That naming and branding paradise otherwise known as 7-Eleven has just debuted a Super Big Gulp of product names for us all to savor just after being named the #1 franchise in the country by USA Today revealed an article at name development.
First off is the Signature 7 line of products that include “31 snacks, including beef jerky, chips, cookies, nuts, trail mix and candy.â€Â� You can wash that stuff down with “Inked,” the company’s new tattoo friendly energy drink.

Or grab an Asian roller or a 7-Eleven hotdog, 7-Eleven sells more of them than any other store in America, making them the “king of all hotdog vendors!”

On the other hand, you can just grab a cup of coffee. Last month they amped up their coffee branding with their “freshness guaranteed� blitz. But if you’re smart, you’ll go for the Slurpuccino, “the love child of a Slurpee and a cappuccino,� according to The Stew.

The Slurpuccino. I love it. That’s the name of the week, folks.

Sweden’s Gunnar Dafgård becomes the first to use a new molded wood-pulp tray that offers dual-ovenability and sustainability advantages revealed Packaging world.

Sweden’s largest family-run ready-meals maker, Gunnar Dafgård AB, is satisfying the consumer’s taste for premium packaging that’s environmentally friendly, pioneering a new sustainable packaging solution from SilviPak of Sweden. Dafgård became the first to use new SilviPak molded wood-pulp packaging for its most popular frozen ready meal, Billy’s Lasagne, which is produced at a rate of 18 metrics tons/day.

The SilviPak tray is made from 100% virgin fiber with no recycled paper content. The material can be molded into virtually any shape or size and is then covered with a film barrier layer of choice. For its 200-g lasagna product, DafgÃ¥rd chose the SilviPak 3001, a 173×120x30-mm, dual-ovenable tray coated with a barrier layer of CPET, to replace an existing paperboard tray. The secondary packaging consists of a flexible film bag.

Dafgård produces more than 30 different frozen and chilled ready meals for distribution to foodservice and retail outlets across Europe. The company plans to launch other meals in the SilviPack tray in the coming months.

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I came across this great article from Lightning Labels about understanding bar codes, otherwise known as UPCs. Lightning Labels specializes in custom labels and stickers in short run quantities. They’re also a member of the Packaging Diva’s Dream Team.

Here’s a very good and in-depth article from The Box Co-op with tips on designing and laying out your packaging.

The Box Co-op is a member (like us) of the Packaging Diva’s Dream Team. For all your questions about packaging your product or invention, look no further than the Packaging Diva, JoAnn Hines.

The restaurateurs behind restaurants The Real Greek and Livebait launched Yesterday Feb. 14th their latest food retail concept, visualised and branded with the help of R&D&Co, revealed Design Week.

R&D&Co clinched the contract to create a brand identity, packaging and retail interiors scheme last October, as a result of its previous branding work with The Real Greek team in early 2006.

R&D&Co creative director Rob Andrews explains that the interior scheme is focused on the kitchen, an organic-styled bronze counter structure, which he refers to as the ‘pod’.

It is hoped that the interior component could eventually be taken to outdoor events, festivals and concerts, where consumers will instantly recognise it as the Gourmet Hotdog brand.

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Kraft’s decision to omit the word “diet” in its South Beach Diet brand name and replace it with South Beach Living will probably turn out to be an excellent marketing move, revealed Strategic Name Development.
The South Beach brand name is well entrenched - it is not only a food line, but a vending machine name and a diet bar.

Other brands also opt to omit the word “diet” in their product names as well. Take Coke Zero, for example. This brand is flourishing partly because it’s gender neutral and doesn’t describe itself as “diet.”

According to the Diet Blog, the word diet often connotes to consumers bad tasting food aimed at an older demographic as well as, incredibly, “failure.”

I’d rather talk about “living” than “dieting” any day of the week. Good move, Kraft.

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Welch’s, Concord, MA, has launched six varieties of its 100% juice in a custom, 14-oz PowerFlex™ PET bottle from Amcor PET Packaging (www.amcor.com). The proprietary design is Welch’s first panel-less, shelf-stable bottle and represents the first commercial use of a custom PowerFlex container, revealed an article in Packworld.com

The new package has a gently contoured and ergonomic shape and uses a full-body shrink label with colorful graphics that make the fruit images appear ready to pluck. “We were looking for a bottle that was upscale and would attract more consumers to the premium, 100% juice line,� explains Welch’s senior engineer Stratos Dimas. “It had to be very smooth with no bumps so that it could accommodate a full-body label. It also had to be hot-fillable, attractive, and easy to hold.�

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An article in Design week reveals that a milk container made from a type of pulp found in egg cartons has won the best packaging design category at the second Green Awards, held at the Guildhall, London EC2, last Friday.

The Green Awards were set up last year with the aim of rewarding businesses for communicating sustainability in a creative and original way.

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“Manifesting brand essence through packaging is powerful at retail,â€Â� declares Ron Pence, Pepsi Senior Marketing Manager for packaging innovation, in a Shelf Impact’s article. The Pepsi brand reflects youth and vitality, and those virtues shine through on its new 20-oz bottle for the U.S. market.

Working with 4sight, a structural packaging innovation firm, Pepsi created the new bottle as a cornerstone of its “Choreography� branding program.

The bottle design helps the brand remain relevant with teens and young adults by integrating the equity in the Pepsi logo and delivering greater visual impact in stores.

The new design extends the branding beyond the label by adding the Pepsi globe and name onto the bottle. Lines of the iconic Pepsi globe logo are expressed as horizontal waves, and waves above and below the label uncoil from top to bottom, giving the bottle more visual definition when exposed to light on store shelves.

“Wherever you look, there is branding in all directions,� says Stuart Leslie, 4sight President. “No matter which way the bottle faces, consumers will see two Pepsi globes embossed on top, above the label, and the Pepsi name prominently displayed in two areas at the bottom.�

The PET bottles are sourced through multiple suppliers.

The new design balances creativity and function, Pence notes. Marketers at Pepsi get a bottle that reinforces the brand’s image and position in the soft drink industry. The bottle also succeeds from an operations perspective. It withstands carbonation pressure, design elements in filled bottles retain their shape and sharpness over time, and the bottles adhere to Pepsi’s existing manufacturing standards.

I’m going to create a packaging design “Hall of Fame“, and post my favorite examples. There will be rules set up - no entries prior to 1950 or so… I’ll get back to you on this. Don’t confuse ours with the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute’s, or anyone else’s HOF. Maybe we’ll call it IDY Creative’s Packaging Design All-Stars or something.
I’d love to get everyone’s feedback and submissions.

Of course, if a packaging design Hall of Fame exists out there on the web, please tell me.

What do you think?