Perennial, Inc.

Toronto, Ontario • www.perennialinc.com

From the brief provided for the Makeover Challenge, Perennial understood that customers of all kinds felt that the Citrus Magic name itself conveys something specific when individuals hear it—trusted naturalness combined with real effectiveness. The Perennial Makeover team began with the redesign of the Citrus Magic brand name word-mark first, and then constructed the package design to create a visual bull's eye for shoppers.

Perennial developed a more contemporary identity, starting with a simpler, natural logo in lower case that was also able to reverse well in graphics. Gary Oakley, Executive Vice-President, Creative at Perennial, explains that they tried to define the packaging to be consistent with the brand's message of natural purity and environmental consciousness with all-natural cues on a pure white background. "We didn't want to over-complicate the identity," Oakley says.

Compared with the old package design, the Perennial Makeover team developed shapes and graphics that are calmer and less aggressive to convey simplicity and premium quality. "The packaging shape and form emulates the soft form of the citrus fruit," says Oakley. The principal display area is curved, leading the consumer to discover more by turning the package around.

Perennial took great care in emphasizing the key point of difference of "100% natural citrus oils" in an elevated position. The idea was to have it as a common flash. It's a significant point of difference, and the Perennial team felt it should be outside the central focus to highlight it. In addition, the multiple drops of the all-natural flash signify multiple citrus products in the product blend. "We're helping to join the dots in consumers' minds," Oakley explains.

For ergonomics, the Perennial team married form with function to create packages that are easy to hold, carry, and store. The new all-purpose cleaner bottle has a soft form and a flexible neck innovation that makes using the product easier at unusual angles to get into odd spaces and corners. This design also helps the pump to reach the remaining fluid inside a nearly empty bottle that an inner tube often cannot reach in conventional spray bottles.

The odor eliminator has a cap with openings on each side, as well as on the top to allow for easier and greater sprinkling of the deodorizing powder when needed, using a side-to-side motion. The odor eliminator has a separate collar that rotates to open slots, allowing the consumer to be more in control of the product output. The solid air freshener, with the shrink label removed, is an attractive decor accent. The lid can be rotated to adjust for more or less citrus fresh scent. Also, by making the bottom convex, the product can be stacked well on retail shelves.

One of the design team's main mandates was to ensure the packaging they created was just as earth-friendly as the product it would envelop. After thoroughly researching the options available, the designers determined that the best solution would be to use the new nature-based PLA packaging technology. The corn-based polymer is derived from a 100% annually renewable source, and is the world's first polymer to show a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

The packaging materials for all four SKUs is common, and this can offer some volume efficiencies to the manufacturer by ordering one type of material from one supplier. Since the main ingredient in the company's products is a natural byproduct of the citrus industry, Citrus Magic could explore a mutually beneficial partnership with one of the large citrus companies in order to reduce waste and improve sustainability even further.