Innovative label helps double sales: accordion-fold design incorporates recipes on eight-panel label attached to lids of small gourmet pesto jars

Food & Drug Packaging, April, 2002

IN A NUTSHELL

Goal: Include recipes to show customers how pestos can be used

How: Use expanded-content labels on small packages

Results: Sales jump; distribution expands to 400 new stores

How do you get a quarter-century of creative cuisine packed into gourmet pesto labels? That was the question facing Racconto Foods, a leader in the gourmet Italian food market, when it decided to update the packaging of its 10-item pesto line.

One answer was to include recipes on the labels. But the Midwest-headquartered company couldn't find a local supplier to meet the challenge.

"We wanted the recipes to help customers make better use of our product. But the jars are quite small, and the only area available for recipe information was the cap," explains Tom Paladino, Racconto Foods' culinary coordinator. Though he was hesitant to hire an out-of-state supplier, he took the plunge when he learned of Label Graphics, a company known for its problem-solving abilities.

With significant input from the Racconto team, Label Graphics provided artwork guidelines for an eight-panel, accordion-fold, expanded-content label with room for three pesto recipes plus the company's Internet address.

"Any doubts or concerns I had about working with a distant supplier were put to rest almost immediately," Paladino reports. "Their team approach and dedication to customer service made what was a marketing headache into a surprise hit."

The project was not only pleasurable--it was profitable, too. The new labels eliminated the need for more costly packaging and separate informational inserts. And pesto sales have doubled since product with the new label hit store shelves in late 2001. "Our distributors believe the packaging has been instrumental in moving the product off the shelves," says Paladino. "And in this competitive environment, that's saying a lot." The new label won an honorable mention in the 2001 International Gallery of Superb Printing competition.

"Providing recipes with the products was a key ingredient in getting us placed in 300 to 400 additional stores," adds Rod Bambach, Racconto's vice president of sales.

So successful has the new design been that Racconto plans to add expanded-content labels on several other product lines. Paladino says the company will roll out a 20-item line of imported grilled and marinated vegetables complete with recipes on the labels later this year, with a line of jarred pasta sauces to follow soon after.

Label Graphics Manufacturing Inc.
973-890-5665; www.labelgraphicsmfg.com