Sustainable is Good | Where design, lifestyle and packaging meet

Concentrated Laundry Detergents Become Latest Trend in Green Retail Packaging

One of the most noticeable green packaging trends occurring in mainstream consumer products is in laundry detergents.  Nearly every major manufacturer of laundry detergent sold in the US market is coming out with a concentrated version of their most popular product packaged in a smaller lighter plastic container. 

The major companies like Unilever, Proctor & Gamble and Dial are all using the new version of their laundry detergent to tout their greenness.

How did it all begin?  Concentrated laundry soaps are nothing new to the "green" marketplace, they've been around for years and are popular among devout green consumers.  A concentrated detergent for the mainstream market is another story.

San Francisco-based Method was yet again the principle innovator in taking a greener laundry detergent mainstream.  Backed by the considerable retail market force of Target Stores, Method's concentrated laundry detergent gained an instant national audience.

When Method launched their laundry detergent they treated the launch more like an opening at an art gallery sending out a mailing showcasing their new small bottle and its benefits.  Like many Method products the packaging and design were far ahead of products in its class.  The bottle design was done by Karim Rashid and the graphic design was done by the team at Kate Spade.

After Method's August 2004 launch of its concentrated laundry detergent it was just a matter of time before others followed.

Led by growing sustainability initiatives at the country's largest retailer, Wal-Mart the major players in the laundry market all began developing concentrated versions of their detergents in smaller, lighter packaging. 

The American Chemical Society published a fascinating article on Wal-Mart's influence. 

Who would be first among the giants?  Unilever's All brand launched the "Small & Mighty" bottle containing a 3x concentrated version of its popular All detergent.  The All Small & Mighty bottle is next to the Method bottle the most interesting and innovative of bottles developed so far.  The #2 HDPE bottle is produced by Graham Packaging along with its #5 PP cap.  Graphic design was done by UK-based Vibrandt Ltd.

The bottle was designed with input from Wal-Mart with the goal of making the detergent more shelf-friendly and more sustainable.  The detergent uses 64% less water in its formulation than their traditional All detergent and the bottle is lighter making it easier and more efficient to ship and also easier to use and handle for consumers.  Through a partnership between Unilever and Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart agreed to aggressively push All Small & Mighty in its stores.   The idea was to promote the product and eliminate any concerns from consumers.  The plan worked All Small & Mighty became popular and grew.

Small & Mighty launched in February 2006 and since has appeared as packaging for their Wisk and Snuggle brands.  Unilever has not announced plans to replace all of its All & Wisk packaging with the Small & Mighty bottles.  The bottle does appear to be the main packaging for their Snuggle brand of fabric softeners.

Unilever's success with Small & Mighty and pressure from Wal-Mart led arch rival Proctor & Gamble to develop its own concentrated formula for its brands including Tide.  The Tide 2x Ultra formula and other P&G brands like Gain, Cheer, Era & Dreft have been tested in markets and are becoming available across the US and Canada now.  P&G is planning on replacing all existing SKUs with the 2X Ultra versions from 50oz - 200oz. P&G hopes to have them available nationwide & and Canada by the beginning of spring 2008.  It has been reported P&G is planning a full scale education & media blitz for its new packaging.

Wal-Mart's national advertising circular for this week contains a full feature on the new Tide packaging and its benefits. 

The Wal-Mart web site has a whole section dubbed "Laundry Aisle Makeover" devoted to laundry detergents including announcements that consumers can soon expect a concentrated version of both Purex and Arm & Hammer detergents.  Visitors to the web site can request a free sample of 2X concentrated Purex.

The question remains how will consumers react to the new packaging of their favorite laundry detergent?  It appears retailers are confident the new packaging will succeed and be an overall positive.  In order to produce the packaging the companies have had to spend considerable sums of money designing new bottles and retrofitting equipment for production.

Will the greener packaging trend in laundry detergent stop here?  It would appear not.  The Birmingham Business Journal reported Unilever will roll out a new "green" 2X concentrate of the All brand this fall in stores in Alabama.  The new product is different than its current 3X All concentrate available now across the country.  Unilever did not respond to repeated attempts from Sustainableisgood.com for comment on this latest version of All. 

Method Launches "Detox Your Home" Marketing Campaign

San Francisco-based Method Products makers of a popular line of greener cleaning and personal care products has launched its first major advertising campaign.

The campaign named Detox Your Home was created in conjunction with the firm TBWA/Chiat/Day.  It will include print ads, online banners and a search-engine marketing component. Method Products is also planning events around the country to promote its message in local markets. 

Visitors to Method's web site will find it redesigned featuring the theme of its new marketing campaign.

Until now, the seven-year-old company’s products have been marketed largely through word of mouth, prominent product placement at stores like Target and the appeal of the packaging.

Earlier this year Method announced a redesign of the packaging for its Omop floor cleaning products, using an innovative new PET container designed by Amcor.
   
The New York Times reported according to Kline & Company, a market research firm, Method Products had sales of $85 million last year. The private company was the fastest-growing cleaning products concern of the 18 that Kline profiled, posting a 140 percent increase in sales in 2006. Kline also estimated that the green category of the household cleaning products industry represents $300 million in sales, or 2 percent of the total market.

Method's Redesigned Omop PET Packaging

Big surprise, San Francisco-based Method decided to redesign the packaging for its Omop floor cleaner.  The company is known as a market leader in incorporating cutting edge packaging design to their products.   

The new Omop packaging is as you'd expect from Method, innovative.  Its a marketing and branding masterpiece taking an ordinary bottle making it larger adding ergonomic enhancements and plenty of flat space to plaster with their product labeling. 

The redesign of their earlier not so fancy floor cleaner follows typical Method standards by taking a typical boring bottle of cleaning solution and transforming it into something a consumer may actually leave out in the open when they aren't using it.

The new bottle was designed and manufactured by Amcor PET packaging. 

Amcor Communications Director Shelley Steele said the industrial design for the bottle was done, "in-house as conceptualized by our customer."

The bottle is made of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) which is a type of plastic from the polyester family.  Steele said the Omop PET bottle does not contain any post consumer recycled content.  However she did note, "PET is among the most recycled of all plastic materials." 

Method Bloq

If you're a sage fan like I am you are going to love the new Method Bloq beach sage body wash.  Sage is such a nice scent and I've never seen a product like the bloq before. 

Method scores a big hit with its new line of products called Method bloq.  The new line of non-toxic, paraben-free personal care products began to appear on store shelves in mid-April. 

As you'd expect Method went above and beyond in terms of the industrial design on the bloq.  Happy Mundane reported via Monocle that Method hired Josh Handy a product director for Karim Rashid to do the design. 

The unique slim square "bloq" design was apparently a "spur of the moment" creation according to Monocle.   They were originally going to use a round bottle design called "Seed" but there were issues with how it fit on store shelves and in the shower.  This is when Handy came up with the "bloq" design. 

Available in body lotion ($8), body bars ($6), body wash ($8), and shave cream ($6), the line includes fragrances such as Escape Artist (beach sage), Eternal Optimist (citron leaf), Go Getter (green mint), and Pure Minimalist (water flower).

In addition to their website check out Method's people against dirty blog.