GE Caulk Singles are replacing squeeze tubes and caulk guns for convenient, on-the-go application.

Can design help bring a 20% to 25% sales premium at retail over competing brands?

Procter & Gamble is extending its Downy Simple Pleasures brand with a new line of "fabric enhancers" marketed under the Radiance Collection subbrand. The three scents in the line are formulated with assistance from perfume houses and delivered through a proprietary technology that deposits microscopic capsules of perfume onto fabrics during the wash/rinse cycles.

One strategy for creating a successful lifestyle brand focuses on a reinforced sense of well-being. One section of the store where this message can work well is household products, and a stellar recent example is WD-40's X-14 bathroom-cleaning products.

In the hardware business, Elmer's Wood Glue is No. 1 in market share. Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Elmer's Products Inc., Columbus, OH, decided the brand needed to look more contemporary to support its reputation as a reliable product.

Guardsman is a "heritage" brand in the furniture-care products industry. The brand was founded in 1915 in Grand Rapids, MI, and Valspar Corp. wanted to make it more contemporary.

Editor's note: With this issue, we welcome Robert Croft, a design industry veteran with a gift for seeing "what could be," and the ability to translate those ideas into workable, visual packaging concepts. His What if... columns will publish periodically in Shelf Impact!'s e-newsletter and in printed inserts of Shelf Impact! in Packaging World magazine.

In the Pacific Northwest, DANI Natural Products, Bend, OR, is marketing pure soy candles and "ECO" natural reed diffusers in clear containers made from corn-based polymers. The packaging, from NatureWorks LLC, is biodegradable.

The cotton-wicked, soy candles are 100% biodegradable and burn soot-free. The candle's glass receptacle bears a recyclable aluminum lid. After a candle is spent, the receptacle is reusable elsewhere in the home.

The natural reed diffuser oil also comes in glass receptacles with accompanying reeds, and it offers an alternative to traditional incense sticks. The oil provides a safe, flame-free way to slowly diffuse and distribute all-natural fragrances. The reed soaks up the essential-oil blend and is released during burning.

DANI distributes both products through retail boutique stores and at www.danibath.com. Suggested retail price is about $18 for the soy candles and $30 for the reed diffusers.

A clever garden-spray-hose delivery system and a striking shrink-sleeve label give distinction to The Scotts Co.'s multipacks of Miracle-Gro LiquaFeed All Purpose Plant Food.

The no-mix, no-measure product and packaging heighten consumer convenience by minimizing steps during product use. A plant food hose feeding adapter (sold separately) has one screw-thread aperture that connects to the hose. A second aperture attaches to the top of the opened bottle. Water and plant food blend within the adapter for delivery through the feeding spray nozzle.

Nine-color rotogravure printing enriches the polyvinyl chloride sleeves around the 16-oz bottles. Fort Dearborn Co. provides the sleeves.

"LiquaFeed has been the most successful new product launch in the history of our company," says Carlos Hernandez, Scotts Marketing Director. "The innovative packaging design is an important part of the product's success."

Suggested retail price is $9.99 for a four-pack and $5.99 for a two-pack.

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.

Too many packages fail to adequately clarify what the product inside does and, by association, declare a price-value relationship that helps consumers confidently purchase the right product.

Mintel spots two products that make geographic considerations the focal point of product and packaging development.

Company Co-Founder Eric Ryan has been making the rounds at branding and design conferences, saying Method Products loves to break away from the utilitarian look as a way to challenge product category norms. The San Francisco, CA-based marketer has followed through on that approach in a number of household product categories, and is now bringing it to floor cleaner.

For a marketer of household products such as Colgate- Palmolive, it ’ s critical to keep water from getting into a packaging system prematurely to activate the product before the consumer uses it.

It ’ s no secret that private-label brands have been gaining market share steadily at the expense of regional and national brands. But what ’ s striking about the latest independent study of store brands is that the growth is trickling down from food and beverage to non-grocery categories.

Anyone who creates packaging should take note of two significant trends occurring in the battleground that is the store shelf. First, the steady growth of retailer-brand products in food and beverage has begun to create a “ halo ” effect over non-grocery categories. Second, mega- retailers and specialty chains are stealing market share from traditional supermarkets, strengthened with shelves displaying an abundance of brands exclusive to their stores.

A solid ball of detergent, Oxi Clean “Toss-n-Go” is no ordinary laundry product. Its packaging, a thermoformed clamshell inside a conical paperboard sleeve, is equally innovative. Amid the ever-so-predictable jugs and cartons in the detergent aisle, brand owner Church & Dwight’s conical sleeve packaging with the protruding ball in the front really stands out.

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.

From fabric and skin care to energy drinks, new packages communicate what the product does

Mintel’s Global New Products Database cites several products that have recently come on the market. Each product’s packaging spotlights the product benefits.

Lebanon Seaboard is the top-selling brand in lawn and garden supplies, yet the company decided to survey consumers for their perceptions of the brand. The results told Lebanon Seaboard that the package had shortcomings in consumers’ minds and would require structural modifications. Among consumers’ observations:

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has found an innarvative way to help consumers protect the environment by using packaging. Its flexible-film bags of Scotts' lawn fertilizer educate consumers on how to properly apply the product by following the label directions.

Based on input from environmental groups and the company's consumer research, Scotts Miracle-Gro has added best- practice application instructions on more than 35 million bags of its Turf Builder@ brand of fertilizer products. The company features the messages on the top of the back panel of its fertilizer bags.

Winning Best of Show honors at the Institute of Packaging Professionals’ (IoPP) 2005 AmeriStar competition,
Sherwin-Williams Co.’s Ready-to Roll PP paint container oozes with convenience features. The package, designed by Group 4, is a 2.5-gal project pail that features an easy-off lid, comfort handle, and built-in roller tray.

Blue Keld, a British marketer, packages its namesake brand of ice cubes in resealable bags that guard against melting and product damage. Graham Cheesebrough, Marketing Director, says the bags can be run at high speeds, enabling Blue Keld to meet production schedules and satisfy growing demand for the brand.

The 70-micron-thick, coextruded polyethylene film bags are resealable, 1- and 2-kg packages that incorporate zippers supplied by Zip-Pak.

Cheesebrough says, “We use only spring water to make our ice and wanted packaging that would reflect the high quality of our product.”

The use of PET is growing in cosmetics and personal care packaging. Some marketers are coming to believe that the resin enhances a packaging aesthetic appeal, especially in transparent containers that enable consumers to see the product.

Such is the case for Haal Verpakkingen, a Dutch marketer of personal care products. It markets liquid soap in a transparent, 300-mL extrusion blow-molded PET dispenser. RPC Verpackungen Kutenhholz produces the stylish dispenser.

The clarity of the PET provides a view of the dispenser pump while also adding depth to the graphic design on the container. The overall effect is multidimensional, heightening perceptions of a quality product.

Sara Lee says new packaging graphics signaling attributes such as “fresh” and “clean” have boosted market share and sales of its Ty-D-Bol toilet cleaner.

Responding to a wave a competitors sporting more contemporary packaging with fresh brand promises, Sara Lee has leveraged the efficacy of the brand’s iconic “Ty-D-Bol Man” in the brand’s new packaging. Hanson Associates developed a design that translates across the brand’s range of products.

An illustration of the Ty-D-Bol Man anchors the packaging communications. The character’s icon is prominently incorporated into a new brand logo.

Glidden raises the bar in value-added paint packaging with a polypropylene Quick Roll container. The container permits do-it-yourselfers to mix, paint, and store paint in a single container.

The 1.85-gal tub-like container, from Superfos, is slightly smaller than competing 2.5-gal paint cans, increasing user convenience on ladders. Quick Roll, carrying a suggested retail price of $30, requires a four-step process:

1. Stirring the paint thoroughly in the container.

2. Dipping a roller in the paint at the open end of the container.

3. Rolling away excess paint on the grid inside the container. Unused paint drips through gaps in the grid and back into the container.

4. Start painting.

In the battle for sales, retailers are rethinking how they stage products in order to maximize every square foot of sales. In some categories, that approach has reduced the number of linear feet either year round or made seasonal adjustments in shelf allocation.

In other categories, less space is being designated for point-of-purchase communications. Power tools are a case in point, especially in home centers.

Robert Bosch Co. faced this challenge when introducing its Impactor cordless fastening driver. The drill’s proprietary power mechanism broadens the tool’s range of applications. The drill also generates more torque and is suitable for more jobs than similar tools in its class, says Jeff Wilkinson, Director of Cordless Initiatives at Bosch. Yet the Impactor is also smaller and lighter, and it delivers less strain on the user.

Bosch wanted to communicate these benefits to professionals and serious do-it-yourself consumers.

World Kitchen has extended its equity in bakeware into silicone products. For its new Baker’s Secret Silicone Bakeware sub-brand, called Baker’s Secret Flexible, the Reston, VA, marketer created an eye-catching e-flute paperboard sleeve, printed offset in five colors.

Silicone bakeware’s bending capability enables it to fit into small storage places. That is a strong point of difference with metal bakeware, and both the Baker’s Secret Flexible product name and the packaging communicate this difference on multiple levels.

First, rather than simply depicting standard graphics, the sleeve, designed by Anthem Worldwide, leverages the sub-brand name prominently. A wave-shaped die-cut pattern on both edges of the sleeve creates the imagery of a product having flexible properties.

“The product’s material properties offer the ultimate convenience,” says Jyoti Sharma, Baker’s Secret Flexible Brand Manager. “It’s oven-and freezer-safe, dishwasher-sturdy, even microwaveable. It bends and folds easily to store in even the most space-conscious kitchens.”

I’m a fan of foreign cultures. I often associate a country or experience with a unique aroma I encounter there. At the recent Interpack in Düsseldorf, Germany, I again had the opportunity to drink in the aroma of Egyptian cold-pressed olive oil. But it was the package design—not the aroma—of New Salheya Olive Oil Mill’s premium olive oil that attracted my attention.

The slender, oval-topped wooden box is as stunning as Cleopatra herself. Topped with a retractable, angular wood handle, the box is draped in a cross-patterned papyrus. The papyrus is preprinted in black and white, over which hand-painted images of Egyptian olive pickers and sundry classic period images are depicted in bronze, rust, emerald, turquoise, and gold-tinted tones. The papyrus masterpiece is laminated to the box and lid.

By taking a “big-picture” view of its brand of garden sprayers, Chapin International, Batavia, NY, has grown sales more than 10% in a staid lawn and garden products category, which traditionally appeals to males. Females now comprise 40% of the brand’s sales, up from 10% several years ago.

Chapin created a subcategory by restaging its sprayers as a lifestyle brand in which the package works at a higher emotional level as a lifestyle brand, rather than functioning as an “industrial” container, says Chuck Mattes, Vice President, Sales and Marketing.

LPK, a Cincinnati brand design agency, conducted consumer product research and did the package designs. The new packaging’s soft, curvilinear container shape incorporates patented features and a tactile surface. The entry-level Spray-It 1-gal sprayer’s design provides both consumer and retailer benefits. For consumers, the foam polypropylene handle makes carrying the containers easier.