When Redox Brands Inc., the fledgling West Chester laundry products company, needed to quickly produce labels for its new liquid Oxydol, it didn't have to look far.

        It turned to Multi-Color Corp., the Cincinnati label printer and leading producer of so-called in-mold labels — which are set in the plastic bottle molds as they are produced.

Looking over new Oxydol labels are (from left) Multi-Color plant manager Ken Pizzuco, Redox Brands Inc. Oxydol brand manager Mark Winterhalter and laser graphic technician David Smith. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        Thanks to Multi-Color's in-house graphics capabilities, it was able to turn out redesigned Oxydol labels for sales samples in a matter of weeks, a process that normally would take months.

        For Redox, formed last year by two former Procter & Gamble managers to acquire the venerable Oxydol brand from P&G, the rapid turnaround was critical.

        Redox had made commitments to its Wall Street investors and customers that it would introduce liquid Oxydol by April. In order to have sales samples in the hands of buyers for retailers such as Kroger Co. and Wal-Mart this month, Redox needed its new labels ready by mid-December.

        But as late as mid-November, it had no labels ready for the 100-ounce liquid bottles, said Mark Win terhalter, Redox's Oxydol brand manager.

        “The time line was tight,” said Mr. Winterhalter, a former assistant brand manager at P&G. “But we had no choice.”

        As part of rolling out a liquid version of Oxydol, Redox is also repositioning the product for younger consumers. That meant updating the product's familiar green packaging with a brighter, more modern look, he said.

        Because of the investment Multi-Color has made its in its own plate-making facility in Erlanger, it was able to eliminate the time-consuming and costly step of taking the designs to an outside color separation firm.

        So Multi-Color produced the finished labels at its Batavia offset printing plant in 10 days, a process that could normally take months, said Steve Mulch, vice president of sales and marketing.

        Multi-Color, which reported record operating income for its fiscal third quarter Thursday, thinks that kind of rapid response time is becoming critical to consumer products companies.

        “It's extremely important to our customers that they get their products to market rapidly. Every day counts,” Mr. Mulch said.

        That's particularly so for a new company like Redox, said Mr. Winterhalter.

        “To compete with the Procter & Gambles and Uni levers of the world, we believe our competitive advantage is our speed and our flexibility,” he said.

        As a privately held company, Redox doesn't disclose sales figures, but liquid Oxydol is important to the company for a couple of reasons, Mr. Winterhalter said.

        First, the market is moving away from powder detergents to liquids. Five years ago, he said, powders represented 70 percent of all laundry detergent sales and liquids represented about 30 percent. Today those percentages are nearly reversed.

        “There's been huge growth in liquids, and powders continue to decline. If we're to grow as a company, our brands need to be positioned in the segments that are growing,” he said.

        And there was a credibility issue for Redox.

        “This is the first major mile stone for our company, the first thing we produced by ourselves. Investors and customers can look at us and say these guys are for real,” Mr. Winterhalter said.

        Last year, Multi-Color's $53 million in revenues represented more than half the total in-mold label market. Over the last year, it acquired the Batavia plant that produces pressure-sensitive labels and a Las Vegas company that makes heat-shrink labels.

        Those two categories represent a much larger share of the total $9 billion U.S. label market.
       

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