By Liz Stevens, contributing writer, PostPress

Spectrum Packaging Corporation (SPC), Orlando, Florida, earned the Gold Award for Best Use of Foil/Embossing – Self Promotion (Holiday) in the 2025 FSEA Gold Leaf Awards for its “SPC Snow Scape Holiday Promotion.” Delivering industry-leading, state-of-the-art print and packaging services, SPC produces a wide range of folding cartons – from short-run to large-volume packaging solutions – while also offering structural engineering and prototyping, kit boxes, display packaging and specialty printing. The company serves the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, OTC, confectionary, consumer and beauty/personal care markets.

The SPC Snow Scape Holiday Promotion is a box set that includes eight unique gift boxes delivered in an elegant larger box container. The inner boxes feature winter landscapes and snow/frost designs while the outer box is in luminescent white with sparkling tone-on-tone designs and luxurious haptic elements. A circular window in the box lid reveals the pretty snowflake stencil on one of the inner boxes. SPC’s Ryan Hartlief, national accounts manager, took PostPress behind the scenes of the Snow Scape project.

“Winter holidays in Florida – where most of our customers live – aren’t exactly frosty,” said Hartlief, “so we set out to create a refreshing, wintry escape for them to get lost in. Using icy language and vivid imagery, we aimed to transport them into a personal snowscape.”

To bring its vision to life, SPC used premium iridescent paper and distinctive print techniques to capture the wonder and magic of winter – all while showcasing the company’s packaging capabilities. “We also included winter-themed postcards and a pen,” Hartlief said, “to invite our customers to share a bit of that snowy wonder with others by mailing off a handwritten holiday note.”

The project was a collaboration by the SPC team to showcase its capabilities and high-quality work. The engineering team created unique dielines for the outer box and the inner boxes, including a pull-out box that unfolds to reveal a snowflake-shaped container filled with rock candy.

A High Bar for Production Goals

Each year, SPC designs a special gift to thank its loyal customers, using the opportunity to challenge its team to continually “raise the bar” with more inventive materials and printing techniques. “This year was no exception,” said Hartlief. “Our goal was to let the paper, intricate diecuts and thoughtful print finishes be the stars of the show – bringing an unforgettable wintry scene to life.” That star quality was delivered with textures and finishes to evoke the sight and feel of a snowy escape: spot UVs added a wet, glistening effect; icy-toned paper created a frozen aesthetic; soft-touch coating gave the sensation of freshly fallen snow; and pearlized coatings delivered a magical shimmer.

“The Snow Scape Holiday Box was our whimsical invitation to imagine oneself in a sweet winter escape – someplace beautiful, cold and wonderfully peaceful – far from Florida’s sunny skies and the busyness of the season,” said Hartlief. Thoughtful details were incorporated throughout the kit. For example, a custom belly band was wrapped around the postcard box to showcase a simple but striking example of how a small design element can elevate packaging. As a final surprise, the rock candy box opens with a slide-out mechanism, revealing a snowflake-shaped interior and crystal-clear rock candy sticks tucked inside like icicles in a wintry wonderland.

The Specs

The holographic paper stock (Unifoil Unilustre^® clear lens bubble) used for the outer box lid, greeting card, rock candy box, card box sleeve and business card was laminated by Unifoil with the lens pattern film supplied by K Laser Technology. The outer box tray, postcard box and card set, diecut tray and rock candy box sleeve utilized a Unifoil Unilustre Rainbow stock.

The six cube candy boxes were produced on a Sappi Proto 18 pt. C1S SBS Board. SPC chose iridescent board to mimic the shimmering appearance of ice, using its shifting colors and light reflections to immerse recipients in a festive, wintry wonderland.

Since this was the company’s first time working with the holographic paperboard, the team experimented with a range of printing and finishing techniques. “We went through multiple rounds of proofs,” Hartlief explained, “and ran several press tests on our new Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 press to test how the paper interacted with different inks and embellishments. We tried everything from foil adhesion to embossing quality. Through this iterative process of trial and refinement, we ultimately selected printing and finishing methods that not only performed flawlessly but also delivered a truly spectacular final result.”

Hartlief noted that this holiday kit utilizes multiple innovative paper boards that are new to the industry, including a clear rainbow board and the ACR 48G Clear Lens Reflective Board. The elements that brought Snow Scape to life include:

• 11 different inks, including high-level metallic and reticulating varnish that work in combination with UV coating 
• Six variations of coatings – gloss UV, soft-touch, gloss aqueous, satin aqueous, raised UV and reticulated UV
• Embellishments that included embossing, raised gloss UV and two foil colors
• Folding styles to show off engineering and finishing capabilities – auto-lock bottoms, 1-2-3 bottoms, French Reverse Tucks, simplex boxes, a pull-out reveal box, sleeves, eflute tray and tray liner

From initial engineering and job planning to proofing and printing, this project took the combined effort of the entire team to create a beautiful holiday experience, including six job tickets and seven print forms.

The box set features an array of specialty effects and embellishments. The outer cover lid included embossing with a diecut and plastic film application. The belly band for the postcard box included an intricate snowflake diecut. The rock candy box sleeve has a hexagon diecut to simulate the hexagon shape used in the iridescent pattern on the board. Boxes were machine automated and hand-filled with candy. The package then was hand-assembled.

Other embellishments showcased in this packaging included the postcard box, which makes a statement on clear rainbow board with two hits of white + 4-color process + dull varnish + soft-touch aqueous + raised gloss UV. Additionally, the candy cube boxes and postcards demonstrate many different print techniques to enhance the beautiful snowscape scenes.

SPC used its Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 and roll-to-roll wet laminator for the project. Dies were provided by Marbach Group and metallic/holographic board and foils were from Unifoil and K Laser. “The newest technology in this project was the use of Heidelberg’s AI software in combination with its Prinect system,” Hartlief said. “That helped us manage color quality and improve production in real time.”

The recipients of the box set enjoyed the snowy getaway just as SPC had hoped. “The feedback was overwhelmingly positive,” said Hartlief. “Everyone loved it. This is a yearly promotional tradition here at Spectrum Packaging Corporation, and this definitely was one of the most well received amongst our customers nationwide.” 

For more information, visit www.thinkspc.com.