Who said packaging had to be boring? Definitely not the folks responsible for the packaging below. They surely wanted to show the fun side of packaging. Have you ever bought something because you couldn’t resist its packaging? Maybe I’m biased because I work in the packaging industry but when deciding between two products, a lot of times I have to give kudos to the one who has the best packaging.
Graphic cigarette packaging has been all over the news in recent months mainly coming out of Australia. But while Australia still waits for senate approval to pass a law requiring graphic packaging for cigarettes, Canada has beat them to the punch.
Sixteen separate graphic warnings, such as a cancer-infected mouth or an emaciated cancer-stricken women, will cover 75 per cent of the front and back of Canada’s cigarette packaging. Every package will also contain a toll-free number making it easier for smokers to get advice about quitting. The big difference between legislation in Canada and Australia is that Canada will still allow companies to use their long-established trademarks and logos to differentiate brands. Australiais calling for plain cigarette packaging with no brand distinction.
The health industry has praised the move while tobacco companies argue that minimal impact from the graphic packaging will be had because the public has been well aware of the health risks of smoking for years. In Australia, tobacco companies say removal of branding on cigarette packaging breaks international trade obligations.
Canada retailers will have until June of 2012 to comply with the new law. If Australia gets the law passed, all cigarette brands will be sold in olive green packaging with graphic warnings sometime in July of 2012.
We don’t like to get political on our blog too often but it begs the question. Is this legislation going to far? Or is it warranted?
Method has unveiled its latest innovation in sustainable packaging- a bottle that is made out of plastic collected from the North Pacific Gyre, also referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The bottle contains 100% post-consumer polyethylene, 25% of which is plastic collected from the Gyre. Method has partnered with Envision Plastics who is one of the largest recyclers in the US making it possible to make this Ocean PCR that is the same quality as virgin HDPE plastic.
The process starts will collecting and cleaning the plastic removing unwanted contaminants where it is then blended and remanufactured into high quality plastic. The beauty is that the upcycled ocean plastic can be recycled again and again. Method’s ultimate goal is to raise awareness that the real solution to plastic pollution lies in reusing and recycling the plastic that’s already on the planet. Method also aims to prove that green business can grow the US economy and create jobs.
Method made its first bottle entirely from post-consumer recycled plastic in 2006. Since then they’ve been known as a leading innovator in premium eco-friendly household and personal care products by developing plastic packaging that is completely free from virgin plastics. Method products can be found in over 35,000 retail locations.
Facebook has passed 800 million users (which Facebook measures as users that have logged in during the past 30 days). That means Facebook has added about 50 million users since July. For marketers, it’s becoming essential to have a presence on such a giant platform. But some recent changes are going to make it harder for marketers to get the visibility they want. In other words, they’re really going to have to work for it.
The recent list of changes announced by Facebook will put more pressure on advertisers to come up with compelling content and integrate themselves further into consumers’ lives. Going forward, the “Like” button will have a smaller role in marketing.
A big change is that Facebook has added a control in the top right of each story that users can check to unmark a top story. Facebook will use that information over time to automatically edit the feeds. Since users now have more control over their news feeds, brands with boring or irrelevant updates will have lower visibility.
Just getting people to ‘Like’ a brand is now a thing of the past. Now, it’s about getting people to take social actions enabled by that brand. Consumers will be creating a digital autobiography in which brands will have to integrate themselves.
The change will require new thinking from marketers. The Facebook marketing model of old tried to accumulate as many fans and “Likes” as possible which is little less relevant now. Marketers will have to work harder to earn their place in news feeds. Content will need to take a step up. This means marketers will actually have to deliver something of value to a customer rather than just spamming.
In case you didn’t know, tomorrow is World Car-Free Day. So what does that mean? Well, this green holiday will be celebrated world-wide by individuals focused on giving the climate a break by taking cars off of the roads. People around the globe are organizing their own events exploring alternative transportation via wiki to the WCN website. WCN, or World Carefree Network, is loosely running World Car-Free Day.
What are people doing to honor this holiday you ask? Events include everything from group cycling on the way to work to people protesting the lack of non-car transportation options in the street. But if you live in a location where this celebration simply isn’t practical, there are still options for the dedicated. You could sample an electric car from a car sharing program such as Hertz on Demand for the day. Carpooling is another option that is an act of lessening the amount of automobiles on the roads.
World Car-Free Day began in 2008 and tomorrow will mark the 4th time it will be celebrated.
Online marketers need to brace themselves for a good holiday season. That’s according to a panel of digital marketing experts who predict online sales will grow 12% in 2011. Holiday sales are considered to be sales that take place in the months of November and December. 12% growth would match the same growth online sales experienced last year. In fact, online sales have grown every year since 2005 with the exception of 2008 where it was down 4%.
Most news regarding the global economy is doom & gloom. So how can these experts expect growth in an unforgiving recession? A high share of online consumers are affluent. These consumers are apt to spending a good amount of discretionary income when the stock market is healthy. But even stocks have been lagging and inconsistent this year. All of the quotes tied to the experts who predict a 12% growth in online sales this season allude to these points. Nevertheless, they’re still convinced that it’s going to be busy for ecommerce this holiday season. It’s worth noting that the economy was definitely an issue last year when ecommerce growth was 12% as well. We will hope for the best and know soon enough.
Packaging design in the wine industry plays an integral part in consumer interaction. Ask yourself, if you’re a wine drinker of course, have I ever browsed the wine section and made a purchase based in the look and design of the bottle? My answer is yes. I do it weekly. With an endless supply of wines out there, a wine without a big brand name has to stand out. How else besides a unique package? Below are some examples of wines that I might just nab off of the shelf of my local wine shop.
THE BLACK SOUL CHOIR WINE
The packaging design if this particular wine uses differentiation. It’s not a traditional look but definitely stands out and sparks curiosity. Not to mention that personally, I’m always on a quest for a good Pinot.
THE UNDERDOG WINE CO.
Again, this wine packaging is unconventional thus, it really stands out. It even says so on the bottle!
PINNES WINE
This design makes great use of color. Only one variety is shown but they choose a different color for each variety that really makes the design pop. The historic nature of this Balkan-based wine named after an old Roman Republic warrior is also a great touch.
JASPI BLANC
This is another fantastic design that would capture my attention. The foil stamping on the grape leaves really make this a classy wine design.
SIXPENCE
“Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight! Sixpence was a legendary shepherd whose descendants still work at Opstal Wines. Run by the sixth generation of the same family, the design pays homage to the most renowned worker on the farm whose grandchildren are still working on the farm today.
Just two days ago, we wrote about Coca-Cola switching to plant-based packaging for their 500ml plastic bottles. The change was part of their green initiative to recover the equivalent of 100% of their packaging by 2020.
Now, AT&T has announced that they will be using plant-based packaging for their accessories. The new packaging will contain 30% plant-based materials sourced from sugarcane ethanol. This will make AT&T the first U.S.telecom to use sugarcane-based plastic for packaging. This integration will not completely eliminate plastic but will cut their fossil fuel use by a third compared to the old accessory packaging.
Already, AT&T has been making strides to reduce their environmental impact. In March of 2010, they slimmed down their accessory packaging which cut the use of 500+ tons of paper and plastic from packaging in 2010 and 2011. AT&T also uses soy and vegetable inks in packaging. The new plant-based accessory packaging will be available by October 2, 2011.
Coca-Cola has made their vision clear of making all of their plastic bottles from plant-based materials and recycled plastic by 2020. Their latest development is rolling out new packaging for their 500ml drinks. The new PlantBottle packaging is made from 22.5% renewable plant-based PET and 25% recycled plastic. The reason these new bottles are more eco-frlendly is that they’ll reduce the company’s dependency on fossil fuels. They are being released today in the UK and can be identified with a PlantBottle logo. More than 5 billion of Coke’s PlantBottles will be available in 20 countries by the end of 2011.
Coca-Cola is not new to the green movement. In fact, last year they won the Best Sponsor Activation award at the UK Festival Awards for their recycling program. Coke is committed to recover the equivalent of 100% of their packaging by 2020.
Twitter announced this week that the social network hit 100 million users and that 50 million of them log in everyday. Wow, that’s an astounding number! Twitter defines an active user as an account holder who logs in at least once a month. 40 percent of current Twitter users are signing in just to observe what’s going on, without sending messages. There are 200 million registered Twitter accounts total.
So now what is next for Twitter? What can users expect to see changing as this social network grows? One thing that CEO Dick Costolo is aiming for is no more fail whales. If you use Twitter often you’ve probably noticed an improvement regarding the site reaching capacity. This is because last year, Twitter beefed up their infrastructure to accommodate to their growth which they plan to keep up with during their next phase of growth.
Twitter also plans to aim for the mainstream. While 40% of users don’t actively tweet, Costolo has talked about creating workflows to turn passive users into active ones. Simplifying a user’s ability to find content is another goal. While there is so much mainstream and niche content floating around on Twitter, many users aren’t up to speed enough to know how to find it. For example, using hash tags and other characters are foggy to many users so Twitter aims to have the content delivered or at least a lot easier to find.
Design changes are also on the horizon for Twitter. They plan to simplify the interface and make it consistent between platforms where Twitter.com will look the exact same as Twitter on tablets and mobile phones.
One thing Twitter will not pursue are obnoxious ways of increasing revenue. Costolo says the health of Twitter is great and although he is presented with hundreds of ways to increase revenue beyond advertising, he declines, “The advertising business will sustain us”.