When Oakland-based Clorox came out with their new Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface daily sanitizing spray I was impressed. This product was a big step for the staple cleaning brand. Known as a more conservative traditional type brand this new spray represented a change for the company.
Clorox along with other brands is facing increased competition from among others Method, based just a few miles across the bay in San Francisco. Method is offering consumers what it considers more environmentally sound products and then placing strong emphasis on packaging design.
I think the new Clorox Anywhere is a responsible product and a perfect example not only of how a company like Clorox can react to a company like Method, but also an example of how a company can look within a highly successful brand like Clorox bleach and reformulate, producing a product that doesn’t alienate its loyal customers but is also much more responsible and practical environmentally.
I’ve seen others in the green community have criticized Clorox Anywhere as “just bleach and water” and overpriced etc. I disagree. While yes the product is made of water and a tiny amount of bleach – what Clorox has done is provided the consumer with the smallest amount possible of bleach necessary for the product to be effective at its mission – disinfecting. I would much rather have a consumer use a product like this than something which is way overkill for the job. And most mainstream products on the market today are just that.
The product contains .0095% Sodium Hypochlorite (bleach) and water. The company has taken the guess work out of making an effective disinfectant.
Packaging Design
The product’s packaging is quite impressive. The design of the packaging was done by Buenos Aires-based Tridimage and was custom produced by ALPLA in Georgia for Clorox. The bottle is a custom made HDPE #2 bottle.
The design had two main goals according to Clorox’s Vicki Friedman, “comfort of use and aesthetics.” “First, the design is an ergonomically designed bottle, created to be comfortable for the consumer to use, even with frequent application,” said Friedman.
The second area the design team addressed, aesthetics, focused on what Friedman said was a common concern they hear from consumers. “Cleaning product packaging is generally not attractive enough to want to leave out.” Sound familiar? It should this is one of the key concepts behind Method’s packaging design – their idea was to make cleaning products packaging more pleasing for consumers. Its very interesting to hear this was a key concern for Clorox and one their placed enough importance on to contact them.
Friedman said, “Because Clorox Anywhere spray is a great solution for daily sanitizing, and is gentle enough to use around kids, food and pets, they wanted a package that was attractive enough to leave out on the counter. As a result, the package was also given an elegant look.”
I agree, the packaging on this product is close to revolutionary for a company like Clorox. It stands out on the shelf, its elegant and works well with the product. Friedman said graphic design on the packaging was done in-house using the Clorox Creative Services department.
I think Clorox hit a home run on this product from all aspects: environmental, packaging, design, and effectiveness. It will be interesting to see if they continue to develop custom packaging and work on offering consumers reformulated versions of some of their other products.