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• Packaging Briefs
Wild Flavors, which had previously developed a co-manufacturing partnership with American Purpac Technologies (APT) of Beloit, Wisc., has acquired the company. APT is a leading aseptic/hot fill contract manufacturer providing bulk blending, ingredient processing and filling for the food and beverage industries.
New research from The Nielsen Company shows that more than half of U.S. consumers would give up all forms of packaging provided for convenience purposes if it would benefit the environment. U.S. consumers are slightly more likely to give up packaging for convenience purposes than the average global consumer.
Ball Corporation is bringing Eyeris, a proprietary, enhanced beverage can printing technology, to the North American market. The technology, which is exclusive to Ball, brings improved definition and fine detail to beverage can graphics to create premium, on-shelf differentiation. Ball Corporation has also received two Sustainable Packaging Leadership Awards for its 750 mL PET wine bottles for Painted Turtle wines from Artisan Wine Company of British Columbia.
Yoshida Foods International (YFI) has expanded its capabilities in its 70,000-square-foot plant near the Portland International Airport, creating one of the most extensive facilities for manufacturing and co-packing high-end beverages and specialty sauces on the West Coast
Media/Marketing
• Trend: U-Boomers
While beverage companies are jostling to create the next energy drink targeting a teen-aged audience, a few clever firms may be getting products ready for the emerging baby-boomer market – particularly the so-called “U-Boomers.”
McKinsey Global Institute defines U-Boomers as those 24 million soon-to-be retired middle class households that can’t afford a “Lexus lifestyle,” but still feel financially optimistic – a group that the institute predicts will account for almost 25 percent of total U.S. consumption by 2015.
McKinsey said this group is generally unhealthy but deeply concerned about their health and interested in proactive health management. They’re also technologically savvy, interested in convenience and want to feel clever instead of old or cheap. That sounds like the beginning of a marketing plan.
• Label Claims
The majority of American consumers (60%) “always” look for the expiration date according to a new report released by The Hartman Group. Among 16 different package components tested, the first and third most frequently examined label elements relate to freshness.
“The majority of American consumers ‘always’ look for expiration dates while close to half of consumers ‘always’ look at the freshness or ‘made on’ date, said Laurie Demeritt, President and COO of The Hartman Group, Inc, a leading consumer insights firm. “Many shoppers express frustration with locating freshness related information such as the expiration, ‘made on’ or ‘sell by’ date. Ditto on the frustration front when it comes trying to decipher elements of the nutrition facts panel because of variations in product properties (e.g., total calories) in relation to serving size that vary by product type, brand or category.”
Meanwhile, the American appetite for recycling is growing faster than stink on month-old milk, according to a new study from Mintel.
The survey revealed that over one-third of adults (36 percent) claim to “regularly” buy green products. That’s a pretty amazing increase in the use of the term “regularly,” if nothing else, as a little more than a year ago only 12 percent made the same claim. The number of people who “never” purchase green products has been cut in half over the past 16 months, according to Mintel, from 20 percent to 10.
“We’re seeing the green movement rapidly transition from niche to mainstream,” said Colleen Ryan, senior analyst at Mintel. “Major companies have jumped onboard, promotional messages have changed, and the American public is increasingly looking at green products as a normal part of everyday life.”
More than half of the 18-24 year-olds polled claimed to regularly purchase green products, by the way. And since these are also a sweet spot for beverage consumption, you know what that means, right? Yep, you better get that carbon neutral certification cranked up.