Timing Is Key for Grill Cleaner Brand's Revitalization Strategy

Ergonomic grips and full body shrink sleeves with 360 degrees of graphics strengthen the impact of Bryson Industries' newly designed containers.

A year-and-a-half ago, Bryson Industries was experiencing increased retailer interest in its all-natural line of citrus-based cleaning products. The products' reach was expanding from the less-competitive shelves of small independent Hearth & Patio shops to the highly competitive retail shelves of Home Depot Expo, Kmart, and Sears. The company's CEO, David Lancaster, and his brother, company COO Tommy Lancaster, knew that these new retail markets would require a new approach and a new bottle design top-to-bottom.

"We needed a package that would stand out on the shelf and grab the consumer," explains Tommy Lancaster. "We also needed to build lasting product brand identification." With the help of New Jersey-based bottle manufacturer, Novapak Inc., and label printer CL&D Graphics in Oconomowoc, WI, Bryson developed an entirely new look for its Citrusafe, Citrushine, and TommyBuilt cleaning products.

The right bottle for the job

The Lancaster brothers realized that the industrial appearance of the company's previous HDPE carafe-style trigger bottle with its small pressure-sensitive label would have little impact on the average consumer in the new retail environments they were entering. Ken Murtagh, Novapak's regional sales manager, explains that Bryson's new opportunities required a more modern design in terms of both bottle and label, and the their timing was fortuitous." Novapak had just introduced a new ergonomically shaped PET trigger sprayer, called Shoreline, that seemed to fit Bryson's application," says Murtagh.

The bottle is the backbone of Bryson's new package design." The contemporary shape of the Shoreline bottle offers a bigger label billboard and grabs the consumer's attention better than our original bottle," says Tommy Lancaster. "This allows us to display our redesigned graphics more effectively in the retail market."

The shape of the bottle is just one of the advantages Bryson has enjoyed. Due to the chemical formulation of Bryson's products, the old HDPE bottles required the added expense of inline fluorination to create a chemical resistant barrier between the cleaner and the material, explains Murtagh." The Shoreline bottle, however, is made of PET, which can house these same products without any special treatment. PET is also a shinier, clearer material than HDPE," Murtagh says.

The new bottles are produced using a two-stage injection-stretch process that separates injection molding of universal preforms from blow molding of finished bottles. The preforms are injection molded at Novapak's Paris, IL, plant and then transported to its Waltersboro, SC, plant where they are stretched and blown on a Sidel reheat, stretch-blow machine." The two-stage process drives down costs by eliminating the setup time and tooling costs associated with concurrent molding and blowing of dedicated preforms in single-stage processes," Murtagh adds.

The finished bottles (available in 16-, 24-, and 32-oz. sizes) include a 28-mm (2.3-in.) ratchet neck and an ergonomically shaped and textured grip." Although the full-body shrink label we're using obscures the texturing of the grip, its shape and the way it feels in the hand were very appealing to us," explains Tommy Lancaster." The ratcheting feature is also a major benefit, because the trigger is locked to the bottle, and leaks during transportation are eliminated."

The right label for the job

Bryson's own Tommy Lancaster took on the challenge of the labels' new graphic designs for this package and brand evolution. The Lancaster brothers were already sold on deep blue hues for the label, and Vivid Packaging in Cleveland, OH, supplied the trigger sprayer in a complementary custom blue color. Tommy then combined photographs from several sources and added flashy benefit messages over a sea of blue. "We wanted the consumer, just from the artwork on the label, to know exactly what the product is for," David Lancaster explains.

Tommy and David observed the impact that full shrink labels had on the Black Magic car cleaner products, as well as other applications in different categories. "Early in the process we decided on a full-body shrink label to carry our new graphics and the Shoreline bottle offered outstanding real estate to showcase our message," explains Tommy Lancaster. "The resulting product packaging delivers a 360° product billboard and eye-catching brand identification."

The irregular shape of the bottle has little impact on the labeling process, and the non-adhesive shrink sleeves conform entirely to the shape of the container when heat is applied."Feedback from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive regarding the redesign," says Tommy. "We are already seeing an increase in sales of more than 50% compared to last year; an increase that we entirely attribute to the new packaging."