Who designed this awesome Hot Sauce bottle? Like, seriously, who is the person who actually sketched out this bottle design and said – “This would be cool.”?
Three of the most saturated categories in grocery are SALSA, COFFEE and SPICES.
As a package designer, I’m always so excited when a new product breaks through in one of these categories because it must have a really good brand position.
In order to actually make it to a grocery shelf it takes so much work. If you’re a startup, this means probably years of thinking about your product, tinkering with the recipe, giving to friends and family, selling at a farmers market before you ever find a buyer who is willing to pull another product to put yours in. Once you get there, it takes a lot of marketing and money to stay there.
I’m a member of the DFWCPG (Dallas Fort Worth Consumer Packaged Goods). They host in-person and virtual events and it’s free to join. These events are where I meet people on their entrepreneurial journey to get their product on the shelf. The buyers will tell you that nothing is more important than a unique product offering and a great founder story. I’m getting off-topic, sorry. The reason I’m writing this post is because I purchased a new hot sauce last month. Granted, this product is made by Herdez, a well established brand with many products. I’m sure it was a little easier to get this product in the store but it’s the BOTTLE and the DESIGN that made me buy it. Scratch that – its the BOTTLE that made me buy it. The label design is nice but it’s this adorable, fit-in-your-hand-size avocado shaped glass bottle that I’ve never seen before. The lid even has a pebbly texture like the outside of an avocado from Mexico (not a California avocado). A first, I thought it was their guacamole salsa in a new package but it turns out that it is a new product that Herdez launched in October .
POM, Truff, Mrs. Butterworths Syrup, Method Soaps – all products with unique bottles. Here’s the thing – you can’t go buy unique bottles somewhere and just put your product in them. They have to be designed and prototyped and then commissioned to be made – and in large volume. A glass company is not going to make you 1,000 custom bottles for your locally famous hot sauce. That opportunity is reserved for the established and the rich. I got to go to the Pepsi Innovation Lab in New York a few years ago and while I was there, I saw that their team of designers was working on new bottle shapes and they were making their prototypes with 3-D printers. That is the stuff that package and brand designers dream of right there.
What’s my point again…right – Herdez hot sauce.
So many topics that I could spin off of this but I’ll wrap it up by saying to the person that designed this bottle for Herdez Hot Sauce – “Please comment on my post – reveal your genius design self!”
Dallas Morning News staff writer, Maria Halkias gave me a personal tour of the DMN offices last week in Downtown Dallas. Maria wrote a front page story about my client, Wicked Bold Chocolate founder, Deric Cahill, last year and she offered to show me around the news room. Maria interviewed me about how my company transformed Deric’s brand and package from a farmers market start-up special to a professionally branded line of chocolates on the shelves of Whole Foods, Sprouts and thousands of Walmart stores.
The Dallas Morning News has won nine Pulitzer Prizes and is the oldest continuously operated business in Texas, dating back to 1842 where it began publication of The Daily News in Galveston.
Designed by Gensler, DMN occupies the historic Old Dallas Central Library next door to the Statler Hotel. My favorite feature is a running ticker that you can see from the street level windows. Check out the pics of the office here.
You want me to talk about packaging?!
I’ve been a package design nerd for my entire career so when I was invited to speak about packaging at a GCIA (Global Culinary Innovators Association) event in San Diego, CA, I was in!
I was asked to participate on a panel as a packaging expert to talk to a group of international corporate chefs about sustainable restaurant packaging. Think paper cups, take out containers, pizza boxes, etc. At the time, Studio B was knee-deep into a 16-piece fast casual restaurant packaging project for plant-based fast food brand Earth Burger, so this was perfect timing. I shared the stage with Dan Nolan of Good Start (Sustainable) Packaging and Rick Findlay – a grocery packaging pro with awesome Whole Foods stories.
Sustainable packaging
I wish I could say that sustainable packaging is an option for every brand. It’s just not, yet. The demand, however, is encouraging the industry to look for more earth friendly solutions – on the daily.
Expert status equals time in the game.
Working with restaurant and retail brands always involves some form of package design. Whether it’s a take out bag or a full-blown pallet display full of swim goggles for Costco, the package can be the primary brand vehicle. Studio B designs roughly 50 retail or restaurant package items a year. We have great vendors for short and long print runs and we manage the process from design and function to final printed product.
Is your package design shelf-ready?
If you need design for a new product or an update to your existing products, we’d love to take a look! If you’re on the fence, DM Deric Cahill of Wicked Bold Chocolate who calls me a packaging genius. He can attest to the value of a great package. We (and Perry Fink) helped him get from the farmers market to the end caps at Whole Foods with more deals in the works.
Shout out to Jeff Sinelli for recommending me and Kevin Ryan, ICCA/GCIA for letting me participate in this awesome event.
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