Wow! What a Package!

Guys, Gadgets, and a Great Package Design To Play With

Guys like gadgets. Guys like triggers, toggle switches, and levers. Guys go bonkers over gadgets that incorporate triggers, toggle switches, and levers.

In short, guys are easily amused by gadgets—or in the case of geeks like me, packages that incorporate triggers, toggle switches, and levers, especially when said trigger, toggle switch or lever activates a mechanism that sprays something flammable.

Design by association

Apologies up front to the makers of men's spray deodorants for referring to their products as "something flammable." My point is, in the most - guys - really - don't - pay - that - much - attention - to - the - personal - care - product - category of men's deodorant, the Gillette Co. has sniffed out a winning package design with its dome-top, lever-action, energy-drink-can-look-alike package for its Right Guard Extreme Cool Spray Rush. And here's why.

At the point of purchase, Rush stands apart from its malodorous-fighting counterparts at first glance due to its stature as a squat, round, seamed metal container more common among shaving gels. Though tipping the scales at a scant 4 oz., when topped with a domed and ribbed cap decorated in a deep, New York football Giants blue, it bears a striking resemblance to an 8.4 oz. "trim can," the kind so popular with those awful-tasting energy drinks.

The energy drink can similarities continue with a bulbous, neon-green "X" direct-printed near the can base. Gillette Rush would be at home in any convenience store chill case alongside Amp, Red Bull, or Sobe Adrenaline Rush—hey, that name sounds familiar.

Continuing the otherwise stunning graphics and overall package design scheme, the jet black can makes a bold, manly POP statement among an infinite number of metrosexual, teal-colored, crank-bottom, rub-on competitors. What's not to like about this package?

Casual buyer beware

Wellllll... it does come up short in one area. Child, er, guy safety. It's that otherwise enticing lever, which creates a natural Pavlovian reaction in any guy worth his Carhartts to, in one continuous motion, pluck it from the shelf and make instantaneous use of his otherwise fumbling opposable thumbs.

Emblazoned on the domed cap are silver graphics depicting two padlocks, one locked and one unlocked. While I'm sure all the containers are shipped in the "locked" position, more than half of the two dozen cans I examined were in full lever-action-ready mode—including the one I grabbed, stared inquisitively down the spray nozzle hole, thumb-mashed the lever, and unexpectedly sprayed deodorant into my face.

The lack of a PVC T-E band to hold the cap in the locked position, or a removable plug over the spray hole to prevent such "accidents" is the only drawback to an otherwise complete product/package design concept that guys will likely pick off the shelf, play with, and grunt: "Wow, what a package!"

David Luttenberger, a certified packaging professional (CPP), is the director of Packaging Strategies, an intelligence briefing service for packaging markets, technologies, and businesses. He can be reached at (610) 436-4220 (ext.18) or at dluttenberger@packstrat.com.