Supplement packages go for the "yoo-hoo" rather than the "me, too": sometimes it means taking the `package less traveled' to differentiate dietary supplements on the market shelf - Dietary Supplements

Food & Drug Packaging, March, 2003 by Christopher Barry

Adopting a healthy and fit lifestyle doesn't just mean cutting back on that supersize order of french fries at lunchtime. It means adopting new attitudes about exercise and diet, which may include adding nutraceutical and dietary supplements to your daily regime. Dietary supplements and nutraceutical products are used by more than 150 million consumers each year for aiding in the treatment of ailmens, preventing sickness, helping with weight loss and/or for boosting strength and energy.

Supermarket and drugstore shelves are stacked with these products, many of which are similarly packaged, so finding the right products to help achieve dietary goals can be challenging for consumers. Packaging similarity, in this case, can breed consumer confusion if not outright contempt.

Greg Andrews, director of marketing at Pharmavite, explains that while every package in the nutraceutical/dietary supplement industry may tell a story, you don't want the same story told over and over.

Not only is differentiation important in the nutraceutical/dietary supplement industry, packages should be functional--easy to open and reseal while providing convenient product dispensing. Packaging should provide product safety and protection from possible contamination while guarding from the effects of light, oxygen and moisture. Efficient packaging also includes easy-to-understand labeling to educate consumers about a product's benefits while providing any required supplemental facts.

And while attractive and functional packages are keys to differentiation, the package must also convey trust--ensuring consumers are getting a safe product. While The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) allows manufacturers to make statements of nutritional support for their products on their packaging, they cannot make a claim that is false or misleading. Such statements must also be accompanied by the disclaimer: "This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."

Here are some progressive nutritional products that are not only using packaging as a point of difference but they're using packaging as part of the product's overall utility.

Reinventing the wheel

One of the most confusing issues for consumers about nutraceutical/dietary supplements is that too many packages look the same--especially bottles holding tablets, pills and capsules. Many of these products tend to be in either glass or plastic with non-descript labels. Setting products apart from this sea of similarity is a challenge for manufacturers. However, those manufacturers with products that stand out understand that packaging is an important portal for communicating with the consumer.

"The package not only has to reinforce a brand's equity," says Pharmavite's Andrews, "it must convey the product's benefits."

In fact, while Pharmavite's Nature Made brand has recently undergone product improvements, it has also undergone a packaging overhaul without sacrificing its brand identity. At first glance, the Nature Made vitamin/dietary supplement package redesign doesn't immediately pop out at you. But, a closer look reveals how innovative, how functional this package--which seems like a typical polyethylene terephthalate bottle--really is.

And one major impetus for changing the package was that private label manufacturers were starting to copy the old Nature Made design. "This was an issue we had to challenge," says Andrews. "We were in danger of losing our brand equity."

To differentiate the Nature Made package, Pharmavite redesigned the logo, making sure it retained its natural, approachable appeal. The key was imprinting "Recommended by Pharmacists" on the label, which adds to the product's trust.

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Another factor was including scientific claims on the label when appropriate to the product. For instance, labeling for fish oil gel capsules can make certain health claims because they can be backed by science. And, since Nature Made recently passed the United States Pharmacopeia's (USP) Dietary Supplement Verification Program (DSVP), the new DSVP mark will appear on the front of the label, which adds to more consumer confidence (see "USP instills dietary supplement packaging guidelines").

Another innovation on the Nature Made label is the inclusion of arrows that direct consumers to more information or to Nature Made's web site address for more product details.

"We wanted to take the brand into a higher tech realm and providing a web address helps educate consumers," says Andrews. "There's also a code on the label that can be keyed into the web site which, in turn, provides product offers and coupons."

The closure for Nature Made, supplied by Weatherchem Corp., provides another point of difference for the product. The Nutra Flapper[R] is a threaded, convenient, single flap dispensing system that only releases a few capsules/tablets at a time.

"As far as we know, this is the first time this particular closure has been used with dietary supplements," says Andrews. "Its half-moon design provides a convenient solution for consumers tired of dispensing too many pills at one shake of the package."