Procter & Gamble’s new line of Folgers Coffeehouse premium coffees capitalizes on the huge popularity of the existing Folgers red and green AromaSeal(TM) plastic canisters with their own upscale identity. Applying color and effects used mostly with high-end personal-care products, the packaging team at Clariant Masterbatches (www.clariant.com) helped to develop a prestigious look for the Coffeehouse line on-shelf that meshes with the Folgers brand and helps keep color costs in check. The folks at Folgers knew that darker colors and metallic and jewel-like finishes with subdued label graphics could give the coffees a sophisticated look, so they chose a deep red/burgundy color scheme with a pearlescent effect. But producing the effect using existing manufacturing practices proved to be a considerable challenge. Initial samples of the canisters lacked the right type of luster and reflectivity that had been envisioned, according to the company.

Inspired by personal-care packaging, Clariant then set out to apply color and effects using its global ColorWorks initiative. Recalls Len Kulka, Clariant ColorWorks director of creative development/packaging, adding more color and pearlescent additives helped, but made the new canisters somewhat cost-prohibitive. The ColorWorks experts were able to achieve the desired effect for Folgers using an advanced technique and color systems for individual container layers. The result defines and achieves the opacity, the depth, the reflectivity and the color hue independently, and the final layered, pearlescent effect is visually striking. The results were also said to be less costly to produce than the original red and green canisters.