P&G extends branding to cap, meeting tight launch timetable

Distinctive on-cap shrink-sleeve label clarifies new product varieties in cross-promotion for Tide with Febreze while also passing rigorous production-line requirements.

An on-cap shrink-sleeve label on laundry detergent bottles increases amount of packaging space available to P&G to introduce a l
An on-cap shrink-sleeve label on laundry detergent bottles increases amount of packaging space available to P&G to introduce a l

Brand managers are acutely aware of the bottom line, so for them the ultimate measure of success is creating a package that generates sales while without gumming up operations.

Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. created just such a package when it introduced to its stable of laundry detergents a cross-promotional package for Tide with Febreze Freshness. The design team cleverly opened up a new area of the package for graphics and branding information, including robust decorative elements, yet the design had no negative impact on the project’s high-speed packaging lines.

How was this accomplished? By opting for a decorated cap to both attract shoppers’ attention and to help distinguish Tide with Febreze Freshness from other products in the Tide lineup.

Laundry detergent is one category where shelves are cluttered with a mind-boggling choice of brands. Amid all that congestion, consumers welcome packaging that quickly communicates product differences and helps them to select the right product.

P&G accomplishes this by extending the branding “real estate” to the cap surface, a previously undecorated area of Tide detergent containers. P&G increased the amount of branding information on the package by decorating the cap with a shrink-sleeve label. Previously, all the branding information was displayed on the in-mold label on the blow-molded, high-definition polyethylene bottle.

The shrink-sleeve label wraps around the polypropylene cap’s entire vertical wall. Label graphics are rotogravure-printed in five colors. The caps themselves are color-coded to indicate the two scent varieties—teal for Meadows & Rain and purple for Spring & Renewal. Matching colors and an icon appear on the bottle label to reinforce the brand’s identity while also indicating the product scent. The decorated caps, working with the primary label on the bottle, help consumers to easily identify the two Tide with Febreze Freshness varieties within the Tide lineup.

The shrink-sleeved cap also demonstrates that outsourcing some packaging operations makes sense in situations in which a product manufacturer lacks the capability to do all the work in-house—even when the manufacturer is a goliath such as P&G, which often packages its own products.

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