STAMFORD, Conn. (May 30, 2003) – Tests results recently released by MeadWestvaco Corp.’s Packaging Resources Group (PRG) show that its enhanced Tango C1S and C2S cover stocks are superior to competitive paperboard grades in terms of color fastness and resistance to yellowing. MeadWestvaco sent four unprinted paper samples, identified only as numbers one through four to ensure blind-study objectivity, to the Paper Colorants Lab at BASF’s Charlotte, N.C., Technical Center. BASF was asked to perform color fastness testing and report the results by each paper’s number. BASF technical experts exposed a section of each paper to a xenon arc lamp for a total of 20 hours. They then measured the exposed sections’ brightness and CIE L-a-b color values, and evaluated the results against measurements taken from the unexposed “control” sections. Of the papers tested, enhanced Tango’s brightness faded the least: more than 500 percent less than its closest competitor with Optical Brightening Agents (OBAs). Tango cover stocks also showed the lowest increase in “b-value,” a measure of the yellow shading present in a paper: nearly 900 percent less than the next-best paperboard with OBAs. What the results of the BASF Lightfastness Test ultimately show, says Dr. Bryan J. Ortman, MeadWestvaco’s Global Graphics Segment Manager, is that enhanced Tango provides significant advantages for commercial printers. “Enhanced Tango is manufactured with a unique high-bright, colorfast coating that gives it an extremely high brightness level without using OBAs, thereby improving the color stability of printed images,” says Ortman. “Because of this, it will have less fading or yellowing over time, which not only maintains color fidelity but enhances the look of a printed piece.” For commercial printers, Ortman says that greater color stability can mean increased customer satisfaction and additional repeat business. And because enhanced Tango won’t yellow over time, printers can run jobs that combine newly received cartons of enhanced Tango with cartons that have been kept in inventory. End-users also benefit from the enhanced color stability that results from enhanced Tango’s lack of OBAs. “When sheets containing OBAs are viewed under typical office conditions, they don’t seem to achieve the same brightness level as they do under natural light,” Ortman says. “Because Tango looks the same under different lighting conditions and has reduced discoloration over time, familiar corporate identity colors will always look the same, which is important to maintaining a consistent and recognizable brand.” Introduced in March, enhanced Tango features a revolutionary new styling that gives it absolute whiteness. Unlike “blue-white” papers that exhibit shades of blue and red, or “warm-white” papers that contain yellow and green hues, enhanced Tango is the only commercially available paper line without color shading. This absolute-white styling helps printers achieve greater precision in their color reproduction, which reduces the need for color corrections on press and yields faster make-ready times. Available directly from MeadWestvaco and through leading paper merchants around the world, enhanced Tango was carefully engineered to uphold the brand’s reputation for providing superior consistency and reliability in nearly every type of commercial printing application. It delivers an extremely smooth surface and trouble-free runnability for bread-and-butter commercial printing jobs, such as folders, postcards, posters, greeting cards and lottery tickets. To receive a free enhanced Tango swatchbook, additional product information or product samples, please cal1 800 418 0397. Information and samples can also be obtained at www.tangopaper.com.