Mr. Clean Shrink Package Solution Cleans Up

Challenge:

For Procter & Gamble, a tub of disinfectant wipes was an ideal extension to the Mr. Clean brand. But finding the right way to package the product was a much more difficult task.

The original packaging choice was to wrap the tub in plain shrink film, to make sure the wet product would remain moist on the grocer’s shelf. A paperboard sleeve was designed to slide over the tub, displaying the appropriate branding and product copy.

But this approach was far from ideal. The shrink film was not holding tight, so the paperboard tended to slide on the tub during transport and—more importantly—on the store shelf. It was not an attractive way to display a new product. To add insult to injury, an additional production step was required to attach the sliding paperboard sleeve.

Solution:

P&G contacted Robbie Fantastic Flexibles to analyze the situation.

“We have a track record of successful print shrink film solutions,” explains Jeff Hiller, Robbie’s Director of Industrial Sales. “Our extensive experience with other marketers using printed shrink paid off on several fronts.”

For one, Robbie uses films with built-in memory that stay tight around the entire package, throughout shipping and shelf life. “P&G could be confident that the new film wouldn’t bag or wrinkle,” Hiller notes.

In addition, Robbie convinced P&G to save a production step by eliminating the paperboard sleeve. “By printing directly on film in up to ten process colors, we showed them how we were able to print and maintain exact placement of all images on all sides, even after shrinkage,” Hiller explains. “In this way, Robbie achieved both the graphic and branding standards that were so important to P&G and the Mr. Clean brand.”

In the process, Robbie’s experience also helped them meet an additional P&G request: to go straight to plate. As one of the first flexographers to pioneer digital technologies, Robbie was able to satisfy all of P&G’s straight-to-plate printing standards.

Results:

Robbie achieved two measures of bottom line success with the new printed shrink film packaging. By eliminating the paperboard sleeve, P&G reduced both material and labor costs.

Jeff Hiller sums up the additional benefit. “No sleeve meant nothing to slip off the tub. And our printed film put copy wherever P&G wanted it.”  Even the UPC code was printed on the film.

The crowning touch to this packaging success came when the Flexography Technical Association gave the Mr. Clean tub package its coveted Gold Award. Robbie was recognized for overcoming the difficulty of printing a modified process image with line color formulations, and for utilizing its knowledge of the shrinking process to place printing on all sides of the product—even after shrinking.

That’s what we call an all-around ideal packaging solution!