Six Impossible Things in Packaging

This is the year Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland turns 150. Alice is being celebrated in print, in film, and online. Lewis Carroll’s story of a little girl who falls down a rabbit hole in search of adventure, along with its sequel Through the Looking Glass, has inspired generations to “believe six impossible things before breakfast.” In other words, to think of ways to say “yes” instead of ways to say “no.”

Image from Disney / Tim Burton Alice In Wonderland movie.

Sometimes it seems there are a multitude of impossible things when it comes to package development and printing: “The graphics will be too distorted.” “That white ink can’t get any whiter.” “That trap line is too big.” “Those fine details are just too small.” “We’ll never match that color.” “You can’t get to market that quickly.”

CSW believes in doing at least six impossible things in packaging, however – and not just before breakfast. Here’s an example.

With the Disney / Tim Burton reboot of Alice in Wonderland, CSW was tasked with separating dreamlike images of a white rabbit, fantastical brightly-colored mushrooms, and a soft, hazy landscape for wide web flexo printing on clear film. BJ’s wholesale club had teamed up with a series of high-profile entertainment properties to co-brand BJ’s Simply H2O bottled water with an in-store promotion for dollars off on DVD’s of popular films. The Alice pack was one of the most challenging to print, due to not only the technical requirements of the images used, but also the expanded circle of highly demanding stakeholders. CSW’s contract color proof had to be approved by the retailer, product manufacturer, printer, design firm, and the Disney brand team for Alice.

CSW contract proof and final print for BJ’s “Alice In Wonderland” bottled water multipack.

CSW coordinated pre-production meetings, approvals routing and revision tracking for all stakeholders, and the project went from ideation to retail delivery in under six months. We helped to optimize printer capabilities through color-managed separations for process and altered process builds; HD-Gen2™ high definition digital plates; and press-side support. With sharp details in rabbit fur, jewel-like color, and soft vignettes, flexo printing on clear shrink film has never looked so… wonderful.

For more about how CSW helped others to believe and achieve the impossible, please download our case study about BJs Simply H2O promo packs.

Posted by Karen Leet, MarCom Manager