Form Meets Function in New Chewing Gum Packaging

The Metocene homopolymer PP resin was selected for the Cadbury product due to its high level of stiffness and transparency, according to the injection moulding company that produces the packaging.

04/12/2007 Metocene PP brings high shelf appeal to “Hollywood Sphere” brand chewing gum packaging.

A Basell Metocene, polypropylene resin manufactured with metallocene catalysts has been selected by the European confectionary producer Cadbury to produce the packaging for its newly introduced “Hollywood Sphere” chewing gum brand.

The Metocene homopolymer PP resin was selected for the Cadbury product due to its high level of stiffness and transparency, according to the injection moulding company that produces the packaging.

“In the increasingly competitive world of confectionary and chewing gum the visual appeal of packaged products is becoming even more important to brand recognition,” said Pascal Foucher, purchasing manager at Millet Marius, the French plastics converter that makes the packaging for Cadbury. “The more exciting the design of the packaging is, the more our customers will be recognised at the point of sale.”

A designer polypropylene
The package Millet is producing for Cadbury looks like a crystal ball with a transparent and a coloured part that feature a glossy surface. Foucher adds: “We were looking for a real designer polypropylene allowing us a high level of design freedom as we were asked to combine exceptional clarity and a glossy surface on the one hand, with a higher level of stiffness needed in consumer packaging on the other hand,” said Foucher. Designed for consumers to leave at fixed locations such as cars or offices, the containers are sold with about 70 pieces of gum.

“In testing the product we recommended exhibited clarity similar to that of clarified Ziegler Natta random copolymer polypropylene, but with a stiffness of a typical homopolymer,” said Jean-Pierre Bideau, Basell’s customer project manager South Europe for Metocene . “Consequently the use of this homopolymer Metocene resin provided to the packaging produced by Millet the outstanding clarity but without loss of any rigidity. Furthermore Millet was able, due to the different narrow molecular weight distribution of the resin, to create the requested glossy surface which is important to the visual attractiveness in the consumer market.”

Reduced cycle time
The lower melting point of the Metocene resin compared to a standard homopolymer polypropylene grade also enabled the customer to improve its productivity by reducing the cycle time. “Another reason Millet elected a Metocene grade for this application was the exceptional purity of the metallocene-based resins,” said Jean-Pierre Bideau. “This feature, of course, makes Basell’s Metocene grades attractive for injection moulding manufacturers producing food packaging.”

Due to its capability to create a design that offers the potential for product differentiation at the point of sales and delivering value to the product through the packaging, the French Association of Plastics Manufacturers nominated the “Hollywood Sphere” package for the packaging award, the so-called “Oscar de l’emballage”. The successful chewing gum brand is sold worldwide.