Nesting club-store carton puts Mr. Clean on full display

Procter & Gamble has cleaned up the club-store pack for its Mr. Clean Magic Eraser assortment, making it more visually appealing and more sustainable in the process. In late 2016, P&G approached PaperWorks Industries to help them bring to life a concept of nested cartons that would provide a 360-deg billboard for the product and make it more sustainable in terms of material use and cubing.

Explains Peter F. Jesus, VP, Packaging Development & Support Services, PaperWorks, P&G had been using a thermoformed tub in a 9- and 11-ct size for three varieties of Magic Eraser, each product designed for a different task. “The company felt the package had a poor ‘first moment of truth,’ which meant consumer appeal was lacking,” says Jesus. “Furthermore, the thermoformed tubs did not meet sustainability objectives, and they did not palletize or transport well.”

Catching the consumer’s eye at a distance and from all sides of a pallet is a must in the club-store environment. With P&G’s previous pack, it could only promote the product through labels. The new folding carton—an auto-bottom tuck-top with an extended principal display panel—provides six panels onto which P&G can print graphics and messaging. An especially clever design whereby the cartons are nested also gives consumers full visibility to the packaging from all sides.

“P&G brought the concept to PaperWorks to execute,” says Jesus. “It mates the front of one carton with the back of a second to create a 360-degree billboard. This means that whether you are standing in front of the club-store pallet or are looking at its back through the aisle behind it, or from either side, you are seeing the exact same thing.”

The way this is accomplished in the front view is that the backside header of the carton on the right overlaps the front of the carton on the left. The opposite nesting also occurs on the back side.

To enhance customer communication, the front of the pack is die-cut to display the three different styles of Magic Eraser: Extra Durable, Kitchen, and Bath. The top of the pack is printed with color-coded bars for each “eraser” that contain information on product use. The header card features a large illustration of the brand’s namesake, Mr. Clean.

The carton is made from an 18-pt SBS litho-printed in five colors plus two coatings. “The use of multi-level sculpted embossing on the product image along with embossing of the product name enhance the carton,” explains Jesus. “Further, a UV spot-gloss coating was added to the embossed areas to add shimmer and shine, so the consumer’s first moment of truth is enhanced.” A cellophane window over the die-cut completes the package.

Aside from its shelf appeal, the overlapping carton configuration also makes the package easy to palletize and transport. The previous thermoformed tub did not cube out well, necessitating a corrugated tray between each pallet layer. Reducing packaging material significantly, the new packaging not only eliminates the need for the corrugated material, but it also does away with the tub, the lid, and the labels.

The new club-store pack for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was introduced in early 2018 in 9- and 11-ct sizes, depending on the specific retailer’s request. In November 2018, the package was honored with two Excellence Awards—one in the Eco and one in the General category—in the 2018 Paperboard Packaging Council carton competition.