Purchases made at hardware, home-improvement, and automotive stores usually are planned, measured transactions. Wrench Mints, from the Los Angeles, CA-based company of the same name, attempts to break the mold and bring impulse buying to those store channels with a tin-plate container of breath fresheners.

Shape works with the Wrench Mints brand name to sell the product. Both the tin-plate container and the mints resemble the look of a wrench. Eddy Rubin, President and CEO of Wrench Mints, conceived the idea for the product and packaging.

Holding 35 to 42 miniature mints, the silver container is manufactured by an unnamed company in Hong Kong. The pack measures 3.7" x 1.5" x 0.45" and has a suggested retail price of $1.99. After the mints are gone, the container doubles as a holder for hardware fasteners such as nails and screws.

The mints have been introduced in the Peppermint and Cinnamon varieties, with more on the way this year.

Some of the brightest branding and design minds in the business will highlight this year's FUSE: Design, Culture, Branding conference (formerly Brand Identity and Package Design). The conference, produced by the Institute for International Research (IIR), will be April 13-16 at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, New York City.

Theft deterrence and product visibility were key requirements in a two-part, snap-fit, thermoformed package for Microsoft's new Windows Vista software sold in select Latin American markets. The use of recycled PET sourced from industrial scrap adds a measure of sustainability to the new pack.

Spartech Packaging Technology makes both the base and lid. The base has a large undercut, into which the lid is snapped once the product has been loaded. A thief would need considerable time and dexterity to separate the lid from the base.

Also important to Microsoft was that the package be easy to load and close using existing assembly and packaging systems. Mission accomplished, says Patti Sullivan, Microsoft Senior Packaging Project Manager.

"As with any design and packaging project, there were rounds of testing and fine-tuning, but from start to finish, Spartech consistently delivered and met required criteria," Sullivan adds.

In Germany, Lambertz gains elegance on the store shelf with ebony-colored, rounded-corner tins for its premium Best Selection brand of chocolate biscuits. With a crackle finish, the tins emulate the look of rich leather.

When suppliers talk proactively with the right people, the result often is packaging that stands out in a crowd—with money-saving efficiencies along the way.

You've got limited education budget and time, yet you want the essential information about trends driving packaging that gets results with today's demanding retailers and consumers. If this describes you, Shelf Impact!'s Package Design Workshops are just for you.

I recently struck up a conversation with a manager at a company that helps some major U.S. marketers produce consumer packaged products. Steps for integrating sustainability initiatives are wonderful, this manager said, but they quickly can break down in the "silo" mentality that's still prevalent at so many companies today.

About 70% of brand marketers launched new innovations or line extensions and 44% repositioned their brands in 2007. But marketers also say in a new survey that their main regret of 2007 was failing to invest more effort into understanding what makes their customers tick.

It's all about stewardship, life, and energy, and it's playing out in the beauty and health and wellness categories.