TricorBraun, a leading packaging provider of rigid packaging and engineering solutions, announces that it led the packaging commercialization for Hello Products, the first ever line of seriously friendly oral care. TricorBraun, along with its partners and vendors, provided the breakthrough packaging solutions that were vital to hello's national launch in March 2013.
With vanity-friendly design and user experience at the core of the hello brand, founder + CEO Craig Dubitsky selected TricorBraun to help bring to life the brand's vision of a modern, no-compromise oral care range, and to do so in record time. First, Dubitsky's hello partnered with BMW DesignworksUSA, the global design consultancy of BMW Group, to create the motifs and individual designs of the packaging. From there, hello turned to TricorBraun Design and Innovation to take the visionary packaging solutions and commercialize them in a race to market that resulted in 20 molds completed in six months.
"Meeting the deadline was an outsized challenge requiring a uniquely positioned packaging partner that was willing to commit a substantial number of specialists to a single customer," Andrew Olsen, TricorBraun's packaging consultant says.
"TricorBraun's 'Team Hello' was able to maintain a sole focus: getting to market on time and in full. And we're proud to be a part of hello's early success."
The dedicated 'Team Hello' at TricorBraun consisted of 18 company professionals, including engineers and industrial designers who selected materials, created models and evaluated molds to ensure the performance of the packaging and the components on the filling lines and through their assembly, distribution and consumer use. Selected suppliers worked across three packaging platforms: injection molding, extrusion blow molding and injection stretch blow molding to create the completely custom and unique hello packaging components.
As part of the development, TricorBraun evaluated over 40 vendors before settling on 11 strategic suppliers who provided tooling, manufacturing, decorating, components, assembly and transportation. Through this rigorous and intense process, TricorBraun's hello team coordinated the efforts of more than 100 individuals throughout North America and Europe who were working on the project.
"With hello, we seek to bring a new conversation to oral care, moving away from the historical talk of killing and fighting to focus on greeting. Packaging is vital to the integrity of that conversation," said Craig Dubitsky, founder/CEO of Hello Products. "While all the oral care aisle is an array of harsh lines and aggressive shapes, hello wanted to focus on being easy on the eyes and the mouth. So we needed a partner that could pull it off.and well inside the usual long-lead timelines. Speed is a core competency of ours, and we were happy that TricorBraun was able to make it happen as fast as we wanted."
Hello's line includes several items, which TricorBraun worked to bring to life:
Hello Toothpaste: This toothpaste features a unique "tottle" packaging structure, an upside-down squeezable bottle that maintains its shape and doesn't crumple up with use, like the standard toothpaste tubes. The packaging features a multi-layer polyethylene and EVOH composition with a soft-touch exterior resin. A polypropylene butterfly hinge snap-on closure supports the container in an inverted position, allowing gravity to aid in the expressing of product. The novel pastry bag tip in the opening dispenses toothpaste in a unique pattern, a moment of delight for consumers using it. Additionally, the filled tottle does not require the secondary packaging in which conventional toothpastes are sold, aside from a small tamper evidence band, improving shelf efficiency for the product.
Hello Mouthwash: The clear PET bottles of the hello mouthwash, in both 473ml and 985ml fills, feature a unique curved shape and beautiful swig-friendly flavor ring at the top that gives it a distinct presence on shelf. TricorBraun and its partners created custom injection-molded preforms which are then reheated to create an injection stretch blow molded final bottle. The bottle's custom closure features a non-removable polyethylene flavor ring that snaps onto the bottles and tamper evident a pull tab closure, the first of its type in the oral care category. A clear-clarified polypropylene cup/over-cap threads on the flavor ring. As a wink to those who find it, the base of the bottle is embossed with hello's trademark slogan: seriously friendly.
Hello Breath Spray: This small but mighty package enables consumers to have a burst of freshness that's good, to go. A custom, 7-ml bottle is fitted with a three-piece sub-assembled actuator and pump engine that dispenses just the right amount of product. The collar of the product twists 30 degrees to lock in place with an audible click for leak-proof portability, and it's unmistakably embossed with the hello logo, making it easy to feel in a purse or pocket.
Each of the above products is available in four flavors at launch—supermint, mojito mint, pink grapefruit mint and sweet cinnamint, each with its own color palette. TricorBraun partnered with colorant shops and decorating houses to ensure the screen printing and color matching that gave each flavor its unique image.
"Decorating provided its own set of challenges," says TricorBraun's Olson. "Along with custom packages, especially ones with these unique compound curves and shapes, came custom decorating processes and rounds of tweaks. All in all, we're pleased with what we see on shelf, and get excited every time we walk into a store."
