Making the change from labels to flexible packaging with DRP Aquatics.

Colour matching was a significant requirement in meeting the expectations of DRP Aquatics. The dry aquaculture food packaging required the exact colour they had previously used on packaging to get the desired effects for the brand. That bright aqua blue metallic finish looks amazing! With digital printing allowing for an almost exact colour match, it was an easy transition from product labels to flexible packaging.

Making the move from labels to flexible packaging.

With a background as an Industrial Chemist, and a Water Treatment Consultant alongside his love for tropical fish, Johan was looking for a food source to use in his hatchery study of German Blue Rams that would complement the growth rate and health of these fish. His focus was never to develop a fish food but rather to cure his German Blue Rams of a dreaded disease. The goal was to stop using live and frozen foods in his mixed feeds, resulting in the discovery of DRP Fish food. During the trials and testing, he posted his success on his Facebook page, “Discus Rams and Pleco’s” and from there, more and more people asked if they could get some of this food. From this genuine interest from other hobbyists, Johan began marketing this food that was previously non-existent in the market.

The initial packaging used by the brand consisted of pouches with Ziplock seals and stickers from a local printing company that Johan himself had designed.

As the product development progressed for the start-up, an issue with the original product labelling and pouches proved to be a pain point with customers. The design was not good for brand identity, and the original design did not allow for easy reading of the information. Labels began to peel easily, and the Ziplock seals started to tear off from the packaging.

All these issues made identifying the product inconvenient for customers, and the product wasn't reaching the high standard the brand was looking to achieve. When Johan decided to move away from using labels on his products, he reached out to RLP about flexible product packaging and made a move toward stand up pouches.

Moving to digitally printed flexible packaging has allowed DRP Aquatics to produce packaging that:

• Quickly identifies each product type;

• Keeps product fresh;

• Looks great on the shelf;

• Is easily opened and stored during use by the customer;

For Johan, moving to digital print product packaging has made some welcome changes to the way he can benefit as a business by:

• Removing the need for tedious labelling;

• Being able to print multiple SKUs within each print run;

• Being able to take advantage of smaller minimums for fully branded packaging.

“For a small start-up business, I value the understanding and support I received from Read Labels and Packaging that helped me get started. I did not have to print the 10,000 of each label that some suppliers asked upfront. Instead, Read Labels and Packaging allowed me to print much lower volumes of each stand-up pouch size. This saved my business a lot of capital and was of great benefit to my start-up business.” Johan.

Design features.

Johan worked closely with his designer, Samantha Speir from Start Up Visuals to get the branding right for the product and ensure the design suited multiple sized stand up pouches. Getting the design features right is extremely important to create a standout product that gets noticed on the shelf.

When the artwork files were supplied to the team at Read Labels and Packaging we worked to ensure the unique metallic finish in the colour specified by Samantha was spot on by using colour matching and testing prior to finalising the print run. The result is a beautiful aqua blue that stands out on the shelf.

Along with the vibrant colour, the photo quality for the images on the packaging had to be spot on, and this is where digital printing excels. The benefit of digital printing for flexible packaging is that packaging designs can be printed to meet businesses branding requirements with almost any finish achievable, without the expected costs associated with traditional print methods.

“The compliments from my customers on the packaging design are endless. Samantha from Start Up Visuals did a great job. Great branding and packaging design, paired with quality product packaging have helped sales of my premium product grow immensely” Johan.

Using design templates provided by the RLP team, packaging designers can add design elements and features that meet brand guidelines and with some guidance from our team, specify the finish required during the laminating process to achieve the desired result.

Making the most of design features to save cost.

Not only do the photo effect images stand out beautifully on the aqua metallic finish (created with a gloss laminate finish), the stand up pouches also allow Johan to stock the products in multiple sizes without the need to source alternative sized pouches by adding a simple check box to the design.

Most products require differently sized stand up pouches to meet the needs of individual weights and volumes of the product to fit within the stand up pouch, for DRP Aquatics, the light fish food product can fit within two sized pouches that are easily differentiated by this simple check box. This allows the business to pack, seal and quickly identify each product without the need for excess packaging sizes.

Not noticeable to customers immediately, the identifying system within the design allows the very light product to be packaged in a way that has allowed the business to not only take advantage of digitally printed packaging but also the multiple sizes available. The brand uses two sizes of stand up pouches to meet their needs for products ranging in weight from 250g - 1000g.

Happy customers.

DRP Aquatic customers are delighted with the improved packaging now that labels are a thing of the past. The product is easily identifiable and easily stored within the resealable packaging, with no more messy labels and tedious labelling during the product packaging process.

With his business beginning just last year (2021) Johan has seen a great improvement since switching to stand up pouches and we look forward to hearing about more growth as he takes his unique business to the next level in the future.

Johan says “I can’t speak highly enough on the quality of the flexible packaging Read Labels and Packaging produced for me. A solid, strong beautifully presented pouch with a resealable zipper that does not tear off with repeated use by the customer- the product just works all the time.

I have had no customer complaints since using the RLP flexible pouches and it is very satisfying to no longer have to deal with repeated queries about the pouch quality. My little business is still growing and the next step is to create smaller pouches and add barcoding to the designs that will be printed on any future orders. Thank you, Read Labels and Packaging, for your support, understanding and guidance.”

Visit DRP Aquatics for more product information and contact us to discuss flexible packaging options for your business.