Fewer Colors Big Savings for Unilever

Excerpted from AdAge.com

Using a color-harmonization program called Project Rainbow, Unilever is reducing the more than 100 hues it uses on its spreads and dressings packaging in Europe to six. Unilever’s hope is to save tens or eventually even hundreds of millions of dollars a year. By some estimates, the entire industry could save $5 billion annually if it follows suit…

…Advancements in printing, which have added as many as four additional colors to the old four-color process, have helped make such moves possible, reducing the need for specialized or “spot” colors to get the right look — or close to it…

…”The team was, quite frankly, blown away with the results,” said Matthew Daniels, best-practices manager for the Unilever spreads and cooking business, in a statement. “No one could quite believe that such quality could be realized when using six colors.”

This an article also touches on the potential positive impact on the environment and how the costs savings can be applied to other areas where they will have a great impact on the bottom line.  I think this article is well worth reading especially if you are involved with printing or packaging or how we may be thinking about color in this or other processes in the future.

Read: Cutting Down on Colors Could Save Unilever $26 Million