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*On Product Publishing (OPP), the company behind the award-winning invention ‘Magazine on a Bottle’, has announced a technical breakthrough in R&D that allows its Labelzine magazine label to be applied to products in-line at high speed. *

Company officials say that they believe demand from the large beverage manufacturers for a high-speed Labelzine was significant enough to push the company into an aggressive R&D programme designed to provide a high-speed, low-cost solution.

OPP CEO Alex McKinnon said: “Our customers have asked for a Labelzine variant that can be applied online in high-speed, high-volume bottling and packaging environments. They've realised the value of label real estate and our invention basically turns their labels into media.

"We've completed a number of projects with Coca-Cola, Tetra Pak and others where we match content partners with the brand but now many companies, realising the power of their product as a communications tool, are also considering developing their own content and using Labelzine for a variety of on-product communications and on-line promotions.”

Since February 2008, OPP has been working with its manufacturing partners and customers to perfect a way of placing magazine labels onto the high-speed rewind film commonly used by the major beverage companies.

To create Labelzine Reel-Fed, OPP has been collaborating with the Germany’s Krones and Australia’s labelling specialists Pemara Corporation and Functional Packaging Solutions.

Other international collaborators include members of the Fix a Form label converter network, such as CCL Labels; Pago (Germany and Switzerland), Denny Brothers (UK) and Alcan Industries.

Strongly supported by the Australian Trade Commission’s Export Market Development Program (EMDG) and New Export Development Programme, OPP has been successful in exporting its technology to over 20 markets.

The company’s ‘Magazine on a Bottle’ was invented by Joanna Wojtalik and taken to market in Melbourne in 2006. The invention scooped the Best Label and Overall Best Concept at the water innovation awards in 2006. Since then, the company commenced exporting the Labelzine concept in July 2007 and now has over 130 countries under licence through 15 licensee organisations and management offices in Melbourne, Zurich and New York.

The company has completed many projects with international FMCG companies including Coca-Cola, Tetra Pak, Virgin, and L’Oreal. Publishing collaborators have included Bauer Germany, Sanoma Europe and Aller of Denmark. The company’s R&D continues with development underway for a magazine on takeaway cups and an interactive chip-based Labelzine.