Grocery shoppers may inadvertently overlook new items while browsing the aisles chock full of products. To dazzle consumers, Morris Plains, N.J.-based Adams, a Pfizer division, puts its Maxair® gum in a blister package made with a holographic sleeve from Unifoil Corp., Passaic Park, N.J.

"In a crowded confection environment, Maxair packaging offers the highest probability for an impulse buy," says Graham Kaufman, Adams senior brand manager.

Developed by Unifoil Corp. and Crown Roll Leaf (Paterson, N.J.), UniLustre is the process and product for the packaging. Using a 66-in. wide Inta-Roto Laminator at 800 fpm, Unifoil applies a clear, print-receptive coating to a 0.5-mil. polyester film. Another embossable coating is applied, so that the pattern can be embossed into the coating, not the film. Then, the film goes to Crown Roll Leaf's facility for vacuum metallization with vacuum-deposited aluminum.

The film is returned to Unifoil, where flexible adhesive is applied on the metal's backside. The film is bonded to a 12-pt. paperboard, while the film is simultaneously peeled off with a delaminator installed on the IntaRoto Laminator. The film acted as the carrier of the pattern transferred to the board.

Finally, Unifoil sheets on a 72-in. Maxson Dual Fly Knife sheeter at 1,200 fpm or slits on a 72-in. slitter at 1,500 fpm. The end-product is 30 by 48-in. paper, which is sent to various printers throughout the world. Because UniLustre prints like paper, it can be offset, flexo or gravure printed. When the film is removed, the substrate breathes on both sides, whereas the film creates a barrier, resulting in curl. Instead, the formation of the fibers doesn't change, so the paper lays flat and performs as it would without the metallization.

"The beauty of UniLustre is that we don't change the paper at all. We don't add heat, cooling or moisture. We keep the paper at the same state it was in when it came to us from the paper mill," says Joe Funicelli, president, Unifoil Corp. He explains that the film elimination also means the paper is recyclable and repulpable, and there is a source reduction, too. "So we're increasing the yield for the printing press and for us, and we lower the shipping weight."

Calling the UniLustre product "brilliant" looking, Funicelli attributes this to the first-generation embossing, which allows customers to see the embossing on the paper's surface. Also, the paper dead-folds with no springing, glues well and is tamper-evident. Compared to hot stamping, UniLustre is cost-effective, as any printer can print on the metallized surface.

According to Kaufman at Adams, "We created a youthful, edgy kind of packaging that enabled us to carve a niche with the young consumer market that wants a 'heady' experience."