Are You a Dipper or a Squeezer?

October 18, 2011 at 11:20 am by Ted Mininni

For eons, Heinz had the right idea. The company’s ketchup is a staple in the American diet; a sales superstar and well, why mess with success with product or packaging?

Yet the company finally did redesign its institutional ketchup packaging to address a problem. The old packets that you had to peel to open were messy. We can all attest to the fact our kids ended up wearing more of it than they consumed! The redesigned packaging is clearly based on how consumers interact with the product: the top tears off to squeeze out the ketchup. The bottom panel peels back for those who prefer to dip. And there’s three times the amount of ketchup the old packets held with far less mess.

Great idea, right? And long overdue. A direct result of conducting meaningful user research, and a coup for the power of observation. With this redesign executed in a successful manner… now what?

How about hitting the shelves in supermarkets with this concept for consumers to take home? How about an offering of ketchup in “Dippably Squeezalicious!™ 10 packs?

You know this makes sense on a number of levels:

Single person or two person households where consumers might use small amounts of ketchup intermittently.
Households with kids, tweens and teens.
Easy portability for school and work lunches, picnics, tailgating.

This is packaging that reflects the way people live and use products now. How much more packaging can we redesign to truly fit modern lifestyles?

Which consumer packaging would you like to see changed to better fit the way you use the product inside?
Which packaging shouldn’t be changed because it works extremely well the way it is?

Think about all consumer product categories; not just food and beverage. What works and what doesn’t?

Categories:

Package Design, Structure Design, Consumer Products

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