their tracks.
- Professional/High-end look. Ready to take your brand to a new level? Show your buyers the luxurious side of your brand with foils in gold or silver. With this material, you create an instantly more elegant and sophisticated look, perfect for your high-end, professional product.
- Tactile pleasing. Encourage consumers to touch, grab, and interact with your product. When they do, you instantly make them more likely to take your product with them to the checkout counter. If for some reason they put it back on the shelf, you can still be certain that your product was enticing enough to be remembered for a potential future purchase.
- Cover up labels. Foils can also be used as an effective tool in creating cover up labels. If you’re covering an old label with a new one, this is an effective approach. Foil prevents the previous label from showing through. Instead, all the consumer sees is the new design because the middle layer of foil hides the old one.
- Label protection. Preserve labels from degradation from strong products or chemicals. These materials can often times seep through containers. If that’s a risk with your product, having a foil barrier on the adhesive side of your label will protect the integrity of your design and withhold the image of your brand’s products.
- Accent your product. Accent or attract attention to a specific word or area on your label with foil or embossing. This allows you to emphasize a particular section in a unique and visually attractive way.
- Useful for the visually impaired. Create braille labels for the visually impaired shopper with embossing. You’ll instantly attract a buyer who would have difficulty reading a normal text label.
One Final Thing to Consider for Embossed Labels
Excited by embossing? Before you start planning your next label design, remember this: The material being embossed or debossed must be rigid enough to go through the process. This limits the types of material than can be embossed.
Question: Have you ever seen and/or felt a foil/embossed label? Can you recall what the product was and if you bought it?
The benefits of foiling and embossing logos are clear. With this style of printing, you tantalize new senses visually and physically making your product more memorable than any other on the shelf.
