Paarl Print Labels strikes gold

UPM Raflatac Best Label Range Award: Paarl Print Labels Managing Director Callie de Wet (far right) received the award for the printer of the Best Range Wine Labels for the Leopard Frog Limited Release 2006 range from Murielle Langlas of UPM Raflatac Finland and Ian Murray, General Manager of UPM Raflatac South Africa.

UPM Raflatac Best Spirit Label Silver Award: Paarl Print Labels Print Manager Gavin Burrows (far right) received the silver award for the Best Spirit Label for KWV's 15 year old brandy from Murielle Langlas of UPM Raflatac Finland and Ian Murray, General Manager of UPM Raflatac South Africa.

Printing labels fit for kings, this Paarl-based label printer scooped a Gold Award for Leopard Frog Vineyards' Limited Release range labels. In addition, Paarl Print Labels also received a Silver Award for the printing of KWV's 15 year old Brandy label.

According to the organisers, suppliers of adhesive label papers UPM Raflatac South Africa, first impressions count and many consumers make their choice to buy on the packaging. In the wine and spirit industry, marketers are aware of this trend. Competition is fierce and the brand with the most innovative and eye-catching label is often the one that sells. Judged by Tom McLaughlin, John Lloyd and Clive Glover, this year's entries covered a wide range of design styles and print technologies and illustrated the unrivalled scope self-adhesive labelling offers to the designers of tomorrows great brands, said Ian Murray, General Manager of UPM Raflatac South Africa.

Paarl Print Labels Managing Director Callie de Wet commented: "Innovation in label design is key and the sky is the limit for our clients and their designers. We have the technology and expertise to do justice to these original designs. This has resulted in the Gold Award for the printing of Leopard Frog Vineyards' Limited Release range, designed by David Bate.
Printing in four process colours plus solid black spot colour and foiling (each of the three designs in the range is foiled in another colour), embossing, spot gloss UV varnish as well as spot matt UV varnish, were the requirements for this label range.

"KWV's 15 year old brandy label, which earned us a silver award in the category Best Spirit Label, was designed by Sky Designs. The challenges of printing this label included high build screen varnish, silver foiling and spot satin UV varnish on the label, which is printed in four spot colours.

"Both these labels were printed on our nine colour MPS EC roll-to-roll flexo press. The execution of the designs, especially the foiling, requires extra care from the machine minder. Our Print Manager Gavin Burrows focuses strongly on quality, contributing to the winning attributes of our labels. At Paarl Print Labels, teamwork is key and we would not have won these awards were it not for every staff member's passion for quality and customer satisfaction," said De Wet.

Paarl Media Holdings' Chief Executive Officer, Stephen van der Walt, commented: "We are very pleased that Paarl Print Labels has proven itself again as the printer of high quality labels in South Africa. We've made big investments in this relatively new plant. It is our Group's philosophy to employ the latest technology and we didn't make an exception at Paarl Print Labels. We installed a brand new nine colour press towards the end of 2005 and a new pre-press department was established at the beginning of 2007.

"These awards confirm that we and our empowerment partners, loveLife's Kurisani Investments (which holds a 26% stake in Paarl Print Labels), have made a worthy investment. We are proud of this award-winning team."

UPM Raflatac's bi-annual awards were launched more than five years ago. In 2005, Paarl Print Labels entered the awards for the first time and also won gold in the Best Range category for the printing of KWV's Golden Kaan range.

For more information, please visit www.paarlmedia.co.za