World's first display made from reclyced chip bags

Last week, here at PepsiCo Brazil we started to roll-out an exciting new product display for our line of snacks. The news is that is the world's first display made 100% from recycled chip bags. In fact, 675 chip bags are used to make each display. By the end of the year, we will be producing 25,000 displays to be placed in stores all over Brazil.
























We're working with waste management coops in São Paulo which are collecting chip bags as part of a larger post-consumer packaging program that we're deploying in partnership with TerraCycle - the world's most innovative eco-friendly manufucturers.

This initiative means, that in the next six months, 16.8 million bags won't go to landfills.

Dip or squeeze... great packaging idea

An e-mail came in today from 4Sight - a NY-based packaging design firm I've worked with a few years ago - communicating a recent project they worked on called Heinz Ketchup Dip & Squeeze.  

This is an absolutely brilliant example of how many times the best packaging ideas are very simple.  

I love it!

Remembering a good wine

With thousands of wine labels available, often people try a wine at a restaurant or party and can't remember the next day what it was.  Wouldn't it be great if you could peel off a little sticker on the back panel with the wine's main features.? 

I couldn't find any example online.  What I did find was a site:  rememberwine.com that helps people keep records of the wines they have tasted over time. 

Good start.

Packaging redesign for Brazil's favorite tuna brand

Packaging innovation for Coqueiro - Brazil's most traditional tuna brand with over 75 years of history. Hitting stores all over Brazil this week, our new Coqueiro Tuna cans are moving from traditional paper labels (wrapped around the can) to easy-open full litographed cans more than doubling the area for product information and branding.

Consumer research showed that one of the main complaints from shoppers when buying tuna & sardines is the difficulty in identifying the right option among solid, grated, in olive oil, different flavors, light... which led us to create a very simple easy-to-read color-coded area where the product variant is written in bold font to stand out on shelf.

Cool backpacks made of waste

For the past 6 months, I have been personally involved in a very cool sustainability project that was finally launched. Here at PepsiCo Brazil, we are converting waste from potato chip bags into backpacks and messenger bags.

In association with TerraCycle, we're replicating in Brazil the upcycling model that has been working in the U.S. market for a years. The project serves both an environmental purpose removing tons of packaging waste from landfills, as well as, a social cause since revenues support 250 families in low-income communities who produce the items.

This is how it works...

TerraCycle is partnering with waste management cooperatives to collect our snack bags. Bags are fused into fabric which is then sent to Solidarium...

Solidarium coordinates the production of the backpacks which is carried out in low-income communities of Curitiba...

The items are then shippped to our first customer: Wal*Mart Brazil...

... and merchandised in an exclusive display that combines chip bags with the upcycled items.

One of the things I love about this project is that it is the result of true collaboration. Tom Szaky and Richard Perl from TerraCycle in New Jersey providing us with their amazing experience from the North-American market, Tiago Dalvi from Solidarium who brings their experience with social work, Wal*Mart who supported us since the beginning of the project, the Future Group who developed the in-store presence, Claudia Pires - the marketing manager who is working with me on the project and shares the same passion I have for sustainability - and Sergio Julio and Camila Feola from the R&D Team who are the packaging experts.

Another example of the power of collaboration. All of us working together with a dream of building a sustainable upcycling model for snack bags in Brazil.... with a nice social story behind it. 

Fun project.

Spicing up Doritos in Brazil

This weekend a fantastic spicy new Doritos flavor will be hitting stores all over Brazil:

Sweet Chili.

We're super excited with this new flavor for a number of reasons. First, because for many years we have been only selling the classic nacho cheese - our fastest-growing snack - and we took extra care to develop a second flavor that would deliver an awesome product experience to Doritos fans. We tested and re-tested dozens of flavors and sweet chili was the clear winner, a perfect combination of hot chili pepper with a gentle sweet secondary note.

Another reason for our excitement has to do with Doritos Sweet Chili's packaging. For this project we're working with one of Brazil's coolest creative shops, Cubo CC. We immediately fell in love with their graphic work using characters from the world of toy art, which are being called 'Doritos Lovers', over a pure silver background that will certainly stand out at the point of sale.

The great story is that these 'Doritos Lovers' come alive once consumers place the packaging in front of a web cam. The technology used is augmented reality. On the back of each package, there's a symbol on the upper right-hand corner that needs to be placed in front a web cam to release the Doritos Lovers. This is the first-time ever in Brazil that this technology is used on a the package of a consumer product.

Take a look at the video tutorial that shows how the release-your-doritos-lovers works....

The new online experience for both Doritos and the new flavor launch was also developed by Cubo CC and is, by far, the best online work in our portfolio. Click here to take a look.

Another interesting aspect of this initiative is that the entire process was co-developed and each step validated by a Millennial Online Collaboration Panel we have with 40 university students located in four different regions of the country. Through a social-network style application, we maintain a weekly interaction with these collaborators checking everything from brand activation concept ideas, choice of flavors, language that resonates with the target, to what is hot in the world of graphics. The result is a higher probability to make a strong emotional connection with Brazilian millennials (certainly the most difficult demographic to be relevant to).

To make all this happen we have, what I call, our Doritos marketing dream team: Roberto Angelino, Carla Araujo (who will now lead the kids snacking team), Alexandre Chiavegati and Carol Gormezano (who love everything digital). To add more spice to the team, we're bringing in Marta Oliveira, who has done a fantastic job with our other millennial brand Toddy. In R&D, we have Sergio Julio, who brings the product concepts to life. A true dream team.

Here in Brazil.... we're in love with Doritos!

Celebrating 55 Years of Quaker in Brazil

This year, Quaker® is celebrating 55 years since the brand started its Brazilian operation in Porto Alegre. Erika Salgado and Sarah Buchwitz leading Brazil's Quaker Brand Team - two of our young marketing talents - are having an awesome year. The business is growing double digit mainly driven by a strong professional marketing effort communicating the heart health benefits of oats and by a beautifully-produced TV campaign, called "Quaker The Grain of Goodness" (covered a few months ago on this blog), which is driving record sales.

To celebrate Quaker's rich heritage in this country, we're launching comemorative cans with the a vintage look on the backpanel....

The Quaker Team also produced a short video telling the brand's story which has been used to educate employees and customers on the beauty of the Quaker heritage.  The brand story is also being told through recipes. The team has compiled 55 recipes made with oats and how this special grain has influenced food culture from the 50's to today. 

World's Largest Doritos making more headlines

Our World's Largest Doritos bag is making headlines around the globe. We tracked online buzz from Spain, France, Argentina, Venezuela and today I was happy to see the story make it to Advertising Age. 

Big bag... big news.

Cheers!

During our Catalunya vacation, I wanted to bring back a little bit of the flavor of our trip, so I found this cool looking bottle of Mini Black by Freixenet®. Freixenet is one of the most renowned cavas - the Spanish sparkling wine. The 200ml bottle felt like the right size for a quick spontaneous celebration. The cap imitates the traditional cork although it's a screw-on cap as you can see in the photo. The Mini Black, with very contemporary graphics not common to the category, was being sold in coolers in liquor stores throughout Barcelona.  A very cool packaging innovation that stimulates a new consumption occasion for a category that is more associated to special on-premise or in-home occasions.  Why wait for a special occasion if you can celebrate something right here right now?  

Great concept.

Wow! Packaging

Sometimes you see a product for the first time and say to yourself... "Wow! I wish I had worked on that project." At the Duty Free shop on my back to Brazil I saw a packaging design that I absolutely (no pun intended) loved...

  

ABSOLUT® Disco.... brilliant! 

The photo I took had even more meaning because the Absolut® bottle that represents everything that's new, daring and bold... was next to a brand that is all about heritage and tradition. Any interesting contrast.

Packaging that delivers a sense of authenticity

At the Interpack, I fell in love with a chocolate bar packaging I saw from a company called Askinosie™. Every detail of the packaging comes together to deliver a beautiful sense of authenticity. From the wax paper finish, to a map inside that shows where the cocoa was harvested to the graphic approach that resembles shipping bags from old traders. In a world of big brands, it's wonderful to see the small guy finding a differentiated graphic approach that translates so well the authentic positioning this company wants to establish. 

Like me, I'm sure you're dying to try the chocolate... meanwhile, check out their cool website.

A Few Days to Breathe New Ideas

This week I'm in Dusseldorf attending the Interpack Trade Show. Three days immersing myself in all sorts of food & beverage product and packaging innovation and the wonderful technology found behind the scenes. Every once in a while, it pays off to remove yourself from the day-to-day at the office to see, feel and taste products from around the world. One of this year's highlights was Hall #7 dedicated to bioplastics. A wonderful opportunity to see some of the technologies that are shaping the future of packaging. 

Below is a cool visual I found on one of the booths that represents well the idea of compostable packaging.

Thinking Global, Acting Local.. with the help of a local artist

At the year-end party we held at home for my colleagues from the office, my wife and I decided we wanted to set up a caipirinha bar. So I went to the supermarket to stock up on cachaça, vodka and sake (the barman we hired explained that there's a trend of sake caipirinhas particularly popular among women who want a softer version of Brazil's favorite cocktail). Selecting the right cachaça was easy for me and someone gave me some sake bottles from a well-known Japanese market. So, when it came to selecting a vodka among dozens of choices, the bottle pictured here caught my attention. The art on the label had an unexpected Brazilian spirit to it (even though Absolut is as Swedish as it gets...). Back home, researching online I found out that Absolut commissioned artwork to 12 local artists and there were two finalists. The bottle I thought was so cool was, in fact, created by Brazilian graphic artist Daniel Senise. I also found an interesting video on YouTube that shows the label being created and the technique used by this artist. http://www.danielsenise.com

Two things came to mind. First, the experience I had shows how brand communication is becoming more and more multi-dimensional and not necessarily dependent on a 30" spot. Extraordinary packaging led me to research the brand's website that led me to explore a video on the artist behind the label. Second, the experience made me reflect on the "think global, act local" movement from a few years ago. What an inspiring example of how an iconic global brand, using the universal language of art, is reaching out and making local connections. http://www.absolutbrasil.com.br

A Warm Experience... at Sub-Zero Temperatures

This week we're on a ski vacation in Telluride, Colorado (reason why I haven't been so active with my blog). We've had amazing ski days with sub-zero temperatures. Although I'm not a tea guy, it caught my attention when my wife ordered tea after a long day on the mountains. The waitress brought a box with these beautiful pyramid-shaped tea bags in a variety of soothing flavors. Everything about the experience was inspiring, from choosing the flavor from the wooden box, unwrapping the unique packaging to reveal the silken tea infuser, a leaf detail at the end of a stem... all very nice. I wasn't at all familiar with the brand: Tea Forté®, but after trying some myself, I became a fan. I recognize coffee gets all the press these days, but if you're in the mood for a tea experience, try this one.