Packaging Opportunities for Fluid Milk

Dairy Foods, June, 2001

Riverside, Calif.-based Swiss Dairy Corp., a subsidiary of Suiza Foods Corp., had been packing two gallon milk jugs in corrugated boxes for sometime. However, these boxes were minimally designed and did nothing to promote the brand.

"It's easy to carry the brand onto the multi-pack box, and two-color flexo-printing is not expensive," says Mike Wencel Sr., CEO and president of the Chicago-based package design company Wencel/Hess. "That corrugated box has a lot of billboard space to build brand awareness."

Swiss Dairy recently did just that and now its two-pack gallon boxes boldly display the Swiss Dairy name.

Dairy processors are almost shy when it comes to promoting their brands, and hence, this is why consumers for so long viewed milk as a commodity. The time is now to change how the dairy industry sells milk. Multi-packs make milk more competitive with other beverages.

A Closer Look

Early this year, beverage companies began preparations to compete for this summer's share of stomach in the grab-and-go beverage sector. If dairy processors want to position milk as a competitive beverage, they too need to be thinking about how to get consumers, who typically spend only a few seconds deciding what drink to grab from the c-store cooler or the street vendor, to buy their product. In order to effectively compete, the package must catch the buyer's eye.

Realizing that not everyone's thirst is quenched with a carbonated drink, Pepsi-Cola Co., Purchase, N.Y., rolls out Dole single-serve juices. Labels clearly convey to consumers that the bottle contains refreshing juice.

Pepsi describes the hot-fill, plastic bottles as sleek, wide-mouth and cup-holder friendly. With the focus on convenience, new Dole juices and drinks are heavily promoted for sale through vending and impulse coolers. Outdoor advertising and in-store merchandising materials invite consumers to "chug a fruit."

Offering a non-carbonated drink is Pepsi's strategy, but for Mac Farms Inc., Burlington, Mass., adding a bit of carbonation to milk is this company's approach to competing for share of stomach. New e-Moo[TM] is a calcium-enriched, fat-free milk-based beverage that's infused with a bit of carbonation. The product is positioned as a healthful beverage, not as milk.

Norwalk, Conn.-based South Beach Beverage Co., realized it wasn't reaching enough sports enthusiasts with its famous SoBe glass bottles, so the company now offers the Sports System line, which contains functional ingredients and is promoted as an "advanced performance supplement."

This drink comes packaged in a squeezeable polypropylene bottle decorated with an in-mold label. The bottle is topped by a screw-on sports cap that can be removed for gulping. The consumer can also pop the valve for a squeezable stream. The bottle fits most holders on bikes and is reusable.

Soy drinks are also being made more convenient. White Wave Inc., Boulder, Colo., is making its Silk[R] soymilk line available in single-serve containers that closely resemble cows milk containers currently in the marketplace. The full-body shrink sleeve enables the use of eye-catching graphics, as well as billboard space to promote the benefits of soy.