Speed-to-market is an essential advantage for any marketer of health care products. Sageant LLC received new labels in less than two weeks that reflect well on its brand of health supplements and vitamins. In the process, Sageant gained the flexibility to rapidly produce cost-effective label short-runs for sales samples and promotional campaigns, says Kelly Gaisford, Sageant President.

Soul Critic, a flavored malt beverage, is quenching thirsts throughout Mexico with a twist in beverage packaging. A distinctive triple label maximizes visual appeal in convenience stores throughout the country.

During the past baseball season in the Caribbean, the Presidente brand in the Dominican Republic conducted a Viva la Pelota!, or Hurrah Baseball!, campaign for its beer in 12-oz glass bottles with promotional sleeve labels. Presidente Regular featured sleeves printed with images of a ball and bat, and Light featured sleeves showing a jersey and bat.

A new book breaks through the clutter to offer practical strategies, tactics, and resources to jump-start your sustainable packaging program. Included are case histories and interviews with leading corporations that have adopted environmental stewardship programs.

Editor’s note: Global Package Gallery is a brand new Web site developed by Shelf Impact! The growing gallery currently contains more than 4,200 high-resolution package images from 37 countries, arranged by product category. Early subscribers include Unilever, Avon, Whole Foods, and a number of package design firms. But rather than us tell you about the gallery, we asked a real designer to review it. Here's what Kevin Saladyga had to say.

Pouches, PET, and aluminum packages are taking their place alongside glass as wine continues to innovate new traditions.

Providing sensory perception to increase brand differentiation and add a touch of luxury to traditionally packaged products, Sleever Intl. has launched a line of faux leather-relief shrink labels. These labels join the trend of packages creating distinction through tactile surfaces that enable shoppers to “feel the quality.”

Reily Foods Co., New Orleans, LA, slow-roasts its new 100% premium Arabica coffee, marketed under the Luzianne Coffee brand, in small batches to ensure a bold taste without the bitterness typical of dark-roast coffees. The company needed the right package to reflect both quality and southern authenticity.

Coca-Cola’s goal: Reposition its Nestea brand to communicate a positioning of “feel-good freshness” to attract new consumers in the refrigerated beverages section of the store.

“Touchpoints” is a term that’s become popular in marketing and packaging jargon, and I’ve discussed it previously in this space. There are two definitions. In marketing vernacular, touchpoints describe each occasion a brand marketer communicates a brand message to a consumer.

Wonder Tablitz Corp., Walpole, MA, is performing a sustainability sleight of hand with a new line of household cleaning and deodorizing products that yields 96 oz of liquid product per each empty 32-oz bottle sold. The Wonder Tablitz™ line of four cleaning solutions relies on the company's patented effervescent-tablet technology and a custom spray bottle that holds tablet refills to provide consumers with an environmentally friendly and effective cleaning system, the company says.

Hispanics have purchasing power of $860 billion, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, and all I get on my package is the translation of the words “black beans” to frijoles negros?