Food and Beverage Packaging May 2011 : Page 6

Editor’s Note A TOAST TO TRULY EFFECTIVE PACKAGING hen you think of products that are fertile ground for packaging innovation, beer isn’t the ﬁ rst thing that comes to mind. It’s highly traditional in terms of package sizes and materials. It also has certain inherent challenges, such as carbonation and high sensitivity to oxygen, which require barrier properties that cut down on material choices. That’s why you rarely see beer in plastic out-side of a ballpark. Sure, there’s been plenty of innovation in the market, but it mostly has to do with fancy formulations from craft brewers. While craft brews are still a small fraction of the market, they’ve been the fastest-growing segment for years. But their packaging “innovation” usually stops at a whimsically designed label. That makes the packaging achievements of MillerCoors, our 2011 Beverage Packager of the Year, all the more impressive. Its innova-tions include the vortex bottle for Miller Lite, the thermochromatic ink (recently upgraded to a two-tone system) for Coors, the Home Draft Box for Coors, and the reclosable aluminum pint bottle. Even little things serve as a pack-aging mark of distinction. I’m old enough to remember when Coors was unavailable outside the West, which gave it a certain mystique. The shape of the can added to this mystique: slightly thinner and tall-er than conventional 12-ounce cans, but still easy to hold and swig. When you saw those tall, thin cans sitting in an ice tub at a party, no matter how dim the lights were, you knew instantly that they were serving “Colorado Kool-Aid.” Coors has been available nationwide for a long time, but the tall, thin can still serves as a marketing point of difference. And it’s still a headache for MillerCoors packaging personnel, who have to sched-ule more changeovers. That points up another reason MillerCoors’ achievements are so impressive: Not only do they make both Miller and Coors products in most of their breweries, they have to cope with a unique corporate structure. MillerCoors is a joint venture that covers only the U.S.; the parent companies are competitors everywhere else in the world. This makes for some delicate situations in terms of sharing information. Finally, what I ﬁ nd most noteworthy about MillerCoors is their ability to sell their packaging. Most of their TV and print ads refer to unique packaging. That’s a great way to get an advantage in the bru-tally competitive mainstream-beer market, and it’s an example that packagers in other markets can learn from. F&BP EDITORIAL PAN DEMETRAKAKES Editor pand@bnpmedia.com RICK LINGLE Executive Editor lingler@bnpmedia.com SCOTT HILLING Senior Art Director FRANK MAYERAN Art Director W ADVERTISING MIKE BARR Group Publisher (630) 499-7392 barrm@bnpmedia.com RANDY GREEN Publisher/Midwest Sales Manager (248) 244-6498 greenr@bnpmedia.com GEORGE MISKO East Coast/Southeast Sales Manager (610) 866-6686 miskog@bnpmedia.com CRAIG ZEHNTNER West Coast Sales Manager ( 818) 403-6379 wnjla@aol.com KRISTINA LORIO Inside Sales (249) 786-1579 loriok@bnpmedia.com ERHARDT EISENACHER International Sales +49-228-2499860 info@eisenacher-medien.de CATHERINE WYNN Senior Classiﬁ ed Sales Manager (847) 405-4010 wynnc@bnpmedia.com VINCE MICONI Advertising/Production Manager miconiv@bnpmedia.com ELISABETH CUNEO Marketing Coordinator cuneoe@bnpmedia.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT KOURTNEY BELL Audience Development Manager STACEY NOOCHA Multimedia Coordinator CAROLYN M. ALEXANDER Audience Audit Coordinator For subscription information or service, please contact Customer Service at: Phone: (847) 763-9534 or Fax: (847) 763-9538 E-mail: FBP@halldata.com Web: www.foodandbeveragepackaging.com What I find most impressive about MillerCoors is their ability to sell their packaging. LIST RENTAL Postal contact: ROB LISKA at 800-223-2194 x.726 or robert.liska@edithroman.com Email contact: SHAWN KINGSTON at 800-409-4443 x.828 or shawn.kingston@epostdirect.com CORPORATE DIRECTORS TIMOTHY A. FAUSCH Publishing JOHN R. SCHREI Publishing RITA M. FOUMIA Corporate Strategy SCOTT KESLER Information Technology ARIANE CLAIRE Marketing VINCENT M. MICONI Production LISA L. PAULUS Finance MICHAEL T. POWELL Creative NIKKI SMITH Directories MARLENE J. WITTHOFT Human Resources EMILY PATTEN Conferences & Events BETH A. SUROWIEC Clear Seas Research BNP MEDIA HELPS PEOPLE SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITH SUPERIOR INFORMATION For Volume Reprints Contact JILL L. DEVRIES Corporate Reprint Manager Phone: 248-224-1726 Fax: 248-244-3934 E-mail: devriesj@bnpmedia.com How to contact PAN DEMETRAKAKES FOOD & BEVERAGE PACKAGING Mail: 155 Pﬁ ngsten Rd., Suite 205 Deerﬁ eld IL 60015 Phone: (847) 405-4000 Fax: (847) 405-4100 Web: www.foodandbeveragepackaging.com Editor pand@bnpmedia.com 6 FOOD & BEVERA GE P A CKA GING MA Y 2011 WWW . FOOD ANDBEVERA GEP A CKA GING . COM

Editor's Note

Pan Demetrakakes

A TOAST TO TRULY EFFECTIVE PACKAGING When you think of products that are fertile ground for packaging innovation, beer isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. It’s highly traditional in terms of package sizes and materials. It also has certain inherent challenges, such as carbonation and high sensitivity to oxygen, which require barrier properties that cut down on material choices. That’s why you rarely see beer in plastic outside of a ballpark. Sure, there’s been plenty of innovation in the market, but it mostly has to do with fancy formulations from craft brewers. While craft brews are still a small fraction of the market, they’ve been the fastestgrowing segment for years. But their packaging “innovation” usually stops at a whimsically designed label. That makes the packaging achievements of MillerCoors, our 2011 Beverage Packager of the Year, all the more impressive. Its innovations include the vortex bottle for Miller Lite, the thermochromatic ink (recently upgraded to a two-tone system) for Coors, the Home Draft Box for Coors, and the reclosable aluminum pint bottle. Even little things serve as a packaging mark of distinction. I’m old enough to remember when Coors was unavailable outside the West, which gave it a certain mystique.The shape of the can added to this mystique: slightly thinner and taller than conventional 12-ounce cans, but still easy to hold and swig. When you saw those tall, thin cans sitting in an ice tub at a party, no matter how dim the lights were, you knew instantly that they were serving “Colorado Kool-Aid.” Coors has been available nationwide for a long time, but the tall, thin can still serves as a marketing point of difference. And it’s still a headache for MillerCoors packaging personnel, who have to schedule more changeovers. That points up another reason MillerCoors’ achievements are so impressive: Not only do they make both Miller and Coors products in most of their breweries, they have to cope with a unique corporate structure. MillerCoors is a joint venture that covers only the U.S.; the parent companies are competitors everywhere else in the world. This makes for some delicate situations in terms of sharing information. Finally, what I find most noteworthy about MillerCoors is their ability to sell their packaging. Most of their TV and print ads refer to unique packaging. That’s a great way to get an advantage in the brutally competitive mainstream-beer market, and it’s an example that packagers in other markets can learn from. PAN DEMETRAKAKES Editor pand@bnpmedia.com

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