Wow! What A Way to Energize Awareness

By David Luttenberger

Energizer produced 1.5 million packs of pink batteries that hit Target shelves on October 1, to coincide with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Visit www.komen.org and www.energizer.com/sgk

Even packaging geeks have a serious side. It just takes some prodding to bring it to the fore. In-your-face emails from friends can do the trick. In this case, the friend was a director of packaging at a major consumer packaged goods company who sent an email with the subject line punctuated by the word "CANCER," with no attempt to hide the uppercase Internet-shouting that all caps imply.

I was relieved that the subject line didn't convey an overt connection between itself, the body of the message, my friend, and the C-word. If there is a connection for you in your life, our prayers are with you.

The message did, however, directly point to the sobering fact that my wife (still 29-ish, of course) and two daughters, 17 and 14, each face a one-in-seven chance of developing some form of breast cancer during their lifetime. Messages like that tend to strike a rather sour chord among husbands and fathers. It's likely most of us have never considered the possibility as a normal matter of course.

As a husband, I cannot imagine how such news would impact my wife or how together we would handle it. As a young (at heart) dad, I still have a lot to look forward in my girls' lives. High-school and college graduations, dances to Daddy's Little Girl at weddings (providing I even let them marry, that is) and when I'm (much) older, spoiling the grandkids and then sending them back to my daughters and their insufferable husbands on a rampant sugar high.

Since 1995, breast cancer has struck more than two million U.S. women. In 2005, 211,240 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed. More than 40,000 women will die—fewer that that if the Energizer Bunny has anything to do with it.

According to Jeffrey Roth, Energizer Holdings, Inc. brand manager/national promotions, the company has a longstanding relationship with the local St. Louis chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. While Energizer has been a regular contributor on the local level, the company has been working for the past year on a campaign to step up on a national scale.

Tapping its iconic pink Energizer Bunny, known for the ability to keep "going and going and going," Energizer adapted the slogan to an inspirational message associated with fighting breast cancer: "The Power to Keep Going."

To put a marketplace face on the campaign, Energizer turned to Josh Kaplan, a Schawk Inc. employee permanently assigned to Energizer as an in-house package designer. Kaplan redesigned and decorated the backer card and battery label for 10-packs as a Limited Edition offering. Kaplan went with PMS 223 to achieve the now-familiar pink associated with the fight against breast cancer, and the paperboard backer is offset printed. The battery labels are a metallic stock flood-coated with white and then overlaid with the same PMS color.

Roth says an initial production run of 1.5 million 10-packs were produced for the October 1st exclusive rollout at Target stores across the country, which coincided with first day of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As part of the campaign and its on-going support of the Komen Foundation, Energizer has committed to a minimum guaranteed donation of $350,000. Consumers also have the opportunity to receive a free Energizer Bunny pin with the breast cancer ribbon with the purchase of any two Energizer products. An additional $1 donation will be made by Energizer for each pin redemption, up to a maximum of $10,000.

You were probably going to Target anyway this week. So get going-going-going right now and pick up a pack (or two) of the Limited Edition batteries. For us geeks, it's a great excuse to add a package with a Wow! factor unlike any other to our collections. For everyone, it's a way help to increase awareness, raise resources, and to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. Now go!

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