Graphic and print specialist Kirk Group has launched a bespoke agency to provide consumer brands with an end-to-end design execution service which takes package design concepts to shelf-ready printed products.
Task by Kirk’s graphics team advises on design suitability for printing, with the final design then rolled out across all product lines and sizes.
“We saw a gap in the market that could make the packaging design and printing process more streamlined, eliminating process duplication, and costly and time-consuming errors, delivering product to shelves more quickly,” Task general manager John Kapiniaris said.
“We also saw an opportunity to improve the quality of the final printed product, reproducing colours and designs to meet the original brand vision.
Task's clients include PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark, Simplot, Riviana and Cerebos.
Kapiniaris said clients recognised that the Kirk Group’s history of working closely with printers meant the team was familiar with individual print-press specifications, resulting in time and cost efficiencies.
“We know what will work and what won’t. We know if a particular colour or design is difficult to print from the outset and can advise the client at the start of the NPD process and suggest suitable alternatives to avoid problems or disappointment at the end of the process,” he said.
Task recently worked with Riviana to rebrand the Always Fresh line of products in just two months, halving the time from the previous process and at half the budgeted spend.
Kapiniaris said providing an end-to-end service was vital in getting products to shelf faster, which had huge financial implications given the competitive retail market, where retail shelf space was at a premium and failure to launch products on time could cost businesses.
