Sidel's packaging team in Shanghai, China, has redesigned the bottle for Menton. The new design is intended to appeal to young consumers in China and set the brand apart from other ready-to-drink, flavoured waters on the market.
The youthful packaging design is also intended to emphasise the health aspects of the product. The straight-walled, lightweight PET bottle, which in 500 ml format only 17.85 grams now not only has a modern look, but also makes a statement in terms of sustainable packaging.
Rapid sales growth
Menton is a ready-to-drink product sold in grocery shops and markets near schools in medium-sized Chinese cities. After three years of rapid sales growth, Menton faced increasing competition with similar packaging and prices.
As the buyers are predominantly price-conscious young people who have grown up with China's increasingly advanced internet culture, the brand decided to adapt its image to this target group and reposition the drink as a higher-quality product.
For this purpose Sidel as a proven, long-standing partner - from concept to industrial realisation. The new design will also be used, albeit not exclusively, on three Aseptic Combi Predis PET packaging machines from Sidel. with a high production capacity of 60,000 bottles per hour and plant.
The Sidel team developed a Completely new bottle concept including a distinctive bottle shape and unmistakable labelling. As Menton is available in several fruity flavours, the new look was inspired by one key ingredient - the European-grown lemon. The metallic Tiffany blue is intended to convey a high-quality brand image and combines the different flavours, while the printed fruit motifs emphasise the naturalness and health aspects of the drink.
Youthful packaging design, robust construction
The challenge for Sidel was to make Menton a premium brand in the new category of high-quality soft drinks and still communicate the health aspects of water, as soft drinks often have the reputation of being very sugary and therefore unhealthy. Another decisive factor was the Strengthening the brand image and a further improvement in the relationship between brand and consumer in order to increase customer loyalty.
„As part of the general packaging trend in China, we decided to design something more modern for young people, the main target group for the drink, without complex, technical design structures.“ Steven Xie, Packaging Director for the China region at Sidel
The production of the redesigned bottle is also more sustainable, as the light weight means that both material and energy consumption reduced could be realised. The new bottle also fulfils the performance requirements for transport and storage.
Based on customer feedback, technical data, supply chain conditions and product targets, Sidel provided comprehensive support, from the graphic design of the packaging concept to the technical elaboration and labelling design. In addition, Sidel took care of all necessary feasibility studies and performance testing, including dimensional and mechanical testing of wall thickness and bottle weight. The packaging experts also provided three blow mould series as part of this project and supported industrial production to ensure that the bottles met the original specifications throughout the supply chain.
Source: Sidel
