Francis Coppola Reserve label focuses on being memorable and eye catching while showcasing distinctive vineyards from Sonoma’s renowned appellations.

Revelry wines from Washington State are sold in patent-pending REVELution cask. The innovative boxed design holds almost twice the amount of wine that a bottle holds, isn’t susceptible to cork taint and keeps wine fresh for several weeks after opening. It also features recyclable packaging.

Paco & Lola from Spain takes a very unconventional approach to bottling their wines giving prestige to their modern and dynamic varieties.

Vancouver Island design company, Hired Guns Creative has designed beautiful packaging for Venturi Schulze Vineyards. The design of their wine bottles needed to convey that their wines were something special; a typical wine label just wouldn’t do. A silk-screened bottle concept was created with a design that matches the quality of the wines and works with each of the 10-15 types of wine that they release each year.

Swell Drinks: The Ruiz Company in Barcelona came up with a great way to show the fruit combination in their new line of smoothies. Simple and unique.

More clever packaging @ The Dieline

There are many benefits of clamshell packaging. It’s a wonderful way to showcase a product while being very cost effective. The clear plastic packaging provides great visibility for the consumer to see the product as it sits protected inside the clamshell. The header card can be printed and placed inside the clamshell to provide more information for the consumer to make a purchasing decision. Clamshells also allow for great display versatility. They can be hung from pegs or sat upright on a store shelf giving great flexibility for retailers to position the products to sell.

Clamshells are plastic and cause some concern about the environment. Manufacturers are using different types of plastics to overcome this. PETG is a type of PET plastic that is fully recyclable after its use. RPET is previously recycled PET plastic. Both types can work together to promote the global recycling effort.

More info:
Ask Sunrise about clamshell packaging

All the while, schools took part in sustaining our environment by competing last fall in the 2009 Aluminum Can Counsil’s (ACC) America Recycles Day (ARD) National School Challenge. The contest lasted 12 weeks and involved 133 schools which represented over 70,000 students. Collectively, over $53,000 was raised during the competition while more than 48,000 pounds of used aluminum beverage cans were recycled.

Congratulations to all of the schools who participated! Here were the top 3 winners for further recognition:

1st Place- Twin Lakes High School, Monticello, Indiana. Teaming up with Ball Corporation’s metal beverage packaging facility, they recycled 7,092 pounds of aluminum cans (9.8 pounds per student). The school fund the band’s new uniforms with the $3,556 that they raised.

2nd Place- Collins Intermediate School, Conroe, Texas. They also teamed up with Ball Corporation’s metal beverage packaging plant in Conroe to recycle 3,845 pounds of aluminum (7.44 pounds per student). The school contributed their earnings of $2,832 to the school’s Parent Teacher Organization.

3rd Place- Academy of St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne, St. Louis, Missouri. They teamed up with Metal Container Corporation in St. Louis to recycle 6.7 pounds of aluminum cans per student.

While packaging companies look for eco-friendly packaging options to provide to consumers and businesses, we must also look beyond that and focus on what else we can do to make an environmental impact. We commend the schools who participated in the recycling challenge. They brought their “Can-do” attitudes forward and made a great statement in enviromental sustainability.

More info:
Aluminum Can Counsil
Packaging Digest

Currently, it’s the second most widely used thermoplastic with a global consumption of 44 million metric tons in 2008. The market has been growing increasingly and is estimated to be $66 billion. Growth is based on projections that consumers and recycling regulations will drive demand for environmentally-friendly packaging.

While polypropylene is primarily derived from oil, a recent research partnership will be developing a large scale production of polypropylene from sugarcane. While oil is limited and expensive, this green initiative is great news and could mean a big change for the plastics industry. Initial development will run for at least 5 years. The plastic is to be identical to traditional polypropylene except that it is made from sugarcane. Customers will be able to switch to the bio-resin without changing their production machinery or processes.

So who’s partnering up? Braskem, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America, and Novozymes, the world’s leading producer of industrial enzymes. Both companies have a strong devotion to a bio-based economy.

Braskem was the first company in the world to produce a 100% certified green polypropylene on an experimental basis. They’re currently building a green polyethylene plant in Brazil with ethanol and sugarcane as the raw material. The plant will produce 200,000 tons per year.

Novozymes is the world leader in bioinnovation. They use biotechnology to improve the use of resources in more than 30 industries around the world; the biofuel industry is one of them. Currently, they’re producing enzymes to turn agricultural waste into advanced biofuels.

So why pay $100 for a few fluid ounces? It’s a combination of fragrance, brand, and you may have guessed it – packaging.

Why does it matter who makes the perfume or what bottle it comes in?
Because consumers buy perfume that reflect their personality. Daring, Classy, Flirty, Fun, Sweet, Sexy, Cute, High Class – all of it is said through the  fragrance and packaging. As Christian Dior said, ” A woman’s perfume tells more about her than her handwriting.”

Take Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue
Its packaging is simple, clean, chic. It catches a consumer’s eye because it looks classic.
Combine a timeless look with a trusted name and you have a best seller. Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue was introduced in 2001 and has been at the top of women’s perfumes best sellers lists since.

Another trend that has exploded since entering the market is celebrity fragrances.
Everyone from David Beckham to Avril Lavigne has a line named after them.

Although celebrity scents don’t necessarily have the longevity of classics like Chanel No. 5, celebrity scents sell very well. Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff, and Sarah Jessica Parker have experienced enormous success with their lines.

One of my personal favorites has probably caught your eye at the department store too. It has unique packaging you can’t pass up.

(Click to view larger image.)

Harajuku Lovers by Gwen Stefani, which carries five different scents in five doll-decanters. The cute bottles appeals to a young adult age group. Stefani also personalized it to appeal to her fans. (Her backup dancers are called Harajuku Girls.)  She made it more personal for each buyer by giving them the option of choosing the doll that reflects who they are. Stefani also launched the perfume in limited edition packaging called “Sunshine Cuties” and “Snow Bunnies.” Sunshine Cuties is set to release Spring 2010.

(Click to view larger images.)

Harajuku Lovers has only been on the shelves for two years but  it appears it has found a permanent place in buyers’ hearts.

Here are more perfume bottles for you to check out – maybe you’ll find your new signature scent. (Click to view larger images)

The following perfumes are:
(Row 1) With Love by Hilary Duff, Live Luxe by J.Lo., Can Can by Paris Hilton, Vera Wang Princess
(Row 2) Clive Christian No. 1 Imperial Majesty ( the $215,000 bottle of perfume), Daisy by Marc Jacobs, Flower Bomb by Viktor & Rolf,  and Be Delicious by DKNY.

Do you have a nickname? No

Last book you read? The Vortex by Esther & Jerry Hicks

If you could meet anyone dead or alive, who would it be? Oprah

Favorite hobby? Golf, Painting (Acrylic & Watercolor), and Chainsaw Carving.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Why? This could take more thought than it’s worth… I have no idea…

What attracted you most to working at Sunrise? Seems to be a positive work environment and a great opportunity to do what I do best

1. Social Media: It seems obvious in 2010 but not long ago people were wondering if social media was going to be a trend or a mirage. Last year, marketers began budgeting and writing social media applications into their marketing plans on a larger scale. Today, marketing websites and blogs are littered with information about social media and its relevance to business models. To take it a step further, Vitamin Water has put their Facebook logo on the label of their brand new flavor released this month. What’s the name of their new flavor? Connect. There’s also a full paragraph description on the label loaded with references to untagging, friend requests, and photo stalking. It’s black cherry-lime flavored, with caffeine and “eight key nutrients”.

2. 3D technology: 3D is making a comeback. Movies are frequently being released in 3D. Televisions are being made with 3D technology. And now LEGO is jumping into the 3D world by setting up its “Digital Box” on the store shelf (Glasses not required).  When a LEGO set  is held in front of its screen, the German-only (for now) Digital Box will scan the bar code and present an animated model of the completed set on its screen. The project was done by Metaio out of Germany who built this interactive terminal using a software program specifically developed for LEGO. 

See how the digital box works. Click here

Mr. Clean, the famous bald muscle man, is seen here featured on dumbbell packaging. How creative is this? Talk about taking branding a step further.

The whole communication of the “Mr. Clean” trademark has been based on strength and physical power. The idea behind the dumbbell packaging aside from the branding was to have a simple shape and give the product more visibility on the supermarket shelf.

Packaging reusability was another important feature as the empty bottle can easily be filled with water or sand and transformed into a colorful dumbbell for fitness. A fun exercise booklet comes inside of the cap for home training use.

Oh, and by the way, to be able to have the full set of dumbbells, you have to buy two….genius!

Design by Tommaso Ceschi

Meet earBudeez™ Jay D and friends. So cool you wouldn’t even want to open them.

The fun new packaging of earbuds from JDA, Inc. packs a lot of personality, literally. JDA developed the earBudeez™ personalities with the earbuds as eyes in different positions to convey various attitudes and emotions. The innovative design of the earBudeez™ connects the product with various consumers to influence their buying behavior.

The design concept came from  research done  by Audiovox. They found that people were choosing their earbuds like a fashion accessory for their iPods and mp3 players. The research also showed that packaging played a key role in consumer decision making.

To no surprise, the earBudeez design won a 2009 Gold Pentaward- Congratulations to JDA, inc!