Brand Packaging articles from April 2008

Brand Packaging archives from April 2008

Achieving balance.(Editorial)
April 1, 2008... Welcome to our second annual special issue dedicated to sustainability. As you can well imagine, our editorial team has spent much of the past few months immersing ourselves in this complex and critical issue. As you turn the pages of this...

Shortage of ... glass?(NEXT + NOW)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] UK shoppers in the wine aisle of Waitrose stores might have trouble picking out a bottle of rose this month. The retailer was forced to introduce its 500mL bottles of Vin a Deux ("wine for two") French rose in green...

Cigarette packs under attack.(NEXT + NOW)
April 1, 2008... Anti-smoking groups around the globe are stepping up efforts to more strongly regulate cigarette packaging. Some are calling for bolder text warnings, others for generic packaging that would strip cartons of branding. And, last month, groups in...

New Aquafina labels on the way.(NEXT + NOW)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A new Aquafina label reflecting the water's "public" origins will start entering the market within the next few months, according to Nicole Bradley, a Pepsi spokesperson. New label copy will reflect that Aquafina...

Mushrooms. Fresh from the pack.(NEXT + NOW)
April 1, 2008... Where do mushrooms come from? They could come from packaging--at least that's what Agata Jaworksa has proposed in her master's thesis for the Design Academy Eindhoven in The Netherlands. Jaworska's Made in Transit project describes a...

Sustainability is taking root: Wal-Mart reframed it as a business strategy, and now eco-friendly packaging is beginning to bear fruit.
April 1, 2008... It's no exaggeration to say 2007 was a watershed year for sustainability: It transformed from something companies were talking and learning about to something they began implementing. And while Al Gore and his documentary The Inconvenient Truth...

The ABCs of sustainable packaging: savvy brands lead the way toward lifestyle change.(SUSTAINABILITY)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Everyone is "greening up", but there are as many definitions of "sustainability" as there are questions. Take these few excerpts from the 20,900,000 references I found after "Googling" the word: * Sustainability...

Source-reduced nutraceuticals packaging.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AgroLabs' Naturally line of nutritional supplements is encouraging consumers to think outside the box, utilizing shrink sleeve labels made from Earthfirst PLA (www.natureworksllc.com). The brand was looking to source...

Dual-ovenable trays from renewable materials.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SilviPak (www.silvipak.com) is a dual ovenable tray suitable for frozen and chilled ready meal products and composed of pulp made from virgin wood fibers. Traditionally this type of packaging is made from CPET or...

Environmentally friendly inks complete the package.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Many brands, in an effort to make sustainable packaging a top priority, are looking at the environmental impact of every material and component. Videojet Technologies offers a family of environmentally friendly data...

Green packaging also reduces theft.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MWV (formerly MeadWestvaco) Natralock (www.natralock.com) packaging is designed to reduce waste and satisfy sustainability goals of retailers and brand owners. The packaging is secure and durable enough to reduce...

Green packaging for CDs/DVDs.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Wowpak (www.wewow.co.uk) is an innovative solution to cost-effective, recyclable CD and DVD packaging that also delivers visual impact. "As a packaging company, it is becoming increasingly important to satisfy not...

Eco-friendly bottle enters juice category.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2008... Noble Juice is reportedly the first fresh juice brand to use Ingeo natural plastic for its bottles. Natureworks Ingeo (www.natureworksllc.com) is a natural plastic material made 100 percent from annually renewable plant resources, rather than...

The heat is on: Mentholatum's WellPatch undergoes a visual--and strategic--repositioning.(BRAND NEW)
April 1, 2008... * The story: Muscle pain sufferers want fast relief without the mess and hassle of ointments and rubs. Mentholatum Corp., a global health and wellness company, introduced the technology of pain relief patches in the late 1990s with Mentholatum...

Noticeable innovation: what's new in the beverage aisle?(CATEGORY ANALYSIS)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When it comes to packaging innovation, the beverage aisle contains some of the most distinctive, eye-catching and compelling design solutions. But, for marketers seeking to position their products apart from and...

The sustainability enigma: are you thinking about stripping away material, or extending usefulness?(GETTING IT RIGHT)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The CPG industry is in the midst of a crash course education in sustainability, with the lion's share of attention focusing on packaging. The reigning strategy of many brand owners appears to be centered on material...

Designing for the shopper: six principles to drive effective packaging.(CONSUMER INSIGHT)
April 1, 2008... We are often asked for the "do's and don'ts" of effective packaging, based on our experience across thousands of consumer research studies. Although this may appear to be a simple question, it is actually quite difficult to generalize about...

Y Water connects with kids.(PACKAGING THAT SELLS)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Yes, another kids' beverage brand, but Y Water is making a stand by launching in a clever, y-shaped bottle that can be reused as a toy: Rubber connectors called "yknots" are designed to let kids link or stack...

Bottle anchors Kraft dressing revival.(PACKAGING THAT SELLS)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] New packaging is a key component of Kraft's reinvented salad dressing line, which includes product reformulations across 50 existing dressings and the addition of five new olive oil-based flavors. The brand's...

Coffee and chocolate meet at Starbucks.(PACKAGING THAT SELLS)
April 1, 2008... March marked the national launch for Starbucks' portfolio of artisan-style chocolates inspired by coffee and tea flavors and manufactured by the Artisan Confections Company, a subsidiary of Hershey. "Chocolate has always been a special part of...

Holistic approach to pet care.(PACKAGING THAT SELLS)
April 1, 2008... Halo, a premium pet care line that claims celebrity Ellen DeGeneres as part owner, introduced new packaging as part of a "refinement" of the brand. "Halo came to us with some great products, but no real recognizable brand identity," says Mike...

Redesign tells heartland story.(PACKAGING THAT SELLS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A line of natural crackers and multigrain chips, Sesmark has swapped its formerly generic identity with one that tells a "health from the heartland" story. The package redesign makes prominent use of sepia...

"Highly limited" edition for Hennessy.(PACKAGING THAT SELLS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Having created the world's first decanter-shaped spirits bottle in 1947, Hennessy Cognac has launched Hennessy X.O in a six-liter glass bottle inspired by that original packaging. The Hennessy X.O Mathusalem decanter is a "highly limited"...

Stay cool.(THE NETHERLANDS)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Grolsch Premium Pilsner is now available in a "Coolpack" designed to keep beer cold twice as long as standard multipack beer packaging. The Coolpack, manufactured by Rexam Beverage Can Europe (www.rexam.com), holds...

Ride the wave.(VENEZUELA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's no doubt that shape differentiates, as is evident in the clever form of this Naturaleza y Vida bath gel for kids package from Venezuela. Designed to make bath-time fun for kids and parents alike, the...

In the Raw.(UNITED KINGDOM)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Pepsi Raw was created in response to growing consumer demand for premium and more natural products. The cola--which gets its distinct taste from a blend of sparkling water, cane sugar and natural plant extracts--contains no artificial...

Delicious and nutritious? Yes, Please.(GERMANY)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As a busy mother of three, entrepreneur Gemma Michalski noticed a gap in the market for high quality convenience ready-prepared meals in Germany. She established Yes Please Foods to introduce a line of nutritious...

A brand on a mission.(BRAZIL)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... The backlash against bottled water apparently knows no boundaries; this offering from Brazil claims to be "the first and only eco-friendly bottled water in the world". The brand makes a donation to the Brazilian Rain Forest Foundation for each...

X marks the spot.(MEXICO)
April 1, 2008... Dos Equis XX Lager has launched its signature brand in a new aluminum bottle from CCL Container (www.cclcontainer.com). "The new 12oz aluminum bottle is an innovative and trendy design in the Mexican beer market that will increase the brand...

Following up.(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Over the past 30 years, PET has experienced tremendous growth as many food product categories converted from glass. But, that rate of conversion has been limited by the less-than-perfect oxygen barrier characteristics of ordinary PET. ...