treated Wood tagS

COLORED LUMBER TAGS have become a difference maker for treater Culpeper Wood Preservers.

Trust through tags

Product ID helps fulfill your brand’s promise

All consumer products require some type of identification in the form of a label and related packaging, which comes in all manner of shapes and sizes to help get noticed and stand apart from competitors.

But what do you do when all the “packages” look the same and the label is quite small, like with pressure treated lumber? You take a footprint measuring just 7/8” tall by 2” wide and make as broad a canvas as possible.

A lot of people see truckloads of pressure treated boards heading down the highway. Too small to read as they pass by, the tags look functional at best. Held firmly in place with that staple and holding up well to 70+ MPH gusts and all sorts of weather conditions.

Though unreadable, you can clearly see there are different colored tags from one bundle to the next. Hard to miss that even at 70+ MPH with a turbulent wake of mist.

For the DIY-type of person who knows his or her way around a home improvement store, chances are they recognized those colored lumber tags as the Culpeper Wood Preservers brand of pressure treated lumber. Even for the casual observer wandering the isles looking for a furnace filter, they likely passed by those small end tags, which are crammed full of essential details.

“The end tag is literally our brand packaging,” said Chris Brown, director of business development and marketing, Culpeper Wood Preservers, Culpeper, Va. “It is a vital source of product and application information, but also a major part of our branding platform. The end tags also have to build trust and deliver peace of mind for our customers, from weekend do-it-yourselfers to seasoned contractors.”

The face of the tags features a solid color treatment to reflect product type. Reverse-out copy and graphics allow the white color of the tag stock to show through. There are also various combinations of the solid color with black ink for specifications, as well as some tags featuring an alternate color for the product name/type. The back side of all the tags is printed in black. The small size of the text is still easy to read against the white color of the tag material.

The printing is executed by MidSouth Design, Birmingham, Al. The tags are flexographic printed with proprietary ink systems. The white opaque material is 5-mil polypropylene with a two-sided matte finish. The construction offers

strength and rigidity, so the tags will not rip or tear from being stapled to the boards.

“Protecting the Culpeper brand identity and reinforcing their positioning is always top of mind,” said Ben Schneider, senior account manager, MidSouth Design. “These tags provide instant brand recognition with visual consistency in both layout and the use of color as a distinguisher of the product category.

“We use every bit of available space on the tags to effectively leverage the Culpeper graphics and detailed user information. And with a label that’s just seven-eighths of an inch by 2 inches, we have to be extremely precise. There is no margin for error.”

The tag material and inks are engineered with added durability to withstand full exposure to the treatment chemicals. In addition, tagged lumber on a job site is subjected to all types of weather conditions. The printing cannot fade or smear, so there is a higher level of UV resistance and added protection from abrasion.

For example, Culpeper has a treating operation in Lancaster, Ma. They treat year-round at the facility, so when the wood comes out of the treater in the winter, it freezes. Still, the tag must hold up against all the elemental conditions.

As for the tagging process, that’s done in the lumberyard. Culpeper uses the MidSouth Tagger, a pneumatic stapler engineered by MidSouth Design that automatically feeds a single tag from a roll and simultaneously staples it in place. Compared to holding a stapler in one hand and a roll of tags in the other, the MidSouth Tagger combines both elements into a single action. This increases productivity and speedto-market for Culpeper.

Lumber end tags do not require approval from Underwriters Laboratories, but they do offer compliance elements about the chemical preservative, affiliation with a third-party inspection agency, industry standards regarding use, warranty statement, and treating plant location.

“While some people might look at Culpeper products as

COLOR CODING—such as orange for #1 Grade Ground Contact and green for #2 Ground Contact—makes the grades easily identifiable and enriches the Culpeper brand.

just wood boards, we take our packaging and branding efforts very seriously,” Brown said. “It comes down to how we represent the Culpeper brand with customer support. And that support begins with the end tags.”

“They have to confirm the customer’s decision to use our products. That’s why every tag must be completely readable. They also have to be front and center on the end of every board at retail and the job site. When you consider the level of information those tags have to carry, legibility is a must and losing even one in transit is not acceptable,” he added.

– Michael Vejar is VP of sales & marketing for MidSouth Design, Birmingham, Al. (www.midsouthdesign.net), manufacturer of lumber tags, placards, bundle tags, and tagger guns.

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