Products used by trade customers might not need the branding components that hook consumers in retail stores, but the package still has to function optimally. Avlon Industries, Melrose Park, IL, faced that challenge with one of its best-selling products, Affirm Crème Relaxer, used in salons.

By instituting a liquid-nitrogen injection packaging process, AriZona Beverage Co. has extended the shelf life of its products by 12 to 18 weeks. That change enables the company's inventive promotional products to stay on the shelf longer than normal.

When Hillsboro, KS-based Golden Heritage Foods LLC heard the buzz about DreamWorks Animation's feature film, Bee Movie, it jumped at the chance to create a bee-themed promotional package for its honey.

Packages across categories are getting smaller, and the trend toward more portable beverage and prepared-food containers will drive the increased use of plastics in rigid food packaging in the U.S. market.

A streamlined PET bottle for Kraft Foods' 50-plus salad dressings achieves a 19% reduction in weight over the previous packaging and also provides multiple consumer conveniences.

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.

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.

A number of "attitude" beverages have been entering the market lately, and a new one demonstrates the power of the bottle and label working together. Melbourne, Australia-based Hazardous Fluids Pty. Ltd. is rolling out Sportsdrink + Bodily Fluids in the U.S. as an isotonic supplement drink designed for athletes participating in motor and power sports.

New packages coming on the market demonstrate that the move toward incorporating sustainability goals is accelerating. Kraft Foods is one company working to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging materials.

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 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.

With reports stating that Europeans recycle only 7% of the estimated nine billion plastic milk bottles they purchase each year, sustainability efforts are gaining a foothold. One U.K. supermarket chain is doing its part to advance the "green" movement.

Over time, a brand can become "dated," and BeautiControl Inc., Carrollton, TX, reached that point with its 15-year-old Skinlogics Lip Apeel line. The company updated the brand with custom packaging that also responds to consumer complaints about products that dry out.

Consumers long have expressed frustration with the mess that comes with opening, closing, and handling bacon packaging. Oscar Mayer takes a corrective step with its StayFresh Reclosable Tray.

Sustainability is driving the excess from packaging materials, energy use, and waste. The challenge for brand owners will be to improve product protection and shelf impact while also using materials and technologies that lessen packaging's environmental impact.

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.

Inspired by the company’s own century-plus heritage, a new PET bottle and label design add a twist while also reflecting on tradition for Mountain Valley Spring Water, from Mountain Valley Spring Co., Hot Springs, AR. The new look has expanded the brand’s distribution from independent home- and office-delivery distributors into retailers such as Whole Foods.

“We synthesized the pillars of our brand to be ‘quality,’ ‘heritage,’ and ‘Americana,’” says Jim Karrh, Chief Marketing Officer. “That means that everything we do, including our packaging, has to reflect at least one of those pillars—and do so in an authentic way.”

Created by Flowdesign, the new PET bottle combines the redesigned label of Mountain Valley’s recently redesigned glass bottle. Green-hued plastic and an hourglass profile give the PET bottle a contemporary flair. The top portion of the bottle mold depicts rolling mountains topped with pine trees and the words “Since 1871” embossed above the label.

Mountain Valley’s Veriplas Containers molds the bottle on-site, and Valley Label converts the glue-applied film label.

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.”

“Manifesting brand essence through packaging is powerful at retail,” declares Ron Pence, Pepsi Senior Marketing Manager for packaging innovation. The Pepsi brand reflects youth and vitality, and those virtues shine through on its new 20-oz bottle for the U.S. market.

So you come home from the store with a new toy for your child’s birthday. You know exactly what it looks like because you can see it through the package. You were actually able to play with it at the store in the package to see if it was “cool enough” and the right level for your child. The clear all-plastic thermoformed sealed clamshell package allowed you to touch various controls on the toy through strategically designed slots. The high visibility functional pack has significantly enhanced the shopping experience and aided the purchase decision, all without opening the package. When your child unwraps the present he or she can get a good feel if they like it or not by playing with it (at least to a degree) through the package.

For Teen Everyday Skincare System skincare products, packaging is the messenger for inspirational messages and a bit of attitude.

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.

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.

Suave’s redesign shows that cost savings don’t have to compromise consumer wants.

The emphasis on convenience drives so many food packaging decisions today, and it may have a greater influence on the packages we see in the future than anything else out there. The following are new examples in the battle for shelf supremacy in convenience packaging:

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.

Consumers strongly prefer glass for beer and liquor. The ‘cold threshold’ makes plastic ideal for water but not for beer. Soda lovers are divided on packaging choice.

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.

Consumers’ cereal packaging needs (and those of frustrated bag-in-box cereal eaters everywhere) are about to be realized with the sleeve-in-pouch (SIP) package design. The brainchild of Hosokawa Yoko, the SIP design emulates the cube of a carton, offers the easy-open/reclosure attributes of a zipper, and capitalizes on the efficiencies of in-line form-fill-seal manufacturing.

Hewlett Packard’s move to RPETG gives its club store packs of ink-jet cartridges an environmentally friendlier edgs.

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:

Launches of new products have been particularly active over the last year in the facial-care aisle. The category is enjoying growth on two fronts: products formulated and packaged for men, as well as in-the-home, salon-style treatment kits.

Dyna-Tabs, LLC plans to use convenient plastic packs of dissolvable strips to introduce more than 50 items that tap into wellness trends.