Creative teams are looking for examples of new packages that provide real benefits for the environment. One recent example comes from Boho Vineyards, San Francisco, CA, which succeeds on the sustainability front by thinking "inside the box."

Avlon Industries, Melrose Park, IL, a manufacturer of salon and consumer hair products for the ethnic market, is leveraging structural design to assure that hair stylists use its Affirm Cream Relaxer hair salon products correctly. The new package structure also reduces costs.

Shape is the differentiator on another package in the beverage aisle with Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Beverages' 21-oz angled glass bottles of Rose's Mojito. The brand is a line of non-alcoholic mojito mixers.

How can packaging raise the bar for exclusive salon products? By positioning them as "lifestyle brands" to drive the overall marketing strategy, both in salons and in homes. Mario Tricoci Hair Salons & Day Spas offers an engaging example of how to do it in exclusive, personal-care products.

Club-store sales have reached $115 billion and are increasing nearly 5% annually. The channel's growth presents opportunities to marketers who package their products to meet the special challenges of the club-store environment.

Salon Selectives is returning to store shelves after a four-year hiatus with new products and updated formulas among its 18-product line of shampoos, conditioners, and styling and treatment products. Packaging also updates the brand.

ConAgra needed a package offering both purchase appeal and user convenience for its Ro*Tel Ready to Eat Queso Dip. It found the answer in a custom-molded polypropylene cup with a shrink label.

Lexus promo mailer has the high-end touch

Why do we indulge the clearly undesirable tendency to create "me-too" products with mundane packaging to match? Recently, I came across some interesting perspectives.

Today's savvy consumers have a wealth of information at their fingertips. The Internet provides some of the most in-depth analysis and reviews of almost anything offered in the marketplace -including new products and packaging.

As a child, I loved being the first person in my family to break through the seal of any new package. It was a constant battle between my little sister and I that soon became a parental bargaining tool to separate and reward us. Be it pushing a spoon through the seal under a jar's lid, zipping open a foil pouch, or pouring that first cascade of corn flakes from the box, there was something special about that moment.