Is It Time For a Product Label Refresh? 5 Ways to Test New Product Labels

The world of packaging is always changing. Your product labeling needs to keep up with the competition, as well as with regulatory issues and other concerns. Here are five ways to check whether those new product labels you have in the works will really do the job in the marketplace:

1. Food testing - If your business offers food or beverage products, have you done the necessary lab tests to assure that all nutritional and safety information is current and up to date? Does it meet the latest state or federal regulations? If you market internationally, is the information translated correctly and is it in compliance with other nations' labeling requirements?

2.

Everything You Need To Know About BOPP Labels

Biaxially-Oriented Polypropylene, or BOPP, is one of the most popular label materials, suitable for most applications. BOPP label materials, which provide an ideal printing surface, are commonly used for bottle labels, food labels, vape labels, cannabis product labels, custom roll labels and numerous other products. Here's a helpful guide to their many uses and the different types of BOPP labels available:

What is BOPP?

Lightning Labels has partnered with Avery-Dennison, the industry leader in high quality label materials, to offer BOPP as a major part of its product line. BOPP is basically polypropylene that's stretched flat.

What's Trending In Organic Food Labeling?

With consumers increasingly looking to eat well and be well, brands wanting to tie into the growing demand for healthy lifestyle choices are reformulating and repackaging to meet the demand. Kraft Heinz, for example, has expanded its environmental strategy, aiming to make 100 percent of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. Food growers are taking the initiative, too - New Hope Network, which is known for calling out the most innovative, inspirational and integrity-driven products in the natural products industry, said that regenerative agriculture is one of the new trends.

Bud Light Improves Nutrition Label - Is Your Craft Beer Nutritional Label Next?

As of February, Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light is the first major beer brand to debut new, larger format beer nutrition labels. The Associated Press reported that the beer's calories and ingredients, as well as the amount of fat, carbohydrates and protein per serving, are now prominently stated. This was a voluntary move - the AP said it's not legally required - but it came in the wake of a 2016 agreement by major beer brands to disclose nutritional facts on their beer labels by 2020. Bud Light will very likely be the first of many beer makers to join the larger label movement. Some beers, like Corona Light, Guinness, Heineken and Coors Light, already show calories and other information on bottles or packaging, but usually only in fine print or hidden on the bottom of six packs, with ingredients typically not listed.

Compliant Cannabis Labels Made Simple

If you're a new company entering the cannabis market, you may have a lot of concerns over meeting different states' regulations. At the same time, you want your cannabis labels to be as distinctive and competitive as possible in a rapidly-changing market.

Here's a quick tip: Marijuana vendors need to focus on the basics first before tackling the more creative challenges of creative labeling. Once that's done, Lightning Labels can help you print an attention-grabbing custom label that not only provides the necessary information but also establishes a sophisticated brand image that sets your product apart from othe

5 Essential Steps for Rebranding Your Products

In an ever-changing marketplace, with competitors constantly launching and changing their products, regular rebranding to keep your company at the head of the pack is critical to continued success.

Here are 5 essential steps to make rebranding your products easier:

Rebranding to keep your products competitive is critical to continued success.

1. Ask yourself, why a rebrand product labels? Do some research on your standing in the market. How are you viewed by customers, prospects and public at large? What do you want to accomplish? If customer awareness hasn't taken off as expected, or is slowly declining, you need to breathe new life into your product(s) or company.

Three sisters turn beeswax into ‘balmy’ business

Lightning Labels client Sweet Bee Sisters showcases young entrepreneurs and their lip balm flagship product

In 2009, three young sisters discovered that the beeswax byproduct of the Warren family’s beekeeping business could be turned into lip balms with natural ingredients and great consistency. A decade later, the Colorado trio of Lily (18), Chloe (16) and Sophie (14) are making a big buzz in the marketplace with their flagship lip balms plus lotion bars, sugar scrubs, pet products, deodorant sprays and men’s facial care products.

Custom-labeled lip balms and corporate gift sets are growing in popularity as the sisters focus on custom projects and partnerships in addition to a thriving retail and online presence.

Extend Your Branding with Our New Extended Content Label Offering!

When labeling your products, you may be caught between competing design demands. For instance, regulations may dictate that you have to include long lists of ingredients or usage directions, which leaves you little room for branded imagery. Alternately, you may be eager to promote your website through an easy-to-use QR code link, but not want to give up the physical space it would take to put that code on a product's package.

Extended content custom labels are an exciting solution for such problems, allowing you more space to spotlight different elements of your company's brand. When labels peel back to reveal added information, you have room to address all your multiple goals and create packaging that expresses your values while catching eyes and complying with all regulations.

Randy Perkins is Lightning Labels’ Hubble Telescope

Like the Hubble Telescope, Lightning Labels Account Manager Randy Perkins can look back into the origins of the universe. Instead of space, however, his focus is the now fully-formed world of digital label printing.

Eleven years ago, when he started working at Lightning Labels, Randy witnessed the early-day evolution of a technology that today is a mainstay of the label printing business. “When I started here, we were the only company around with digital presses. Now we maintain a state-of-the-art stable of digital presses and are printing around the clock.”

He points out that the company started trends in other areas, as well.

Tips for Choosing the Right Candle Label Materials for Your Products

Putting labels on your candle products isn't just important from a branding perspective. There are safety label designs overseen by the National Candle Association. The trade group recommends that consumers limit their purchases to candles that have safety warning panels in place, underlining the fact that your brand should be including these packaging elements on all its candles labels.

When designing candle labels, the choice of candle label materials are an essential part of the process. A well-made candle label will hold up under heat, staying legible and conveying the three essential safety lessons for users: to burn their candles within sight, to not place them near combustible items and to keep kids clear of the candles.