Not since 1968, when the cartoon series group The Archies’ bubblegum pop ditty Sugar Sugar became a trans-Atlantic No. 1 hit and was pressed into a paperboard-and-vinyl 33 1/3 RPM cut-out record, has the box that the cereal comes in created so much buzz among kids as General Mills’ paperboard iron-on transfer featuring characters from Shrek 2.

At the National Paperbox Association’s packaging competition, the judges were so smitten with the technology that they experimented with the paperboard/dye-sublimation transfer on the host hotel’s pillowcases.

The approach combines the not-so-new process of combining dye-sublimation inks with process inks. When heat is applied to the transfer, the dye-sub ink from the transfer changes to liquid, then to gas, and bleeds into the fabric. General Mills combines each cereal’s brand color set with those of the Shrek characters to render each indistinguishable from the other. Flood-coating the entire box further masks the process.

“The box is the premium,” explains Mike Reilly, General Mills’ Manager of Promotion Packaging.

The cereal box transfer promotes the release of Shrek 2 on DVD and home video. To encourage cross promotion and sales through collectibility, there are six different full-color designs for six different cereal brands.

By David Luttenberger
From Package Design magazine