Metal Closures

Package Closures: Handshake with a Brand

A closure is the often the doorway a consumer uses to access a packaged product.  The attractiveness and convenience of metal closures play a large role in determining how consumers view a brand.  As the part of the package which is most often “handled” by consumers, closures, in effect, serve as a handshake with a brand. 

Thierry Lainez, Marketing & Communications Manager, CROWN Closures Europe, and Terry Zeik, Vice President, Sales, CROWN Closures Americas provide additional insight:

Q: What are the major trends in metal closures today?

Thierry Lainez (TL): In a way, the trends in closures today are what they’ve always been: functionality and consistent performance.   But today, there is a greater degree of emphasis put on innovation.  Not all that long ago, if a closure was tight and leak-proof, it was considered acceptable. This is no longer the case. Reliable closure performance is a given.  Instead, innovation has become the key to market success for any product that uses a closure in its packaging design.  In addition to providing leak-proof product protection, today’s quality metal closures deliver significant visual appeal and easy-open convenience. In other words, an innovative metal closure can truly help build brands.

Q: Can you be more specific about the role metal closures play in building brands?

Terry Zeik (TZ): Food products are typically sold in similar packaging formats. For example, jams and jellies are often sold in glass jars, as are pickles.  This makes the closure one of the only ways to create differentiation on crowded store shelves.  Brand owners and retailers today are increasingly demanding closures that provide unique, high quality visual appeal and also facilitate customer interaction with products.  The closure can be a key element that draws in consumers and serves an interactive function, so it must adapt well to the other packaging elements that it works in tandem with.

Q: Describe some of the ways metal closures can have visual appeal.

TL: A high-end graphic is a seemingly obvious way to achieve visual impact with a closure, but the technology behind printing such graphics is anything but common.  For example, gourmet jam producer Staud’s Vienna is now selling jars of its premium jams with metal lids bearing striking reproductions of classic works of art by masters such as Rembrant, Rubens and Klimt. 

To do justice to these great works of art, highly advanced lithographic metal printing technology, color processing techniques, and printing expertise were needed.  These elements were brought together on a metal closure that achieved the brand impact that Staud was looking for.

This simple but unique visual element makes the product particularly appealing as a gift.  And because it’s a closure, these miniature pieces of art will be used - and seen - by customers again and again and perhaps even collected.  So there’s a real link between visual appeal and brand image, but all the elements must come together seamlessly to really have impact.

Visually appealing and eye-catching closures are especially important for products that appear on the lower shelves of supermarkets.  As customers search the store shelves for familiar brands, the closure is often the most visible element of packaging found below eye-level.  When a customer looks down at the lower shelves, a closure decorated with memorable brand imaging and colors is a key tool for attracting consumer attention.

Another way metal closures can create visual impact is by contributing to creatively shaped, eye-catching packaging.  For example, leading brands Unilever and Barilla have both recently adopted uniquely-shaped dual-container packages for sauce products.   In each case, Crown created a metal twist-open lid that enabled two sauce jars to be stacked and shrink-sleeved together, resulting in distinctive hourglass-shaped dual-container packages.

For both dual-container packages, the metal closure enhances jar stability and facilitates sleeving by allowing for better stacking and improved seal safety.  The hourglass shape of the packages also allow easy gripping and safe handling. In addition to creating significant point-of-purchase appeal with their innovative shapes, the new packages protect the integrity of each delicate ingredient by allowing complementary sauce flavors to remain separate until consumer use.

Q: Can you provide another example of closures technology building brands?

TL: Absolutely.  There has been growing use of super-deep closures for enhanced brand recognition.  As the name implies, super-deep closures are deeper than standard closures, providing a larger marketing billboard for side printing with brand graphics or text.  On store shelves, the use of vibrantly decorated deep closures across an entire range of products can create a powerful visual impact.  The super-deep closures are also easy to grip for enhanced easy open convenience.

Recently, leading jam producer Robertson’s decided to incorporate super-deep closures on its entire range of jams as part of the company’s “Fruiter than Ever” brand refresh.  Deep twist-open metal closures from Crown, boldly decorated in black and white stripes, help clearly retain the brand’s iconic image.  At the same time, these closures provide a clean, modern look that distinguishes the Robertson’s brand on store shelves.

Q: Obviously a closure alone does not make a complete package.  How do closures interact with packaging to build brands?

TZ: Material transitions provide a perfect example of closures interacting effectively with packaging.   In response to the general trend towards transitioning from glass to plastic packaging in the food and beverage industries, Crown engineered a composite closure called IDEAL™.  Unlike ordinary plastic or metal closures, the IDEAL™ closure is a hybrid of lined metal disk and a plastic band.  The metal disk forms an airtight seal while the consumer-friendly plastic band provides for easy opening and tamper evidence.  The IDEAL™ closure performs well on both glass and plastic packaging, making it a very useful tool for brands considering a transition between the two materials.  The Ideal closure is also an effective tool to distinguish a brand or package on the store self. 

Q: Building brands in an important goal for large multi-nationals, but can regional companies also compete with closures?

TL: Too often, strong brands are perceived as large brands -- which just isn’t true.  Regional companies require different services and technologies in order to succeed.  Quality closure providers can provide the technology that smaller brands need to remain competitive.

Generic design closures provide application specific imagery for products like jams and honey and allow brand owners to incorporate colorful, eye-catching closures without the investment in a customized metal closure.  Generic closures provide medium and smaller scale producers a cost-effective way to enhance shelf appeal with extremely attractive closures specifically suited to their product.

Quality closure suppliers can also provide capping machinery that is specially designed to meet the needs of smaller brands.  For example, Crown recently launched the EuroCapper™, a fully automatic sealing machine for low to medium-speed production lines.  Available across Europe, this new machine can seal up to 300 containers per minute depending on cap size. It’s an extremely important development for fillers looking for full automation and reliability in a lower to medium -speed production environment.

Q: In terms of closure technology, what are some driving trends in food and beverage packaging overall?

TZ: We’re going to see an increasing focus on ergonomic features. Enhancing consumer convenience across the closure spectrum is key. This trend, already visible in the growing number of food and personal care products offering easy-open packaging, will accelerate in the years ahead. 
 
Another trend is that large multinationals are building brands worldwide.  For these brands, consistency, quality, and innovation need to come together seamlessly to build a truly globally branded product.  This is a challenge to the packaging industry as a whole and for closure providers in particular.  Since closures serve as a consumers’ handshake with a brand in many ways, it is important for these large multinational brands to consider their global closure strategy.  A forward-thinking closure strategy can truly be the difference between success and failure as a brand expands.

Q: Do you believe these trends will change significantly over the next ten years?

TZ: In real estate they say the main selling point of a property is “Location, Location, Location.” In closures it is and will remain “Design, Design, Design.” Creatively designed closures that deliver eye-catching visual appeal and easy open-convenience help manufacturers build brands. What’s true today will be more true tomorrow: Brand managers searching for ways to enhance shelf impact and encourage point-of-purchase interest will increasingly turn to attention-grabbing, attractive and convenient closures. 

About Crown Holdings, Inc.
Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer marketing companies around the world. World headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

For more information, contact:

In Europe: Thierry Lainez, Marketing & Communications Manager, CROWN Closures Europe; Tel: +33 1 49 18 40 45; Email: thierry.lainez@eur.crowncork.com.

In the United States: Terry Zeik, Vice President, Sales, CROWN Closures Americas; Tel: (740) 681-6521; Email: terry.zeik@crowncork.com.