Packaging can make a huge difference to products. It really hit me when I saw this bottle of Heinz’s ketchup. My two big problems with normal ketchup bottles are: (a) the sauce spills to the side of the bottle and sticks to the cap, and (b) it’s tough to pour the last bits of sauce — you have to hit the bottle a lot.
Now, I didn’t know I had these problems. But when I saw this bottle, it hit me. You keep the bottle upside down — so it’s easy to pour the last bits of sauce. And they way the nozzle valve is designed, the sauce doesn’t stick to the cap. Perfect! Since then, I don’t buy any other ketchup bottle. Even if I WANT ketchup, I don’t buy it unless I get this bottle. Packaging made be brand loyal. (Caveat: I’m not REALLY brand loyal. I’d buy any ketchup with this packaging. But only Heinz has it right now.)
The same thing with honey. The same packaging with honey gives me a third advantage. I can drink a bit of honey directly by holding up the bottle over my mouth and squeezing it. Plus, I don’t need a spoon. Because of this, my consumption of honey has shot up to 1 bottle of honey every month. Further, I have started spreading honey over ice cream these days. Note: packaging changed my eating pattern.
So, impressed by all this, I wandered around superstores, exploring the innovations in packaging (mainly in food). I will shortly blog about that. In the meantime, here are some innovative packages introduced around when Heinz’s inverted ketchup was.
most shampoo and shower gel packs have this ‘inverted bottle’ concept. it would be interesting to know who got it first. other examples which come to mind, which seem (so commonsensical in hindsight) are the parachute oil jar with a wide mouth and milkmaid in the form of a squeezy tube. there was also a ketchup advert on air in uk, showing ketchup through a squeezy tube some months back. maybe that packaging could have you brand-flirting again.