Something as straightforward as a new package format can do an astonishing job of invigorating an established product or brand. In the most common scenario, the new package works its magic by offering benefits the original package didn't provide, such as on-the-go convenience, ease of preparation, longer shelf life, less mess or new occasions for use.Examples of the phenomenon include: StarKist tuna in flexible pouches, Pringles potato crisps in single-serving cups, Corbett Canyon premium wine in a bag-in-box package and Birds Eye frozen vegetables in a steam-and-serve tray.Flexing with consumer demandPutting tuna in a pouch, a retail innovation StarKist began in 2000, seems like an obvious idea now. But at the time, replacing at least some of its two-piece tuna cans with pouches was nothing short of revolutionary. StarKist previously had introduced a 43-oz. pouch of tuna for foodservice operators. By plotting that package concept against consumers' desire for ease of use and better tasting tuna, the smaller retail pouches were born. "Understanding the consumer need state, we saw the pouch would translate nicely into a consumer retail proposition," says Lisa Henriksen, vice president of marketing for StarKist Seafood, in the Pittsburgh office of parent Del Monte Foods (www.delmonte.com). "It was quite a leap, putting tuna into a pouch."
For Procter and Gamble, designing a thermoformed cup that would protect Pringles Snack Stacks crisps was essential. Unbroken potato crisps represent an important part of Pringles' brand equity. Breakage is not acceptable.
Thus, the company designed a saddle-shaped cup that cradles the nested crisps and prevents them from breaking. The next step was creating a mold for its suppliers' thermoforming equipment. For this phase of package development, Procter and Gamble developed a cup delivery team that included its own product development managers as well as representatives from its two cup vendors and from the mold makers that supply those vendors.The cup vendors are Winpak Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, which thermoforms the cups at its South Chicago Heights, Ill., plant. Winpak also is the lidding converter for the cups. The other Snack Stacks cup supplier is Printpack Inc., Atlanta. All members of the cup delivery team worked collaboratively, sharing non-competitive and non-proprietary information to create the mold Winpak and Printpack use today.