In This Issue

OTC package brings relief in crowded category Brand managers of healthcare products are beginning to use words like "efficacy" when discussing packaging options for their products—a sign that they view packaging as more than a carrier of the product.

FUSE : Ideas for elevating the packaging of your brand Some of the brightest branding and design minds in the business will highlight this year's FUSE: Design & Culture/Brand Identity & Packaging conference, produced by the Institute for International Research (IIR), will be April 13-16 at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, New York City.

Package Gallery

Food, beverage packages say goodbye to excess

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

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.

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Though sustainability is important, consumers are seeking easier, more healthful, and fresher food options.

What this means for packaging is a growing need for materials and formats that ensure product freshness and protect nutrients, and also extend product shelf life and deliver consumer convenience. Two examples:

• The trends of product freshness and consumer convenience have increased the need for rigid plastic containers. Microwave packaging is one hot market for this packaging format. In the refrigerator case, one such package is Kraft Foods' Oscar Mayer Deli Creations refrigerated, MAP-packed sandwiches in Graphic Packaging International's QuiltWave microwave receptor trays. Created to deliver restaurant-quality, hot sandwiches in 60 seconds, each Deli Creations product includes all the fixings for a hearty sandwich, including individually wrapped meat, bread, and cheese, plus pouched condiments. The components are grouped on the QuiltWave tray inside a paperboard carton.

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• Hormel Compleats microwavable meals, from Hormel Foods, also was developed to "cater specifically to busy workers looking for convenient, quick, and satisfying meal options," says Brett Asay, Hormel Compleats Product Manager. The meals replace Hormel's Microwave Trays line of frozen, microwavable meals and include 21 varieties in a shelf-stable, microwavable polypropylene tray with a film lid, marketed in a paperboard sleeve. "You can toss one in your bag, store one in your desk, or keep a stock in your pantry, and you don't have to worry about keeping them frozen," Asay says.

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In beverages, the bottle-can format is gaining wider acceptance, in part because aluminum and steel are recyclable materials. But designers are beginning to let their creativity flow in using both color and shape for visual appeal. One of the latest applications is from Coca-Cola North America and Caribou Coffee, for a premium ready-to-drink ice coffee line in three varieties. The brand employs a 12-oz reclosable, shaped AlumiTek aluminum bottle from Ball Corp. The package is reclosable and offers good shelf life, tamper-resistance, and the ability to chill quickly.

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Shape is catching on elsewhere in the beverage aisles. Carolyn Takata, Director of Marketing, Silgan Containers, says one reason is that evolving technologies are bringing about production efficiencies for aluminum and steel that compare favorably with those of metal cans.

One striking example of a new steel, shaped can is the 5-oz aerosol for PAM Professional High Heat no-stick cooking spray. ConAgra Foods opted for a three-piece steel can, created using Ball Corp.'s Aergo blow-molding shaping technology. The process expands can walls up to 30% beyond conventional, straight-walled cans.

The custom-shaped PAM can's ergonomic contours resemble brushed stainless steel and replicate the look of a modern kitchen appliance.

OTC package brings relief in crowded category

Brand managers of healthcare products are beginning to use words like "efficacy" when discussing packaging options for their products—a sign that they view packaging as more than a carrier of the product.

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In the muscle pain-relief aisle, packaging reflects this elevated status for Mentholatum Co. Inc.'s WellPatch brand of treatment patches. Competition in the pain-relief category is increasing, and it created the need for a package redesign for WellPatch.

"We wanted to modernize and build attraction at shelf, where many purchase decisions are made," says Mike Vendura, Mentholatum's Senior Brand Manager, Health Care. "We needed a new look that would allow WellPatch to stand out, while reinforcing and speaking to the innovation and efficacy of our products."

The creative team also decided to build a clearer link between Mentholatum's topical pain-relief patches and its Deep Heating brand of pain-relieving rubs, which enjoys strong equity and awareness among consumers.

Brand and design consultancy Dragon Rouge's quantitative consumer research determined that Deep Heating communicates the benefit of releasing heat deep into muscles. Those findings provided the opportunity to over-brand WellPatch with Deep Heating, says Eric Zeitoun, Dragon Rouge President.

Red and blue graphic elements, printed in four-color process with two spot colors, accent the brand's silver metallic carton. The design breaks with the category's traditional visual cues yet still presents the visual elements that communicate a pain-relief pad with a warming/cooling benefit, and positions the brand as energetic and contemporary. The color scheme gives the brand another leg up in OTC products by creating warm waves of color to call out each product's specific benefits.

Mod-Pac Corp. provides and prints the paperboard cartons.

A color-coding system works in tandem with pictograms to create simple and clear communication of the product and its benefits.

FUSE : Ideas for elevating the packaging of your brand

Cheryl Swanson

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

Shelf Impact! is a media partner for this 9th annual conference, which has the theme Creating Winning Campaigns for Moms that Excite Kids in Today's Modern Health Age.

Shelf Impact! will continue its support of the conference as a media partner.

IIR has announced additional speakers for the conference. Natalie Schoch, Director, Knowledge Management and Trends at the Kellogg Co., will present "Fast Forward: Forget the Past, Everything Happens in the Future."

Mike Ellgass, Director of Private Brands for Sam's Club, will explore "Being Green in Mass: Packaging Innovations at Sam's Club."

Cheryl Swanson, a cultural anthropologist and visual branding expert, and Principal at Toniq, a brand-effervescence consulting company, will discuss "Don't Just Survive, Thrive: Lifestyles in the Next Decade."

The symposia day will include concurrent breakout track sessions on sustainability and packaging innovation, global design and brand strategy, and emotional branding and the quest for experiences. The conference days will offer afternoon tracks on design, strategy, and trends affecting packaging.

View complete registration details and the program agenda.