When a brand favored by professionals goes mainstream, communication challenges with the new audience can be considerable. The products are usually of premium quality, with a corresponding price point. The right packaging is essential in introducing the brand to mainstream consumers.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

Organic Valley, LaFarge, WI, has found an innovative way to extend its brand reach and bring the healthful benefits of milk to the ballpark. The dairy packages about 8 oz of milk in aseptic cartons for distribution at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, WI, during baseball games of the minor league Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

Counterfeiting in all shapes and sizes has spun badly out of control. In response, packaging and brand protection departments at packaged goods manufacturers are seeking ways to keep counterfeiting from doing further damage.

In southeast China, packaging for food that can spoil has to work doubly hard. Beyond brand communication, it has to protect the product from the region ’ s heat and humidity.

Kerr Dental wanted to improve package durability and functionality for its OptiDisc Finishing and Polishing Disc Set, used by dentists.

Are Universal Design principles incorporated into your brand's package developed process?

Rapid changes in packaging formats are essential today. A new report provides winning strategies that get marketing
and operations working together.

In a recent reporting period, Europe accounted for 40% and Asia Pacific 26% of new product introductions in the fabric care and detergents sub-category, substantially more than any other region around the globe. During this period, reports Mintel’s Global New Products Database, a growing number of brands have been focusing on healthful benefits; product anti-bacterial claims increased by 33%, and packaging is supporting the marketing claims.

Niche marketers are introducing a variety of new beverages in part because of a supply chain that supports their needs. One of them, MD Drinks, Santa Monica, CA, has introduced Urban Detox, a science-based, all-natural functional beverage marketed as a remedy for hangovers in stores on the West Coast and in the Southwest. Urban Detox is a subbrand under the Function umbrella.

Start small,seek growth and above all, make your effort a team

A completely sustainable package should be sourced responsibly and designed to be effective and safe throughout its life cycle. It should meet market criteria for performance and cost, be made entirely with renewable energy, and be recycled efficiently. Each package is part of a cradle-to-cradle packaging system.

Unilever dry mixes switch to metallized BOPP to improve barrier, aesthetics, and production.

Unilever’s array of food brands include Knorr, its number one-selling brand, and Lipton, two of the most trusted names found on supermarket shelves. The packaging for these top-selling brands is integral to consumer satisfaction, and for more than three decades Knorr and Lipton food products have been presented in sealed pouches made of paper/polyethylene/aluminum foil/PE (PPFP).

Canada-based Sun Valley Foods believes consumers will pay a premium for nutritional foods in packages that serve them conveniently. It also believes its in-pack vegetable steamer for its Smith’s brand delivers this value.

Sun Valley Foods markets 9-oz broccoli, 12-oz vegetable medley, and 16-oz carrots or zucchini at a suggested retail price of C$3.49 to $3.99. Refrigerated shelf life is 12 days.

The Simple Steps for Produce package, developed by Cryovac, uses a Multivac tray lidding system. Graphically speaking, the packages gain “pop” from a windowed paperboard sleeve bearing rich photography of the products in the line.

The “Wal-Mart” effect is making its influence felt in case-ready meat, shifting the nature of meat shopping to fit its one-stop shopping convenience platform. Wal-Mart’s success with this packaging format may prompt other high-volume retailers, as well as grocery stores, to offer more convenience products in case-ready meat.

A study from management consultant Kline & Co. says this trend will result in a 6% increase in the use of high-barrier packaging films over the next several years as retailers continue to decrease the “footprint” in their stores for fresh meat while increasing their offerings of case-ready, marinated and nearly ready-to-eat meat selections. These convenience-oriented prepared foods eliminate steps in meal preparation for busy consumers.

“Wal-Mart has been a tremendous force in case-ready meat retailing,” says Sharon Derbyshire with Kline Research. “They really want to stock this product much like they do consumer goods—get individual packages in, put them in the bins, and sell them.”

WD-40 Co., San Diego, delivers a revamped 12-oz steel can from Crown Holdings with a permanently attached, built-in straw tube.

“We’ve learned that more than 80% of WD-40 users have lost the straw at some point,” says Tim Lesmeister, Vice President, Marketing.

The Smart Straw, from Mar-Lee Packaging & Consumer Products, contains a standard aerosol valve from Summit Packaging with an actuator piece that uses a plastic extender tube. It tilts to spray in a larger coverage area or a more precise application.

The Smart Straw package’s suggested retail price is $3.99, compared with $2.99 for the can with a detachable straw.

Link: Crown Holdings

Drug firms start RFID tagging, and anti-counterfeiting tactics expand as CPGs get more aggressive to protect brands

Consumer product goods companies today are applying brand protection and package security tactics that were just ideas only 12 months earlier. And they are using multiple levels of security to deliver the protection they need.

As marketers continually raise the bar for achieving shelf impact, the use of special effects as an attention-grabber on packaging is increasing. Sales of specialty films are forecast to advance 5% annually to $7.4 billion by 2009, according to “Specialty Films,” a new study from The Freedonia Group.

Cosmetics is one category in which product packaging is using film to intensify graphic impact. Escada fragrance packaging maximizes its visual appeal with the right combination of paperboard, color, and the use of a sophisticated diffraction effect film.

On Escada Magnetism fragrance packs, the technique creates a stark contrast between the inside and outside of the cartons. The outside panels feature rich-color decoration, an enhanced glossy effect on the letters in the Escada brand name, and an embossed logo on the top panel.

Appliance marketer EuroPro hits several smart-packaging hot buttons with its convection toaster oven. Technology makes the fifth-panel, corrugated carton a value-added product feature.

A “press here” violator on the front panel points to a die-cut section with a red button and a lenticular image of the oven. The image displays arrows that indicate how the heating process works. Pushing the button activates a product message from a speaker behind a star-shaped die-cut, and it causes the lenticular image to vibrate.

The oven was purchased at a Chicago Target store for $50.