Packaging for kids at Kellogg and Dannon

When these two food processing powerhouses used existing brands as launch pads for kid-oriented new products, they were highly selective about their choice of containers.

While Kellogg's Snack'Ums are aimed at kids age 8 to 12 (above), Dannon's new drinkable yogurt (left) is for the 3- to 8-year-ol
While Kellogg's Snack'Ums are aimed at kids age 8 to 12 (above), Dannon's new drinkable yogurt (left) is for the 3- to 8-year-ol

New products are the lifeblood of a food company. But some companies are creating profitable new products not by inventing them entirely from scratch, but rather by building on the equity already established by existing products. Kellogg Co. of Battle Creek, MI, and Dannon USA of Tarrytown, NY, provide two good examples of how this strategy can be implemented. In each case, kid-oriented packaging plays a key role.

Kellogg’s new product is Snack’Ums™, a line of wholesome snacks featuring nutritious bite-sized pieces packaged in spiral-wound canisters supplied by Sonoco (Hartsville, SC). The three flavors are Big Boomin’ Pops (corn with a taste of caramel), Big Rollin’ Fruit Loops (rings with natural fruit flavors), and Rice Krispies Treats Krunch (crispy rice and marshmallow bites).

Scheduled for national rollout next month, a single-serve 1-oz size is aimed at C-stores, a 4.2-oz canister goes to supermarkets, and a 16-oz jumbo size is aimed at club stores. Suggested retail prices are 79¢, $1.99 and $3.79, respectively. A fourth package format, 12 of the 1-oz canisters in a shrink-wrapped tray, is also intended for club store sale at $5.99.

“We’ve leveraged three of our popular cereal equities in creating Snack’Ums: Fruit Loops, Corn Pops and Rice Krispies Treats cereals,” says Kenna Bridges, senior manager of marketing communications at Kellogg. The target market, says Bridges, is children aged 8 to 12 who like to snack after school.

Why a canister?

“That’s what consumers wanted,” says Bridges. “We did a lot of research on the type of package consumers wanted this snack in. The canister rated the highest. Consumers wanted the package to be portable and convenient and capable of keeping product fresh after it was first opened. But they also wanted something durable enough to allow it to be stuffed into a backpack without causing damage to the crunchy product inside.”

Bridges admits the canister costs about twice what a typical cereal carton would cost. But the decision to invest in the canister anyway was not a particularly difficult one. “We wanted to give consumers the package they wanted,” says Bridges.

The Sonoco canisters are spiral wound of 100% recycled paperboard, aluminum foil and a paper label that’s gravure printed in seven colors plus varnish by American Packaging (Rochester, NY). Seamed-on bottoms are steel. Filling is done by co-packers that Bridges doesn’t name.

The peelable tabbed membrane sealed to the rim of the package is a metallized polyester with heat-seal coating. The membrane is flexo-printed with the word “Snack’Ums” in one color. The final package piece, a translucent plastic low-density polyethylene overcap, is used for resealing the canister after it’s been opened.

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