While its Peter Pan brand of peanut butter was on hiatus because of a voluntary product recall due to salmonella contamination, ConAgra Foods, Omaha, NE, used the time to make plant renovations to restore product safety. In addition, the company relaunched Peter Pan with a packaging makeover intended to help restore the brand’s former luster.

The package includes a new jar shape, a wider mouth opening, and added graphic elements on the label, including yellow lettering over a gradient blue swoosh that boldly states “New Look!”
“The label colors have been enhanced with more ‘pop,’” says ConAgra’s Stephanie Moritz. “We also took the opportunity to include on the right side of the label an icon that depicts our 100% satisfaction guarantee.”

Packaging improvements include a more tapered jar for easier handling and a wider mouth that enables consumers to scoop peanut butter more easily from the container.

Initially, the Creamy and Crunchy varieties are available, packaged in 18-, 28-, and 40-oz PET jars. Other varieties will be available in early 2008.

Inspired by the company’s own century-plus heritage, a new PET bottle and label design add a twist while also reflecting on tradition for Mountain Valley Spring Water, from Mountain Valley Spring Co., Hot Springs, AR. The new look has expanded the brand’s distribution from independent home- and office-delivery distributors into retailers such as Whole Foods.

“We synthesized the pillars of our brand to be ‘quality,’ ‘heritage,’ and ‘Americana,’” says Jim Karrh, Chief Marketing Officer. “That means that everything we do, including our packaging, has to reflect at least one of those pillars—and do so in an authentic way.”

Created by Flowdesign, the new PET bottle combines the redesigned label of Mountain Valley’s recently redesigned glass bottle. Green-hued plastic and an hourglass profile give the PET bottle a contemporary flair. The top portion of the bottle mold depicts rolling mountains topped with pine trees and the words “Since 1871” embossed above the label.

Mountain Valley’s Veriplas Containers molds the bottle on-site, and Valley Label converts the glue-applied film label.

Using a color-matching firm, Maybelline, New York, NY, created a custom look for its new Define-A-Lash line of mascara products. Anodized packaging components were created by electrochemically converting an aluminum metal surface to its oxide.

During the anodizing process, oxygen combines with the aluminum, forming aluminum oxide on the surface. Then the aluminum is dyed. The anodizing process maintains the brand equity in the packaging’s color by preventing fading, chipping, scratching, and peeling.

The mascara package features an aluminum cap that is anodized with precision color matching by Anomatic Corp. This process creates a seamless flow of bright green from the cap to the plastic base.
To accommodate the package design, Anomatic and Techpack, which supplied the tubes, created the cap to exacting specifications.

Suggested retail price is $7.99 at department stores.

VasoActive Pharmaceuticals, Danvers, MA, has gained additional market distribution for its three OTC topical lotions—Termin-8 (for athlete’s foot), A-R Extreme (for temporary relief from minor sports-related muscular and skeletal injuries), and Osteon (for osteoarthritis and other muscle and joint pain)—by redesigning the packaging for more vibrancy, dimension, and color-coding. With new packaging, the brand’s OTC topical lotions signal product efficacy and health benefits over competitive products.

Retailer brands continue to post solid dollar-volume increases in a number of categories across all distribution channels. The growth is due in part to retailers’ added emphasis on branding, in which packaging is playing a stronger role than ever in differentiating retailers and creating value.

The promise of smart packaging has always been impressive. Now, at last, some pretty intriguing commercial applications are starting to surface. There's More. Click to continue reading "Smart packaging—lessons in enhanced functionality"

The bottle and label work together in positioning the Aloe Breeze beverage line from Phoenix Beverage Co., Phoenix, AZ, as “the first USDA-certified organic drink line that harnesses the power of super-nutrient aloe vera and infuses it with exotic, naturally flavored waters.”

“Manifesting brand essence through packaging is powerful at retail,” declares Ron Pence, Pepsi Senior Marketing Manager for packaging innovation. The Pepsi brand reflects youth and vitality, and those virtues shine through on its new 20-oz bottle for the U.S. market.

Valerie Jacobs makes her living by helping consumer product companies identify and capitalize on consumer trends, and the Director of Trend Analysis at LPK notes a rise in the number of “natural” products. Not in the sense of natural versus organic, but natural as a barometer of aesthetic enjoyment.

Why can some products build an army of loyal consumers with little or no advertising and other brands require an expensive promotional campaign for success? Patrick Hanlon, Founder and CEO of Thinktopia, says true brands are belief systems with perceptible meaning to set them apart from commodity products.

So you come home from the store with a new toy for your child’s birthday. You know exactly what it looks like because you can see it through the package. You were actually able to play with it at the store in the package to see if it was “cool enough” and the right level for your child. The clear all-plastic thermoformed sealed clamshell package allowed you to touch various controls on the toy through strategically designed slots. The high visibility functional pack has significantly enhanced the shopping experience and aided the purchase decision, all without opening the package. When your child unwraps the present he or she can get a good feel if they like it or not by playing with it (at least to a degree) through the package.

The marketing value of packaging is a largely untapped frontier in OTC pharmaceuticals. Packages delivering cognitive value can support a great product—and drive sales.