WOW! WHAT A PACKAGE!

Everything Is Portable Today:
Is That Always a Good Thing?!

By Lynn Dornblaser

Almost any product you can think of these days comes in regular and portable packages. Of course, there's ubiquitous bottles of water (whatever happened to drinking fountains, anyway?). And there are also more esoteric items, such as hair gel that comes in dissolvable strips (just add water-great for air travel!). But at some point, you do have to ask yourself if portability is the right choice.

That's the question that has me scratching my head in regard to this month's featured package. Golden Valley Natural, an Idaho-based company that offers beef and jerky products, is presumably trying to tap into the young male segment with this new product. Xtreme Shreds is shredded beef jerky (nothing new there) in a package form we haven't seen before that piqued my interest for its originality, package design, features, and brand positioning.

According to Mintel's Meat Snacks report, published in the U.S. in April 2005, 38% of survey respondents revealed that they eat meat snacks as snacks in between meals, while just under 25% eat meat snacks when camping or traveling. Golden Valley Foods targets both of these consumer groups with this small tube, similar to a small tube of hand lotion or toothpaste. It's an extremely small portion size-only 0.4 oz. (11g). Clearly, the contents of the package are designed to be consumed all at once.

That package size and consumption assumption is a bit at odds, then, with the functionality of the package. This little tube has a carabiner on top so that it can be very easily hooked onto a backpack, belt loop, or whatever. Just unclip, break the seal on the plastic, and pour the hickory smoked beef shreds into your mouth.

The company offers this product as an extension of its more well-established jerky lines. Most of the company's jerky (beef or buffalo) is sold in larger packs through a number of outlets, and all of the jerky products are available on the company's website. This jerky product has an added appeal as all-natural, free from preservatives, erythorbate, nitrite, and added MSG. On the website, the Xtreme Shreds packages are sold only in 36-count boxes, which may make sense for the size of the package.

Carabiners have been a relatively popular addition to packages-we've seen them on lip gloss, bottled water, and suntan lotion. Other types of clips appear to help younger consumers attach their lives to their backpacks. The use of the word "shred" adds a double meaning for adventure or outdoors-minded youth. To shred is a slang term that also means to skate, snowboard, surf, windsurf, or BMX aggressively (according to an entry on the urbandictionary.com website).

While the package concept is interesting, and while it certainly capitalizes on the portability trend, it does lack one key component: aside from the package, it does not have much of a "cool" factor. If it were Slim Jim, or a brand bearing the logo of a record label or celebrity, the concept might have more legs. As it is, it may remain just a curiosity.

Lynn Dornblaser is the director of the Custom Solutions Group at Mintel International, a research company based in London and Chicago. She can be reached at 312-932-0400 or lynnd@mintel.com.