AN UNCANNY SOLUTION:
THE COMPOSITE CAN
Sonoco’s i6 Innovation Process™ creates a perfect package
97% OF
CONSUMERS
SAY THEY’RE
LIKELY TO
BUY THE
COMPOSITE
CAN AGAIN
Composite cans have been a packaging mainstay for years for products like
infant formula, coffee, snacks and refrigerated dough. In fact, 97 percent of
composite can consumers say they’re likely to buy this packaging format
again, ensuring that your product will be a recurring houseguest.1 Of those
consumers, 96 percent of millennials and 99 percent of consumers aged
55 and older who have purchased products packaged in the composite can
said they’ll purchase this format again.1 But how can we be sure that it’s the
correct solution for you? Let’s find out.
PACKAGING THAT PROTECTS
AND SERVES
Today’s retail market is more challenging than ever. Over the past 29
years, the average supermarket has gone from carrying 9,000 products
to nearly 47,000.2 Additionally, the average consumer in the United
States is exposed to over 1,000 advertising messages and impressions
each day.3 Despite the thousands of messages and products to choose
from, the average shopper only purchases 0.7 percent of available
UPCs in the supermarket over an entire year of shopping.4
Well-designed packaging like the composite can is a brand manager’s
greatest tool to engage with the overwhelmed consumer. Packaging
should be much more than just a container for your product—it should work
hard at every stage of the product lifecycle: engaging shoppers, inspiring
purchases, protecting the product and servicing the end user.
Packaging Challenges:
You want packaging that gets attention on crowded shelves.
You want customers to have a positive brand experience and become repeat buyers.
You need packaging that protects your contents and keeps
food fresh.
…and you want your packaging to be cost-efficient, lightweight and ecofriendly. So how do you manage all of these competing needs? You need a
partner with packaging expertise who understands the market challenges.
THE UNCANNY
COMPOSITE CAN
WE BRING
MORE TO
PACKAGING
THAN JUST THE
PACKAGE.
Sonoco is the only
company with the
resources to handle the
entire packaging lifecycle:
As the world’s largest provider of customized
packaging solutions, Sonoco has the freedom to
use the latest technology to invent brand new,
innovative packaging—or to use time-tested
solutions. So, with every packaging format
available to us, why choose the composite can?
As we mentioned earlier, composite cans have been a packaging
mainstay for years for products like infant formula, coffee, snacks and
refrigerated dough. Composite cans are not the right choice for every
product, but they’re a good match for most dry or powdered products.
Composite cans can be manufactured in almost any shape or size: tall
and skinny, short and broad, or wide-mouthed like a coffee can, easily
meeting your specific requirements.
PACK AGI N G CH ALLE NG E :
You need packaging
that gets attention on
crowded shelves.
UNCANNY SHELF PRESENCE
In a CPG Promotion Strategies Study, researchers found that four in
10 consumers tried a product because it caught their eye while at the
store.5 As for the products that don’t catch their eye? Over one-fourth
of consumers are overwhelmed by the amount of choices on store
shelves.2
A variety of sizes in height and diameter allow your brand to have a
demanding presence on the retail shelf. Our container heights and
diameters are easily adaptable to fit special usage occasions or retail
space considerations, costing little change-over time.
PACK AGI N G CH ALLE NG E :
You want customers to have
a positive brand experience
and become repeat buyers.
UNCANNY BRANDING, EVEN POST-PURCHASE
Consumers who have a positive interaction with a
product at home are more likely to buy that brand
again. Factors like resealability, ease of opening and
being lightweight can all be a factor in whether the
customer becomes a repeat buyer.
RESEALABILITY
In our in-home tests, consumers disliked having to transfer food to
another container after opening. Composite cans have an easy-to-reseal
plastic lid, which means customers don’t have to transfer the food to a
different container. The majority of millennials and consumers aged 55
and older agree that the most important benefit of the composite can is
the ease of opening and reclosing the container.1
EASE OF OPENING
Consumers also disliked having to use a can opener to get into the
packaging. Thanks to this insight, we created an easy-peel membrane
and a resealable lid for the composite can. With this simple, peelable film
or a quick pop of the lid, they can open the package right away without
special equipment. The membrane and lid also eliminate the dangerous
jagged edges typically left by a can opener.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Consumers liked that composite cans are lightweight and feel sturdy in
the hand. They preferred the composite can over a metal can, because
the can was easy to pick up, easy to carry and easy to pick out of a
crowded pantry.
Additionally, features that make the product easy to use, such as shaker
tops, scoops and measuring devices, which can be integrated easily
into composite packaging and reinforce the benefits of a brand at home,
influence the repurchasing decisions of the majority of consumers over
the age of 55.1
PACK AGI N G CH ALLE NG E :
You need packaging that
protects your contents and
keeps food fresh.
UNCANNY PERFORMANCE
Great-looking packaging alone won’t win repeat
buyers. We evaluated performance and determined that
composite cans excel at providing physical protection
for delicate foods and maintaining freshness, both
before and after the container is opened.
PRESERVE FRESHNESS
Foods need to be as fresh as possible when customers open the
package. Composite cans are vacuum-sealed to help prevent damage
from air and moisture, ensuring a fresh product and a happy customer. In
fact, 89 percent of female consumers with one or more children believe
composite cans keep their food safe.1
PREVENT CRUSHING
Ever open up a bag of delicious snack dust? Composite cans provide
complete protection for delicate flakes and chips, resulting in up to
50 percent less breakage. Consumers believe that the composite can
protects their food due to its sturdy structure.1
ELIMINATE SPOILAGE
Customers don’t want to feel like they wasted money on a product
that went stale overnight. An easy-to-seal container helps maintain the
freshness they want without the hassle of having to use a separate
closure, like a chip clip (or whatever is on hand, be it a rubber band, hair
tie, or – the worst we’ve heard – jumper cables). Ninety-five percent of
women who have at least one child agree that products packaged in a
composite can are convenient for their family to use.1
Knowing all of this, have you decided the composite
can is the packaging format for you? Let’s get started.
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO
WORK WITH US?
The work we’ve done for our customers to research and develop the composite can isn’t
by accident – it’s part of our approach to solving our customers’ biggest challenges. We
understand that innovation occurs daily, not in a day. We also believe that you can harness the
power of process in the service of innovation, which is why we have formalized a repeatable,
scalable process we call our i6 Innovation Process™. This disciplined process takes a step-bystep approach to the development of innovative packaging solutions that meet the unique
needs of our customers. At its core is the belief that insights and information lead to invention.
OUR i6 INNOVATION PROCESS™
1INSIGHTS
We gather market and consumer insights
using research tools like focus groups,
online panels and in- home studies.
6ITERATION
2IDEATION
5INTERACTION
3INVENTION
In the last step of our process, we’ll
evaluate product, promotion and
package performance. We will also look
at supply chain integration, as well as
things like manufacturing performance
systems and recycling.
Here we may conduct testing in a retail
environment, evaluate in-store marketing
programs, or conduct eye-tracking
studies to determine graphics and
design appeal.
Using these consumer behavior
insights, we invite packaging engineers,
marketing gurus and designers
to participate in cross-discipline
brainstorming. This helps us develop
a suite of ideas and approaches to
evaluate.
4INTEGRATION
We determine how to best incorporate
the solution from an operational
perspective, where we consider
things like process development,
manufacturing, designing for
sustainability, and graphics management.
We test the most promising ideas. At this
phase we are able to utilize our rapidprototyping capabilities, our packaging
and material science labs, and our pilot
plant to conduct manufacturing test runs.
360° CUSTOMIZED
SOLUTIONS™
The i6 Innovation Process™ allows us to quickly respond to
developing market needs and design perfectly-customized
packaging solutions for our clients with a large toolbox that
you can access to help you meet your goals. When we
integrate our i6 Innovation Process™ with our unparalleled
range of packaging formats and services, along with our
extensive scientific, technical, design and process capabilities,
we are able to deliver a truly packaging neutral, 360°
Customized Solution.
WE’RE READY TO GO.
Composite cans are just one of the many products we offer, and our
portfolio of packaging services and products is unparalleled in our industry.
With 15 packaging formats and 18 process, design, research and serviceoriented options, we offer a truly packaging-neutral, customized solution to
our customers in the following markets:
•
•
•
•
Pet food
Snack and nuts
Confectionary
Cereal
• Grains and rice
• Coffee
• Powdered infant
formula
In a different market and looking for an
uncanny solution? We’d love to design
something special just for you. Call us
today, and let us get to work to create
your perfect packaging.
ALLISON DUNSMORE
[email protected]
(843) 383-7846
SOURCES
1
“Rigid Paper Packaging” report, performed by Ask Your Target Market on behalf of Sonoco, January 2014.
2
“Are there too many products on store shelves?”, Scripps Media, Inc., January 30, 2014.
3
Jeff Bernstein, Universal McCann Worldwide, during a presentation at the 2013 Mobile Media Summit.
4
“Engaging for the Selective Shopper” Report, Catalina, 2013.
5
CPG Promotional Strategies Study, 2010