Market-Driven Innovations comes to you in cooperation with Productscan® Online, an online, new-product tracking service from Marketing Intelligence Service Ltd., Naples, N.Y.

Available at www.productscan.com, the service is a comprehensive online database of new products. It has detailed information on more than 500,000 new product SKUs from 1980 to the present. It offers an in-depth look at new products with its Innovation Ratings. The service is updated six times a month with new information.

No single tactic assures a winning design, but when a package removes steps from performing a mundane chore, consumers are more apt to put it in their shopping cart. Tombow, based in Suwanee, Ga., takes an everyday office product to the next level with Mono Correction Tape. The tape dispenser complements Tombow’s line of fine writing instruments in North America.

At 1/4 inch wide—50 percent wider than competing correction tape brands—the Mono tape is designed for use on handwritten notes. Each dispenser provides 25 feet of tape.
The benefit to consumers? Narrower, single-line correction tape often requires as many as three applications to cover handwriting. The wider tape allows full coverage in one application. Here’s another time-saving benefit: The manufacturer says the tape, once applied, can be written on immediately without mess. It requires no drying time.

Obesity is a growing concern, in part, because the term “portion control” is often vague. From a visual standpoint, consumers often misunderstand the definition of a “regular” serving size.
Packaging presents opportunities to teach portion control, and Blue Bell Creameries, Brenham, Texas, shows one way to do it in the freezer case.

Labels on cartons containing one pint of Blue Bell Crème de Carb Ice Cream include a vertical line with four “notches.” These denote the levels in the carton where consumers have consumed each of the four servings of ice cream. One serving equals one-half cup. The ice cream is available in the Vanilla, Chocolate and Moo-llennium Crunch varieties.
A focus on healthful eating gives this brand a niche; Blue Bell sweetens the ice cream with Splenda sweetener.

But the manufacturer could enhance that positioning by calling greater attention to the portion-control feature, which gets lost amid the clutter on the back portion of the label.

Consumers have long expressed frustration with the difficulty in getting a “clean” tear off a roll of plastic wrap. Alcoa Consumer Products offers a solution that may become the category standard. It has introduced an EZ Slide Cutter on cartons of Reynolds Premium Plastic Wrap. Promotional copy states, “It’s the end of wrestling with plastic wrap. Cut a perfect sheet every time! No bunching, no wrinkling, just smooth, even cuts.”

Consumers open the carton, pull out the desired amount of plastic wrap and then use a finger to slide the cutter “button” along the track at edge of the carton to cut off the section of product. The wrap clings to the track to keep it in place and help assure an even cut.
The cutter works in either direction along the track. Plastic wrap for this package is available in the clear and rose-colored varieties. Suggested retail price is $2.79.

Bramton Co., Dallas, advances pet-hair removers with Simple Solution Cat Hair & Lint Remover Sponge. The sponge is designed specifically for cat hair. This product is an improvement from sticky-tape cat hair removers, which have a limited number of uses. The sponge is washable, enabling hundreds of reuses, the manufacturer says.

Promotional copy says, “This pet hair sponge gathers pet hair like a magnet and makes it easy to wipe away.”
It measures 6 inches wide by 3 inches deep by 1 5/8 inches high. The manufacturer claims the sponge works on any surface without the need for water.

A rich red paperboard sleeve covers much of the sponge but leaves portions visible through the clear-film package. Side panels provide visuals demonstrating the sponge’s use on eight different surfaces.

Procter & Gamble contributes to the genre of packaging that operates by using one hand, with Pampers Disposable Wipes. The wipes come in an 80-count plastic dispenser tub. When a button on the front panel is depressed, the lid pops open, exposing the alcohol-free wipes. Package copy states, “Gentle enough for hands and face.” Suggested retail price is $4.69. P&G also markets 160-count refill packages of wipes that make the push-button tub reusable.

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