It's no revelation that we here at Packaging World focus squarely on packaging. If packaging is new and innovative, we're on it, though the product itself is considered almost superfluous.
However, we have seen that creative marketers can take an otherwise ordinary package that contains a product that's so innovative it also reinvents the packaging.
I had this feeling some months back when I helped judge the annual AmeriStar Awards of the Institute of Packaging Professionals. One of the entries we considered was yet another stand-up pouch, once a bold newcomer on the packaging scene, but now a ubiquitous format used for everything from soup to nuts. This stand-up pouch (see image 1) received a shot in the arm, so to speak, from the product it contained: ammunition from Remington Arms. The pouch replaced the usual folding cartons that most ammunition is packed in.
We judges agreed on the value of Remington's outside-the-box approach to packaging, and awarded it AmeriStar recognition in 2004.
But there have been other examples of innovative thinking that match a tried-and-true package with a rather uncommon product. I asked our staff for their best examples of such unexpected pairings of product and package, and here's what we came up with:
• Tub-packed products such as margarine have been around for some time now, but features editor Jim Butschli felt that Country Crock refrigerated mashed potatoes in tubs injects new life in an old standby. Jim also points out that tubs have been used for Lloyd's Barbecue brand microwavable meat products.
• Chub packs of cookie mixes. Chub packs have long been a staple for meats such as sausage and sandwich spreads, but are reinvigorated with their appearance for ready-to-bake dough-based products.
Smart packaging?
Marketing editor Jim George passed along the following example, another play on our theme of unexpected or even jarring packaging. Although Jim admits this particular introduction is several years old, he feels "it's so good that it cries out for inclusion in any list of jarring packaging examples."
I couldn't agree more regarding Brain in the Box (image 2), a specialty collectors' CD set from Rhino Records that retailed for $99. The five CDs in the set present a collection of music with a science fiction connection, such as theme music from movies and TV shows. The sides of the corrugated box feature lenticular lenses that create a 3-D perception of a brain floating inside of the box. The visual connects with people who are interested in science fiction, George notes. A "control panel" is printed on the metal lid, adding to the "mad scientist" bent.
Similarly, editor and not coincidentally golfer Patrick Reynolds suggests Wilson's shrink-sleeve wrapped golf balls (image 3). This startling twist on golf ball packaging was innovative enough to be the subject of our August 2005 cover.
Canned frog
Even the most ubiquitous package of them all, the tin can, gets a makeover from the inside out with a new product from Thailand pointed out by our online editor Abbey Lewis-Reinholdt: Big Frog brand ready-to-eat frog meat (image 4).
The frogs are raised in large cement pools, slaughtered and cleaned, and then deep fried and tossed with two different sauces: spicy chili and sweet and sour.
"Our product's been well received because no one's ever done it before, so it's quite strange," says Big Frog spokesperson Yupa Sangnet, who came up with the idea and heads a group of villagers working on the project. "If you're the kind of person who doesn't like your frog fresh, you can have it [cooked] in a can."
For me, it really doesn't make a difference.
My grandfather, a fisherman, caught and prepared frog legs as a specialty many years ago, but I passed on the experience. I've always imagined that it tastes like amphibious chicken.
Whether this pairing of product and package has, ahem, "legs," only time will tell.
Meanwhile, keep an eye out for new products; sometimes a fresh twist on same-old packaging may surprise you and draw consumers.
