Going first class with glass

Doss adds it was important “to make sure that Starbucks customers perceived Starbucks Coffee Liqueur as something with a new and unique set of brand cues: versatility, sophistication, and of course, authentic Starbucks coffee flavor.”

The companies subsequently came out with Starbucks Cream Liqueur in a similarly shaped bottle rendered in a light cream-colored glass. Playing to Starbucks’ strength, the cream product includes a touch of coffee.

The Burlington, Wis., facility of Saint-Gobain Containers (www.sgcontainers.com) supplies the 1-l bottles, and Anchor Glass Container Corp.’s Henryetta, Okla., plant supplies the 750-ml bottles for both liqueurs.

In the flavored alcoholic beverages category, bottle shape plays an important role in the rebranding and package redesign of Seagram’s Coolers. Currently owned by Pernod-Ricard, the brand received a new moniker, Seagram’s Cooler Escapes, and the package’s shape and graphics were overhauled.

United States Beverage LLC (www.unitedstatesbeverage.com), Stamford, Conn., which markets the product, timed the rebranding to Seagram’s Coolers’ 20th anniversary on the market. The Escapes bottle, which looks like a beer bottle, replaces the product’s highly recognizable but dated teardrop-shaped container. Owens-Illinois Inc. (www.o-i.com), Toledo, Ohio, supplies the new 12-oz. bottles.

United States Beverage refreshed the product’s packaging graphics as well, using colorful, tropical images on body and neck labels and on paperboard four-pack carriers. The paper labels are rotogravure printed.

United States Beverage leveraged the package redesign to introduce several new Seagram’s Cooler Escapes flavors, including Mango Passion Paradise Punch and Green Apple AppleLicious. Since the rebranding, the company has added Pineapple Coconut Calypso Colada and Strawberry Margarita to the lineup.

Welch’s collectible jars

For Welch Foods Inc. (www.welchs.com), Concord, Mass., the familiar tumbler shape of its collectible jelly jars carries a strong brand message. The most recent Welch’s collectible jars feature Curious George, the children’s literary character and subject of a newly released movie. Welch’s Grape Jelly, Grape Jam and Strawberry Spread all are available in the limited-edition series of six.

The series’ jars are decorated using heat-transfer labels, and the labels’ bright illustrations of Curious George are printed via rotogravure. Saint-Gobain Containers supplies the clear glass jars.

“Welch’s strong brand equity is tightly tied to its long history. For more than 50 years, Welch’s has offered consumers a fun, family-friendly collectible in its 10-oz. glass jars, and it is important to continue that tradition,” says Deborah Frank, Welch’s product manager-spreads. The company began the tradition in 1953 with the introduction of Howdy Doody jelly glasses.

Frank concludes, “People connect this particular jar to Welch’s as a company, and it really has a large share of mind. The longevity of this item makes it a part of the brand’s heritage.”