Page 20 - Packaging News Magazine Sep-Oct 2021

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FOOD & BEVERAGE PACKAGING | www.packagingnews.com.au | September-October 2021
Spiced up packaging rollout
Mars Food Australia has rolled out its new Masterfoods Herbs & Spices packaging range, including several industry-first innovations. Lindy Hughson reports.
For the new, angled rail shelving system, Mars Food needed to ensure that two things happened concur- rently: firstly, that the lid orientation was opposite to the notch on the jar, and secondly, the orientation of the variety (SKU) label was perfectly cen- tred so when racked it is readable.
The notch allows for gravity-fed replenishment and reduces time to restock and ensures the product names are always face up and the dis- play is neat.
The new shelving will use a simple three colour coding system to make navigation in-store even easier. The coding system, on jar lids, will be Green (Spices), Orange (Spices) & Burgundy (Seasonings).
“To ensure these two elements occur for each jar is no small feat. In fact, as each bottle has two notches on each jar in order to be racked, there was a 50/50 chance that the labels would be placed backwards each time. The solution was the installa- tion of a vision system on the labeller which applies the body label,” Harry explains.
“The new label design, which addressed consumer tensions, was not without its challenges as well, that required ‘out of the box’ think- ing,” Harry says.
A clear transparent label has replaced the previous paper label. These labels will include a laser date coded on a bespoke panel to ensure the Best Before Date doesn’t rub off over time and shelf-life information for products can be seen easily and quickly at a glance.
With a transparent label, limited space to communicate the SKU and all the nutritional information on the packaging, the artwork (designed by brand agency Cowan) needed to grab consumer attention and ensure the SKUs were easy to locate.
To achieve this, Mars Food Australia partnered with label sup- plier Abaris Printing to provide a white ink ,which increases vibrancy under the ultra-violet lighting found in supermarkets but simultaneously is clear and easy to read.
The application of a self-adhesive label on the top of the jar allows for quick, clear identification of the
MARS Food Australia rolled out its new Masterfoods Herbs & Spices packaging in July, sporting a new closure sys- tem by Cormack Packaging, and produced on a revamped, automated packaging line at its
Wyong, NSW manufacturing plant. The packaging overhaul – which marks the biggest process improve- ment project made on this packaging line in its 25-year history – demanded capital investment of more than $3 million, including new labelling,
capping and inspection equipment.
THE WHY
Masterfoods is an iconic brand found in nine out of 10 Australian pantries. With its heritage in specialty foods and herbs and spices, MasterFoods has for more than 75 years evolved to satisfy and delight Australians’ changing tastes, set food trends, and introduce international, multicul- tural flavours.
In 1945, the brand’s herbs and spices were imported, with a small number mixed on-site. Today, all 98 MasterFoods’ Herbs & Spices SKUs are manufactured on-site at Wyong on the NSW Central Coast.
“While we know from consumer feedback, that the MasterFoods Herbs and Spices have a strong following, we had recent data that indicates the packaging was losing consumer relevancy. This was confirmed in conversations with our customers,” explains Mark Harry, R&D Lead at Mars Food Australia.
The solution was to come up with a new design that would address consumer tensions around the pack- aging and create a positive in-store experience.
FUNCTIONALITY
The redesigned Masterfoods Herbs & Spices jars sees the former PVC tam- per-proof neck sleeve replaced with an induction seal and flip-top lid. This increases the ease of use for less
dexterous consumers, as the PVC sleeve could be difficult to remove.
Harry explains that the application of an induction seal also limits the amount of moisture ingress during supply chain transit, which is a major issue with flavour salts and season- ings, causing them to clump.
“In the new packaging, our herbs and spices will arrive on shelves as fresh, and in the same state, as they left the Mars Food Australia manu- facturing plant,” he says.
Another functional highlight of the new design is the proprietary butter- fly hinge which enables the flip-top cap to spring open, past the 90-degree point of the cap. This allows consum- ers to easily flip the lid and with one hand add a sprinkle to their cooking, without interrupting their ‘cooking flow’. The previous design required a consumer to unscrew the lid using two hands and ‘dose’ out the product.
Another change was the removal of the inbuilt sieve in the top of
the bottle, replacing it with
a with a flip-top lift top,
to allow a standard sized teaspoon to be inserted into jar.
IN-STORE DETAIL
The herbs, spices and sea- soning category is complex
to navigate in-store, due to the number of products avail- able and consumers’ desire to be able to locate easily and quickly what they want, or be inspired by something new.
The redesign project team at Mars Food delivered a clever solution – Australia’s first ever notch rail racking sys- tem that will soon be imple- mented. Harry says the grav- ity led rail racking system will improve navigation for consumers while also dramatically reducing the time required by retailers
for ‘face up’ replenishment.
BELOW: The new spice packaging for the Masterfoods brand, has a flip-top closure designed and manufactured by Cormack Packaging.