While technological differences among products may be apparent to the “techie” crowd, they are often lost on typical consumers.
In household alarms, First Alert is doing its part to eliminate this confusion with a packaging redesign that distinguishes product differences and—equally important—enables consumers to quickly recognize that batteries are included with the alarms. Studies have shown that many fires could be prevented simply with working detectors—saving lives and preventing injury.
“Ultimately, we believe these changes to our packaging provide a number of benefits, both environmental and practical, that are very meaningful to today’s consumers,” says Debbie Hanson, director of external affairs for Aurora, IL-based BRK Brands/First Alert.
Among them, icons on the package front describe each product’s features, in response to consumer questions about the detectors. First Alert also aids in product comprehension by adopting a predominantly red color scheme for its smoke alarms. Its carbon dioxide alarms come in blue packaging, and purple packaging identifies combination alarms.
A tear strip has been added to the redesigned plastic clamshells to eliminate the need for a scissors or other sharp objects to assist in opening the packages.
On the environmental side, First Alert has taken an initiative that brings an important improvement where cube is concerned. It has reduced the clamshell’s height by one inch. The change in size enables more packages to fit on a store shelf and also reduces packaging costs, says Tom Russo, First Alert spokesman.
