Package Design - March 2012 - 40

GLOBESPOTTING

BY LYNN DORNBLASER

Comfort Food Made Convenient
Hot, fast and portable come to snack time.

VITAL STATISTICS
CONTENTS

THE PRODUCT
It’s not just for coffee anymore—a self-heating can for mushroom soup keeps the hunger pangs away.

THE INNOVATIONS
The technology behind the package is innovative. It’s a double-chambered aluminum can. Soup is housed in the outer chamber, and water and calcium oxide in the inner chamber. These two components stay separated until a consumer presses a button that mixes them together. The resulting reaction gets the product hot really fast.

Cream of mushroom soup
GOALS

THE PERSPECTIVE
Self-heating cans have been ring up the coffee market for a while now. Early applications included a double shot of espresso that perked up Italian consumers, and later applications included blended coffee drinks that satis ed U.S. consumers’ thirst for convenient lattes. Clearly, beverages dominated the concepts. Now, the can is delivering a hot snack for hungry Australians on the go. It’s a pretty straightforward activation process: turn the can upside down, peel off the tamper-evident seal and rmly push the button at the bottom of the can. You know you’ve done it right when the can makes a bit of a crunch sound. Shake the can from side to side for 30 seconds, turn it upright and wait three minutes.

Deliver a hot snack that’s more convenient than a microwave entree
TARGET

On-the-go consumers
MATERIAL

WHY WE LOVE IT
How the package works is simple yet intriguing, and the relative ease of use and on-the-go attributes make it on trend.

Doublechambered aluminum can
DECORATIVE PROCESS

FUTURE PROSPECTS
Self-heating cans could be used for products outside the kitchen, perhaps for personal-care products, such as lotions or hair treatments. What has limited this concept is how it’s usually marketed. Right now, most of the self-heating cans sit on the shelf without any explanation. Clear communication to consumers about the package’s bene ts is key to unlocking the concept’s potential. PD

Gravure

THE OPPORTUNITIES
If the opportunities for self-heating beverages are good, they are even better for self-heating soups. A quick, hot beverage is available virtually anywhere, but a hot, fast, drinkable snack is harder to nd.

Lynn Dornblaser (lynnd@mintel.com) is the director of CPG Trend Insight at Mintel International, working out of the company’s Chicago of ce.

40

MARCH 2012



Package Design - March 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Package Design - March 2012

Package Design - March 2012
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Front Panel
Snapshots
Designer’s Corner
Sustainably Speaking
Recaptured Passion
The Charms of Color
Beyond the Morning After
Look, Listen, Create
Product Focus: Flexible Packaging
On Packagedesign mag.com
Datebook
Index of Advertisers
Globespotting
Package Design - March 2012 - intro
Package Design - March 2012 - Package Design - March 2012
Package Design - March 2012 - Cover2
Package Design - March 2012 - 1
Package Design - March 2012 - Contents
Package Design - March 2012 - 3
Package Design - March 2012 - Editor’s Letter
Package Design - March 2012 - 5
Package Design - March 2012 - Front Panel
Package Design - March 2012 - I1
Package Design - March 2012 - I2
Package Design - March 2012 - 7
Package Design - March 2012 - 8
Package Design - March 2012 - 9
Package Design - March 2012 - Snapshots
Package Design - March 2012 - 11
Package Design - March 2012 - 12
Package Design - March 2012 - 13
Package Design - March 2012 - Designer’s Corner
Package Design - March 2012 - 15
Package Design - March 2012 - Sustainably Speaking
Package Design - March 2012 - 17
Package Design - March 2012 - 18
Package Design - March 2012 - 19
Package Design - March 2012 - Recaptured Passion
Package Design - March 2012 - 21
Package Design - March 2012 - 22
Package Design - March 2012 - 23
Package Design - March 2012 - The Charms of Color
Package Design - March 2012 - 25
Package Design - March 2012 - 26
Package Design - March 2012 - 27
Package Design - March 2012 - Beyond the Morning After
Package Design - March 2012 - 29
Package Design - March 2012 - 30
Package Design - March 2012 - 31
Package Design - March 2012 - Look, Listen, Create
Package Design - March 2012 - 33
Package Design - March 2012 - Product Focus: Flexible Packaging
Package Design - March 2012 - 35
Package Design - March 2012 - 36
Package Design - March 2012 - 37
Package Design - March 2012 - On Packagedesign mag.com
Package Design - March 2012 - Index of Advertisers
Package Design - March 2012 - Globespotting
Package Design - March 2012 - Cover3
Package Design - March 2012 - Cover4
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