Forward-thinking marketers know that some of the best packaging innovations occur when they look elsewhere in the store for ideas. Count Yosha! Enterprises, Westfield, NJ, in this group.
The company had gained a reputation as an innovative marketer by introducing liquid breath mints under the Momints brand. Now it is solidifying that status by extending tube packaging into the category.
Packaging for Momints takes two approaches. The first is a pocket-size foil pouch containing a tube that holds eight gelatin capsules filled with flavored liquid. The second is a “super tube” variety pack that contains 15 of the eight-count tubes.
Yosha originally introduced the liquid mints in glass tubes with a flagged label in a test market. Among other concerns, the glass posed a potential safety issue, so Yosha switched to clear, cellulose acetate propionate tubes with polypropylene caps from Petro Packaging. The company believes that these tubes help the brand respond to retailer sentiment and the desire for more visually striking packaging in category planograms.
Cross-fertilization of ideas
What is the source of this creative idea? Interestingly, Yosha, a confectionery products marketer, found inspiration in the cosmetics aisle.
Anthony Shurman, Yosha president and chief executive officer, explains that the idea was to highlight the mints’ colorful appeal, since they come in green, red, and blue representing the peppermint, cinnamon, and winter burst flavors. The company enlisted Zaunscherb Marketing, a branding and package design firm, to help create the new look.
“Momints is a truly attractive breath mint, and the clear tubes accentuate and display their jewel-like appearance extremely effectively,” Shurman says. “They are reminiscent of perfume sample containers and as such, they are like ‘perfume for breath.’”
Shurman uses the term “pouch tube” to describe the eight-count packs. The tube measures 21¼16” long and 1¼4” in diameter. It rests inside a flexo-printed foil pouch with a translucent “window” from InterPac. The pouch film is 1.5 mil polyethylene, laminated solvent-free to 48-gauge metallized polyester. This results in a total film thickness of 2 mil.
Foremost, the pouch provides aesthetic appeal. Its metallized exterior side shimmers when exposed to light, giving consumers a visual “taste” of the product’s cool and refreshing benefits. This visual effect creates the illusion that the product is moving as consumers walk past the package, drawing their eye and prompting impulse sales, Shurman notes. The pouch also provides a more expansive “billboard” than a tube for sell copy while lending a more sophisticated appearance to the brand.
In addition, the pouch offers an important functional benefit-tamper evidence.
The super tubes measure 61¼2” long and 3¼4” in diameter. The nesting of the 15 individual tubes of different-colored liquid capsules inside the super tubes suggests a more premium product.
Despite their high-quality appearance, these two packages target budget-minded consumers with a value-pricing strategy. The pouch-tubes carry a suggested retail price of 50¢ each while the super-size tube is offered at a suggested retail price of $9.99.
The retail price per tube is a little higher in the variety pack, but Shurman believes that part of the value in the super tube lies in its display appeal. Consumers can also refill it.
“There are no powerful breath mints available for less than one dollar,” Shurman says. “The pouch tube fills that void in the market and allows customers to get immediate satisfaction and fresh breath without having to think long and hard about the money they are spending. In the test market for the package, purchase frequency was higher than for any other mint in the category.”
The new packaging for Momints initially is being introduced in Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven, CVS, Eckerd, Wawa, Stewart’s, and Barnes & Noble College Bookstores.
