A Can You Can Drink From

It is a known problem that the top of beverage cans, in particular in disco, during sport events and outdoor activities, often are dirty by handling, cooling and storage. It is also a known fact that more and more consumers drink directly from a can declining the use of a cup or glass. A peel-off hygienic seal/cap atop aluminum beverage cans is therefore a must.

Advercan introduced in collaboration with 3M to AmeriCANtop a commercially feasible method of ensuring that beverage can tops remain clean, while also providing a marketing opportunity for distributors.
The newly developed pulp-based film will biodegrade over time as a result of combining certain additives into the extrusion process, allowing for an earth-friendly, sanitary seal on top of each can. In addition to the printable face that allows for marketing and promotion, the can tops also enable the “under the cap” type of promotions previously restricted to bottles.


The cover offers the possibility of printing in 4 colours, is water resistant and resists a wide range of temperatures, and mechanical obstructions during handling, distribution and storage.

But the most important aspect in addition to the extra advertising opportunities is the fact that it is a perfect fit for today's health conscious consumer and will consequently increase the popularity of the ‘covered-up’ beverage as well as the brand.

AdverCan claims to be the only one who offers a can cover film for advertising promotion. The AdverCan system is available under license agreement. AdverCan developed both the cover film and the equipment needed to place the cover on top of the can. The machine, which positions the can cover has a capacity of at least 5,000 cans per 8-hour and costs about USD 20,000. There is also 50 cans/minute and 200 cans/min machinery available, while the fastest which runs with 800 cans/minute cost USD 900,000.
Depending of the label design, printing technique and number of beverage cans to be covered the film will approximately cost USD 0,020 per can.

The license agreement covers a payment per applied AdverCan cover with the investment for the necessary machinery laid out by AdverCan.

The Clean-Cap can be applied using a IWKA conduction heat sealing machine.

This new top can label could be supplied with a RFID-tag, charity messaging, gaming, co-promotions, POS, impulse buying, coupons, scratch off, scent, taste, and retailer branding ... all whilst introducing a hygienic seal for beverage cans.

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© Weslley Murylo De Souza Steeman
e-mail: amsteeman@yahoo.com.br

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Water with a spiritual message - Water that purifies thoughts and deeds

During this for so many "sanctified days" of the Christmas season it is justified to present a spiritual packaging.
Water with a spiritual message. Water comes in all forms, in expensive glass bottles and simple PET-bottles, in stand-up pouches and fancy packages. New is "Spiritual Water", just an ordinay (mineral) water, not dedicated or sanctified, but just to drink, and while drinking a prayer can be read.

In a market where bottled water is the number two on the list of beverage sales and is dominated by a few big global internationals, new Spiritual Brands wants to become the number one distributor of bottled water. Not because the water has a special price or is presented in a more attractive packaging, but solely based on the hundreds of millions of (potential) consumers who are believers, the target of the company that focuses on the Spiritual World with Spiritual Water.
The water with a spiritual message is normal water, no holy water and not dedicated only just drinking water, but the labels are inviting the consumer to read a prayer, while they refresh themselves.
Or as the company puts it: "Spiritual Water was born as bottled water with spirituality, positive thinking, prayers, God, and faith. The consumer chooses the bottle, which fits his needs and feelings, reads the prayer, drinks the water, believes in God - and himself - and the sky opens."

The water is bottled in PET bottles with beautiful artistic labels, showing multi-colour images of Biblical figures and symbols, with prayers in English and Spanish and inspiring words and messages. Spiritual Water is available in the market in 11 different versions - each with its own unique message and related illustration, (only the "freedom bottle" is, for some unknown reason, without an image). Every time that the consumer drinks, he enjoys the soothing, appropriate prayers to pick up additional inspiration.

Merry Christmas to all of you
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© Weslley Murylo De Souza Steeman
e-mail: amsteeman@yahoo.com.br

Back to: "The Best Innovations in Packaging"

Smoothie in a 'twisted' bottle

According to Mintel, the US market, the birthplace of the smoothie showed, in the past 5 years, a growth of 80%. A smoothie (smoo) is a blended, chilled, sweet drink made from fresh fruit. In addition to the fresh fruit, many smoothies contain crushed ice, frozen fruit and frozen yogurt. They have a milkshake-like consistency that is thicker than slush drinks. Consumers are attracted to smoothies because they are seen as a healthier option to most sweets, snacks and on-the-go meals.
Now that the smoothie market is a proven success, companies are forced to bring the product to the next level - extreme differentiation. Similar to the coffee market, the "smoothie" companies have to develop innovative new flavours and additives (vitamins) to keep consumers interested.

Americans are accustomed to drink their smoothies in 'juice bars'. Market leader Jamba Juice, well-known blender of fruit with other healthy natural ingredients, opened his 700th juice bar in Portland, Oregon last December. Nevertheless more and more smoothie brands appear also on the shelves in supermarkets.
In December last year, Nestlé signed a global licensing agreement for the Jamba Juice ready-to-drink smoothies.

Nestlé chose Product Ventures, a well-known branding agency, for the development of a new bottle, which should accentuate Jamba's characteristics, such as health, refreshing and enjoyable.
Product Ventures used the essence of Jamba by creating a sculptured design, which imagines ‘freshly squeezed fruit’. The result is a twisted bottle, which displays the 'fresh squeezed' and fits pleasantly in the hand.

Being a Nestlé product, no details about material composition and print techniques of the shrink-sleeve are divulged.
A few days ago I received a new photograph from Nestlé. The bottle without a full-body shrink sleeve shows the twisting contours perfectly.
The bottle won the Silver PentAward 2008
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© Weslley Murylo The Souza Steeman

Water in an octagonal Bag-in-Box

Two major natural elements, water and wood, play a central role in the "Lindoya Vida" (Life in the Box) 22-ltr octagonal bag-in-box with mineral water from the Mineração Mantovani fountains. The BIB-pack consists of a corrugated cardboard case with two-die-cut handles and a laminated bag with dispensing tap.

The corrugated case is manufactured by Klabin - Brazil's largest producer and recycler of paperboard. The octagonal shape of the box was not only chosen from an aesthetic point of view, but also because it gives a perfect palletising pattern.

The two-layer bag, provided by DuPont Liquid Packaging Systems/Liqui-Box, has a 3.8-mil (96.5 mu) outside layer of a bi-axially oriented nylon composition and an inner layer of 2.5-mil (63.5 mu) polyolefin. DuPont Liquid Packaging Systems delivers the ready-made bags, both in 3 and 5-gal (11.35 and 18.93 ltr) sizes equipped with a dispensing tap. The bags are filled on the Liqui-Box model 1000 CIT-W filling machine with a capacity of four 5-gal bags/min.

Klabin wanted a sustainable packaging that could guarantee the quality of the water from the time of filling up till the moment of consumption. The definition of sustainable meant that it should be economically viable, environmentally and socially correct.
The economic viability refers to the price per litre of the new packaging, with a market price that should be between those of Brazil’s two most popular containers, a 20-ltr bottle and a 1.5-ltr PET bottle.
The definition ecological meant a 100% recyclable, biodegradable corrugated cardboard box made from renewable raw material resources harvested from the re-planted forests. The result is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, the international body that governs proper management of forests and their production chains. The plastic bag and the dispensing valve are also recyclable.
And finally, the condition: social justice. The packages are guaranteed fraud-resistant, while the companies involved in the manufacturing collaborate actively in a positive development of the communities in which they are located.
In addition to environmental benefits, the corrugated cardboard box prevents light from entering, as well as it insulates the water from heat, with which the sensation of "fresh water" is much longer experienced than with clear bottles.
The strong corrugated cardboard box, printed in three colours on a white kraft liner, is sealed with hot-melt. The tamper-evident valve allows the bag to be filled without any manual contact with the water.
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Weslley Murylo The Souza Steeman

Beer that “fits the hand” - The design process of a special beer bottle

The young Brazilian consumers are open to new and innovative packages and products. The latest innovation comes with the launch of Summer Draft beer.

At the time the summer period which accounts for about 40% of total sales in this segment, starts (southern hemisphere) Cervejarias Kaiser introduces Summer Draft beer in a special long neck. The draft beer is a Pilsner, light and refreshing, with low fermentation, a slightly bitter flavour, a bright colour with 4.7% alcohol content. The beer is double-filtered and made from special hops that are more resistant to UV radiation. That is the reason that Kaiser Summer Draft could be introduced into the market in a clear transparent 355 ml glass bottle.
The result: a beer, presented in a very special designed bottle, with a mild and medium sweet taste that typically must be savoured ice cold.

In general the blogosphere classifies Summer Draft in terms of taste and quality from reasonable to good, albeit one blogger writes: “My German uncle once said when tasting Summer Draft: In Germany we wash our cars with this!”
All right Summer Draft. Summer Draft is brewed by Femsa. FEMSA (acronym for Fomento Económico Mexicano SA) is a Mexican beverage company. Since January 2006 when it acquired Cervejarias Kaiser, the group operates in Brazil under the name Femsa Cerveja Brasil. Kaiser was purchased from the Canadian multinational Molson, which owns still 15% of the shares. Heineken controls 17% in this company.
The Brazilian beer portfolio includes brands such as Kaiser, Sol, Bavaria, Xingú, Santa Cervo, Summer Draft and Heineken. The group consists of thirty bottling plants, 235 distribution centres, 64 soft drink brands, 15 beer brands and employs some 56 thousand people in the nine countries where it operates, including Brazil.
FEMSA, the world's second largest Coca-Cola bottler, operates in Brazil the world's largest (in terms of production capacity) Coca-Cola bottling plant in the city of Jundiaí in the federal state of São Paulo.

The long-neck Summer Draft bottle has a height of 227 mm and a diameter of 62 mm and weighs, filled with 355 ml, 602 grams and is made of blow moulded flint glass, which has in addition to about 62% quartz a high content of lead oxide (about 24%), which gives the material a relatively high density of 3.5 to 4.8 gr/cm3.

The product is truly innovative; the design of the bottle with its anatomical contours gives consumers the feeling of a "handshake" as it fits perfectly in the hand, with recesses for the fingers and thumb. Exactly the way you hold a bottle when bringing it to your mouth.

The blow moulded flint glass bottle and the two self-adhesive transparent labels, both developed by Dil Brands, show the golden liquid in combination with the vividness of the silver and the graphics in black. The ‘S’-curve on a 'clean' forefront and the diagonal lines represent the new visual identity of Summer Draft.

DIL Brands specializes in the packaging design and branding. With 42 years experience in the Brazilian market, the company has offices in São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. It also is represented in New York, Amsterdam, London and Barcelona, as a result of partnerships with Bridge Design and Coleman Schmidlin. DIL Brands designed products for companies like Unilever, Nestlé and Parmalat.

The challenge for Dil Brands in this case was to create a new visual 'look' for Summer Draft (design of the bottle and the labels), with the aim to rejuvenate the brand. The package had to have a modern look and differentiate on the store shelves; it had to stand at the centre of attention.

The ultimate design is a modern asymmetrical shape which allows for easy grip in all conditions. DIL chooses an iconic image for the label. The reverse printed label on the back of the bottle gives an impression of a three-dimensional effect in combination with the front label. The combination of the label and the bottle creates a truly innovative and modern look for Summer Draft.

The accompanying photographs show the development process from the old Summer beer bottle to the modern Summer Draft bottle.
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© Weslley Murylo De Souza Steeman

Securing Exclusive Wines

The worldwide system that tracks the origin of a good glass of wine from the château to the consumers, is based on the offset printed seal (bottle closure) made from aluminium foil in which the "taggant" is incorporated. The taggant is a chemical registration, emitting a specific unique electro-optically signal linked to a particular brand (in this case eProvenance).

The system, designed by eProvence, comprises three components: a semi-active RFID tag placed in the shipping box to record temperatures throughout the distribution chain, a passive RFID tag with a unique code in the bottom of the bottle for tracking, stock management and discouraging pilferage; and a proprietary, and a tamper-proof neck seal with a covert code (deveoped by InkSure Technologies Inc) applied at the base of the capsule to authenticate the wine inside the bottle and thwart counterfeiters.

InkSure Technologies Inc. is a leading supplier of covert machine-readable security solutions (CMRT) for the detection of counterfeiting, fraud and abuse. Together with eProvenance LLC, this system is introduced in the market for exclusive wines. InkSure adapted the security ink to this market and developed handheld readers, which form an integral part of the eProvenance system to address the growing counterfeiting problems within the fine wine market. The printing is done by George Schmitt & Co.

In addition to authenticating the wine, the system monitors and records the storage temperature, while the origin of each bottle in stored a secure online database. With the eProvenance system, the bottle is secured, the content is secured and the conduct of the temperature maintained during the distribution chain monitored.

The first application will take place in nine vineyards in the Bordeaux region, including Chateau Bauduc, Chateau Lynch Bages, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Palmer.

The applied patent involves the integral system, with a fast, encrypted, online database of the unique bottle, the shipping box, and the identification numbers in the capsule, coupled with the authentic data of the chateau, the shipment data and temperature development, which together create the electronic originality data for each bottle.
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© Weslley Murylo de Souza Steeman

The EnviroClear Refillable Water Bottles

According to the 2008 Global Bottled Water report from Zenith International Ltd, the worldwide sales of bottled water will rise from 206 billion litres in 2007 to 272 billion in 2012 (32%). The per capita consumption amounted to 30.8 litres in 2007, an increase of 1.4 litre compared to 2006. Bulk packages of more than 10 litres accounted for 36% of the total consumption.

A recent study of increased toxic antimony (also known as stibium, chemical symbol Sb, a silver grey metalloid) concentrations in 132 brands of bottled water from 28 countries, conducted by Dr. William Shotyk, director of the Institute of Environmental Geochemistry at the University of Heidelberg, shows that in PET bottles, the level of antimony increases the longer the water stays in the bottle. In his study Dr. Shotyk also included a number of PP bottles produced by the Container Corporation of Canada (CCC) and came to the conclusion that the water stored in the PP bottles showed no increase in antimony concentrations.

With this result in hand, Container Corporation of Canada (CCC), a world leader in the field of polypropylene (PP) injection stretch blow moulding technology, introduced the EnviroClear refillable water bottle.
The EnviroClear refillable water bottles are the first dishwasher safe, refillable, reusable, cost-effective bottles designed to reduce the number of PET water bottles, which, most likely, end up in landfill. The EnviroClear refillable plastic bottle is an example of "recycling", since it can be decontaminated or sanitized in the dishwasher. Reuse of existing PET bottles for water seems to be a feasible alternative, however, PET bottles are often distorted when they are exposed to the high temperatures of a dishwasher.

The EnviroClear refillable plastic bottle is perfectly safe in use for baby food and eliminates the risk of Bisphenol-A (BPA), which can lead to hormonal and neurological changes in small bodies and is present in polycarbonate.

CCC’s EnviroClear refillable water bottles are available in 250 ml and 500 ml sizes. The 250 ml bottle has a quadrilateral shape, can lie flat without rolling and is ideal for school lunch boxes and briefcases. The larger 500 ml bottle is perfect for the gym, office or car.
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© Weslley Murylo De Souza Steeman

Water Bottle for Children Doubles as Toy

The, by top designer Yves Behar of “fuseproject” in San Francisco, designed symmetrical Y-shaped single-serving bottles for Y-Water, Los Angeles, should attract the attention of children, since they, when empty, can serve as a toy, brick or as part of a game.
The small size of the 9 oz (267 ml) bottle, accentuates the health aspect (portion control and calorie use) of this new organic, low-calorie drink for children.

Although the package will certainly attract the attention of adults, the unique design is created with the children's market in mind. The bold, geometric shape - inspired by an upward-downward, three-dimensional Y - was enabled by the unique characteristics of blow moulding of the Eastar EB062 co-polyester resin from Eastman Chemical. Offering water-like clarity, this material was able to provide the wall-thickness necessary to withstand Y Water’s 185° F (85° C) hot-fill process and the durability to withstand rough handling and reuse by children.
The effect on the store shelves is further enhanced by the biodegradable hang tags, which are placed around the neck of the bottle. The labels contain cartoon-like drawings and humorous texts such as “Bone Water … because you don’t want your skeleton walking out on you.”
The drinking opening is closed with an aluminium seal, while a cap completes the package.
Y Water currently comes in four preservative-free, artificial colouring and sweetener-free formulations: Bone Water is enriched with calcium, fluoride and vitamins A, C and D; Brain Water has zinc, molybdenum and vitamins B6, B12 and C; Muscle Water features magnesium, potassium and selenium as well as vitamin A and C; and Immune Water has antioxidants and vitamins A, C and E.

The playfulness of Y Water is further conveyed with its capability to be reused as a toy or building blocks. Natural rubber connectors called “Y Knots” allow end-users to connect different packages into molecule-like formations. The reusability of the Y Water package as a creative medium for children prolongs the useful life of the package, making it a more sustainable concept

Eastar EB062 is free of Bisphenol A (BPA). The polyester family is regarded as the most environmental friendly of all plastics, because it can easily be recycled and processed for other purposes.
Y-Water accepts empty bottles for recycling.


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© Weslley Murylo De Souza Steeman

The "kangaroo" bucket packaging

There are many consumer products, which consist of two components, and have to be packed separately as they have to be used separately, one after the other or mixed upon usage. Consequently they are often not properly used, because the consumer can’t find one of the components anymore or one is forgotten or neglected to be used. Following the successful introduction of the Eco-Cleaning Lab's Twin by TricorBraun, the same company introduces a "kangaroo pack" for Avlon Affirm Hair Care. Just as ingenious as simple.

'Hair Care Avlon Affirm’ is a two-step treatment for hair care, especially for hairdressing salons. The new 4-lb (1.8 kg) "kangaroo" bucket pack contains a "built-in space" in which a 4-oz (115 gr) pre-treatment bottle is stored. The content of the bucket is for the second treatment step. This merger of two packages avoids the problem that one of the bottles for the pre-treatment and the treatment itself, goes lost or is not used.

With the 'kangaroo' design, allowing the second bottle easily to be clicked into place in the recessed space in the bucket, Avlon Industries, a manufacturer of hair care products for the ethnic market, hopes to have introduced a constructive way to execute the two-step treatment correctly, by functionally merging the packages of the two components. Hair stylists may no longer overlook the pre-treatment, and can no longer use the excuse that the pre-treatment bottle was untraceable or ergo just skip the pre-treatment and forget the bottle to use what may be the case with separate products.

The unique packaging promotes the attention the product gets on the store shelves from both hair stylists and ordinary consumers.
Designed by TricorBraun, the 'kangaroo' bucket is, in addition to the attractive marketing aspect and increased efficiency in hairdressing salons, also in two ways cost saving. It increases the efficiency in production, as the two products don’t need to be packed separately in shipping boxes and the new ‘kangaroo’ packaging diminishes costs in the distribution chain, as the shipping boxes can contain now a relatively larger quantity of product.

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info@amsteeman.com
© Weslley Murylo de Souza Steeman

Bag-in-Bottle

Gaplast GmbH replaces a four-part production process with the one-piece AirLEssMotion Bag-in-Bottle System. The new co-extruded, blow moulded bottle consists of a rigid PP outer bottle and a flexible DuPont Surlyn inner bottle.

When an unnamed customer of Gaplast GmbH recently built a new factory, the company also decided to install a more efficient production process for its spray bottles with disinfectant. The existing 1 ltr bottles used for disinfecting laboratories and operating rooms required a four-step manufacturing process and a manual assembly. The bottles were HPDE extrusion blow moulded. A separate foil bag had to be fumbled into the bottles manually to guarantee the airless dispensing function, which is needed to ensure that germs or micro-organisms are not dispensed together with the disinfectant liquid. A connector and a gasket, manufactured by injection moulding, respectively, had to be welded to the foil bag to provide a sealing for the gasket.

Gaplast GmbH replaced the existing four parts from the old packinging by the one-piece AirLEssMotion Bag-in-Bottle System. The new co-extruded, blow moulded bottle consists of a rigid outside PP bottle and a flexible DuPont Surlyn inner bag. The old flexible inner bag was made from a polymer alloy of two different polymers. As the polymer alloy would stick to the PP wall of the outer bottle, a separation layer would have been necessary in the new bottle. Gaplast GmbH replaced the polymer alloy with a DuPont Surlyn bag.
However, when the dispenser was activated, the vacuum created by the dispensing pump turned out to be not enough to separate the Surlyn inner bag from the PP wall of the outer bottle. In order to solve this problem Gaplast GmbH made two ventilation holes in the outer bottle without punching the inner bag. These two holes ensure the inner bag to collaps once the dispenser is activated. Delamination of the inner bag from the wall of the outer bottle guarantees a constant dosage of the trigger pump. The airless technology and the gamma sterilization after filling eliminate the need of preservatives.

In addition to savings on raw materials, the new packaging also simplifies an efficient waste control, when removed, as bottle and bag belong the same polymer family.
The bag-in-bottle packaging received the prestigious 2008 Dupont Award.

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info@amsteeman.com
© Weslley Murylo de Souza Steeman