Exclusive Paperboard Cover Attracts Extra Attention to CD

The cover of The Ark’s Prayer for the Weekend is made of Invercote G 300 g/m2 in the outer cover and 180 g/m2 in the folding claw that holds the disc inside.

12/05/07 Prayer for the Weekend is the latest album of the Swedish rock group The Ark. The first 5,000 copies of the disc will be packaged in an exclusive special cover called JakeBox. In mid-March The Ark visited the packaging printers Strand Grafiska in Malmö, Sweden, and inaugurated a newly developed packaging machine simply by pressing the start button.

Normally rock stars do not get so involved in record covers that they stand on the printing shop floor and watch cover after cover being produced. But the designer of JakeBox, Jakob Skarin, is the brother of The Ark’s singer and star, Ola Salo, which explains the extra interest.

“It isn’t just because we’re related,” the singer comments. “We think it’s fun to be able to offer an exclusive form of packaging to the very first buyers of our album, and JakeBox makes it possible to create more effects than are possible with a traditional CD cover.”

The Ark has recently won the right to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. Their winning entry, The Worrying Kind, is also on the new CD. Made of 100 percent paperboard, JakeBox holds the disc in place with an ingeniously designed folded “claw”. This claw releases the disc when the cover is opened and secures it back in place when the cover is closed. Jakob has worked in the packaging field for a number of years. His concept has met with a lot of interest but the manual stages of the production process have stopped him from achieving large production runs.

“The dominant kinds of covers in the music market are made in such huge series that it has been impossible for us to compete in terms of price,” he says. “We were forced to try to find a better solution.” Together with the experienced packaging printers Strand Grafiska and the HJ Mek company in Eslöv, southern Sweden, he began intensive development work a couple of years ago to create a machine that could reduce the costs of producing the JakeBox. That goal has been reached, and it is possible to process up to 1,800 CDs or DVDs per hour.

“This is a big step for us,” Jakob says. “True, we still can’t compete with standard CD covers in huge production runs, but for customers who want an exciting alternative that lets them stand out from the crowd with the aid of elegance and exclusiveness, we have gained a new competitive edge.”

The cover of The Ark’s Prayer for the Weekend is made of Invercote G 300 g/m2 in the outer cover and 180 g/m2 in the folding claw that holds the disc inside.

“The choice of material is crucial, especially for the folding claw,” explains Bengt Strand of Strand Grafiska. “Since the construction is flexed and folded when the cover is opened and closed, you have to choose a paperboard that won’t crack from the repeated folding. That’s important for both the function and the appearance of the cover. The paperboard that best copes with these demands is Invercote from Iggesund.” Jakob Skarin emphasises that a high degree of finish and elegance is an important part of what JakeBox is designed to convey. Some people might think that the music on a CD should speak for itself and that the packaging is less important, but that is not necessarily the case.

“An English record label that began using our covers instead of the traditional ones noticed that the CDs were being played far more on the radio,” he says. “So I believe that the same thing happens in music shops as in other shops – attractive packaging that can reflect exciting contents will arouse interest and curiosity in the customer.”