Sleek new Crystal Light Container Offers Clear Advantages

Kraft Corp.'s new canister and stick-pack pouch packaging for Crystal Light uses less material, enhances consumer convenience.

3 Nov 2009 --- Slim and trim, with vibrant yet simple graphics, a new package design for Kraft Corp.'s Crystal Light powdered beverage product capitalizes not only on consumers' interest in health and wellness, but also on their growing concern for the environment.

"Woman look to Crystal Light to add some excitement to their water every day," says Roxanne Bernstein, Kraft director of powdered beverages. "Our new packaging also reflects our consumers' vibrancy and her desire to align herself with more environmentally friendly brands."

The new design, which replaces a round plastic canister with a sleek, new oval-style container, takes a cue from the brand's single-serve On-The-Go packaging, using stick-pack pouches to hold the multiserve powdered beverage mix. Previous packaging put the product in individual plastic cups with foil lidding. Kraft claims the new design will reduce packaging material by 250 tons per year.

Constructed of clear polypropylene with an opaque base and lid, the new canister provides a fresh, updated look. Shrink-sleeve labels, supplied by Printpack and printed on Ultra Affinia PETG film, employ understated yet eye-catching graphics of the different beverage varieties. The labels—26 different versions in all, representing 19 beverage flavors—are printed in eight-color gravure. The bottom one-quarter of the label on the front panel is clear, allowing consumers to see when packets are running low.

Tamper-evidence is also provided at the top of the container through the shrink-sleeve label. The film is perforated around the top to allow the consumer to remove the band without disturbing the rest of the label. This feature, which replaces a separate t-e band with the previous package design, also results in material-reduction benefits, according to Barbara Drillings, marketing communications manager for Printpack.

The laminated film stick-packs each hold enough powdered drink mix to make 2 quarts of the low-calorie beverage. Canisters are available in 4, 5, or 6 stick-pack sizes. The 8-qt size has a suggested retail price of $3.29.