Case: Water-based flexographic ink enhances the brand image of pet food packaging

Date: Jul 22 2025 From: Star Color Views:

In today's increasingly competitive global pet food market, packaging is like a brand's "business card". Whether it meets international environmental standards and can accurately convey brand characteristics directly affects whether the brand is recognized in overseas markets. A well-known Chinese pet food brand focusing on export business has gained a firm foothold in the international market through the upgrading of this "business card" — and the key driving force behind it is the in-depth cooperation with Zhongzhixing water-based ink.

I. Packaging Upgrade: A Must-Answer Question for Brands Going Global

Since its establishment in 2010, this brand has adhered to the concept of "Quality knows no borders, care for every pet", and its products are exported to more than 30 countries and regions including Europe, America, Japan and South Korea. However, in recent years, the improvement of global environmental awareness has made overseas consumers put forward higher requirements for packaging: it must not only be safe and non-toxic, but also comply with local environmental regulations. The previously used traditional solvent-based ink packaging, due to excessive VOCs emissions and the risk of harmful substance residues, has repeatedly encountered access obstacles in the European market, becoming a barrier to expanding the market.

At the beginning of 2018, the brand officially launched the packaging upgrade plan, clarifying three core goals: first, compliance, which must pass international authoritative certifications such as EU REACH and US FDA; second, expressiveness, which should accurately restore the texture of ingredients and brand VI characteristics of the "natural and organic" series; third, sustainability, the production process must conform to the global low-carbon trend and be in line with the brand's long-term strategy. After comparative tests with more than 10 suppliers, it finally chose Zhongzhixing flexographic water-based ink.

Printing of pet food packaging bags

II. Three Advantages: The Breaking Power of Zhongzhixing Ink

Compliance Escort, Opening the Access to Global Markets
Zhongzhixing water-based flexographic ink uses water as a solvent, reducing VOCs emissions from the source (by more than 90% compared with traditional solvent-based inks), and has passed 12 international food contact safety certifications such as EU REACH, US FDA, and Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. After being applied to the brand's aluminum-plastic composite packaging, the SGS test showed that the residual amounts of heavy metals and benzene substances in the finished packaging were all below 0.01mg/kg, far lower than the EU standard (0.1mg/kg).

This breakthrough directly solved the worries about environmental policies: in the first quarter of the following year, its products successfully entered foreign pet chain supermarkets with compliant packaging, filling the previous market gap. The person in charge of the brand's overseas business department revealed: "The new packaging allowed us to get zero points deducted during customer factory inspections, and the cooperation negotiation cycle was shortened by 40%."

Printing Upgrade, Making Packaging a "Silent Salesman"
For the brand's flagship "fresh meat formula" series, Zhongzhixing's technical team customized high-adhesion water-based colorants and adopted 300-line high-precision flexographic dot control technology. The upgraded packaging has increased the reduction degree of the texture of fresh meat and the natural color of fruits and vegetables to 98%, and the gradient effect of the brand logo has become a visual focus on the shelves.

This visual upgrade has brought significant market feedback: at the pet exhibition in 2023, the consultation volume of products with new packaging increased by 67% compared with previous years; according to terminal data in the European market, the repurchase rate of products with new packaging increased by 23%, and "attractive packaging" became the third most important factor in purchasing decisions in consumer surveys.

Environmental Attributes, Empowering Brand Value Upgrade
After using Zhongzhixing ink, the carbon emissions of the packaging production line were reduced by 42%, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 800 tons per year, which is equivalent to planting 45,000 trees. Based on this achievement, the "empty packaging recycling program" was launched in the market — consumers can exchange 10 empty bags for 1 trial pack, which not only drove the exposure of social media topics to over 3 million times.

At the end of 2023, the price of its high-end series products in the North American market increased by 15% compared with that before the upgrade, while maintaining a 35% year-on-year sales growth, which confirmed the pulling effect of environmental attributes on brand premium.

Printing of pet food packaging bags

III. Cooperation Results: From Packaging Upgrade to Brand Leap

Today, the upgraded packaging has become the brand's "mobile billboard": in pet supply stores in the UK, its bright colors and "food-grade ink" logo always attract consumers to stop; in user reviews on Amazon, positive reviews related to "safe and odor-free packaging" account for 89%.

The person in charge of the brand's overseas business frankly said in an interview: "Zhongzhixing's solution is not only a technical upgrade, but also an extension of the brand strategy. In 2023, our overseas revenue increased by 52% year-on-year, and the brand value-added brought by packaging upgrade contributed at least 20 percentage points."

This cooperation confirms a trend: in the pet food export track, packaging has been upgraded from a "container" to a "carrier of brand competitiveness". And Zhongzhixing water-based flexographic ink is using technological innovation to help more Chinese brands write the dual advantages of "environmental protection + quality" in the global market.