Tag: bottle

Carlsberg – Boldly Beer’ing Global Burdens

Beer’ing Global Burdens

Consider the amount of plastic we use in our lives. Getting rid of a lot of it seems like quite a challenge, considering how dependent we and businesses have become on it.

And yet, it is refreshing to see companies like Carlsberg committed to drastically reducing the use of plastics. A few years ago, they took it upon themselves to reduce the use of plastic rings used to keep beer cans together.

With an initiative which stretched over three years, they managed to reduce plastic in their packaging by an impressive 75%!

How? They replaced the plastic rings with dots of glue that now hold cans together. Called Snap Packs, they keep cans in place during their logistic journey, but remain easy enough for consumers to break with a simple twist.

That was 2018.

And they didn’t stop there. They have recently developed two recyclable prototypes of the sustainably-sourced wood fiber bottle. One prototype being tested, is lined with a thin film of recycled PET plastic to prevent leakage. The other uses a bio-based lining for the same purpose.

They seem committed to minimizing the damage they as a business, cause the environment. If a few more large companies could have that level of commitment, it would be so much easier to inspire other companies to do their bit as well.

More on Carlsberg’s eco beer bottles here.

If you own, manage or work at a company, and are grappling with a complex challenge or are in need of innovation for growth, get in touch. More here.

And you might find my book, ‘Design the Future’ interesting. It demystifies the mindset of Design Thinking. Ebook’s on Amazon, and paperbacks at leading online bookstores including Amazon & Flipkart.

Sunset Marmalade

Sunset Marmalade

Why are some brands killing the obvious in packaging design?

If anything is better than the taste of orange marmalade in the morning, it is the sight of it in the jar. Like a beautiful sunset. With strands of peel as if in suspended animation.

However, some leading Indian brands, and probably many others too in India and abroad, tend to put an ugly plastic label all around the jar, with the pictures of oranges and probably some marmalade too on it. Why not just let the product you’ve created, speak for itself?

A beautiful looking product like that, in a transparent jar, would sell itself. So why take the trouble to cover it up completely? Not like it is an excuse for the design, marketing and packaging folk to justify their jobs and salaries. It’s like those people who order an exceptionally tasty dish at a restaurant, and instead of diving right in, spend the next few minutes getting a perfect snap of the food. And then eat the food while distracted by the editing of the picture for social media.

Look at the bottom of the bottle, at the marmalade below the label. That’s what I’m talking about.

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Beery Bad

Here’s a first. A product review.

Several weeks ago I was at a Raymond’s store picking up a suit I had given for altering. On one of the display sections, a number of beer bottles caught my eye. Looking closer, they read “Beer Shampoo”. Hmmm.!

Now I’ve heard that beer’s really good for the hair, softens it and all that. I never really bothered, because apart from never wanting my hair to feel that I’m getting in its hair [pun], I always believed in two things:

  • going by my family history, I’ve come to terms with ‘hair today, gone tomorrow’, and
  • it’s a crime to pour beer anywhere else except into the belly

Anyway, the bottle looked really interesting, and it claimed ‘Made from real beer’, so I decided to buy one. On glancing at the shelf of bottles, first thing I noticed was that the quantity in each bottle was unequal. That isn’t very cool, especially coming from Park Avenue. So, I picked out the one which had the most beer shampoo in it. Obviously.

Used it, and. It smells like beer for sure, but the ‘wow’ ended with looking at the bottle from afar, and the smell of beer. The lid looked cheap and flimsy. The shampoo was nothing great, hair didn’t feel any different either. And [hic] it doesn’t even give you a high.

[1.5/5] And that too just for the look of the bottle and the smell of beer 😉

Park Avenue Beer Shampoo

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