Has the tube's time come in additional categories?

Could consumers find tubes desirable for products other than products such as toothpaste, creams, and lotions? Word is coming from Europe that tubes are beginning to appear in segments such as beverages.

Food Production Daily.com reports the emergence of vodka and energy drink brands in tubes, and claims the European Tube Manufacturers Association honored Essel Deutschland’s work in developing the Vodka-X-one laminate tube, an alternative to other packaging forms that could enhance safety in crowded, confined spaces by being easy to carry and collapsible.

Those advantages also are attractive in airports.

Tubes long have been a packaging form with potential, but marketers have struggled to make them viable for consumers in new product categories. But now and again comes word of a product manufacturer, such as Popper Foods’ Sushi Poppers, finding a clever new use for tube packaging.