I also participated in two days of judging 116 private label food
and beverage products submitted to The Private Label Manufacturers
Association for their now-annual awards program. In addition to
submitting scores on each product according to the rules of the contest,
I kept up a private tally of packages that looked to me like significant
improvements or significant departures. Based on my own assessment:
* 60% of the store brand packages I saw had packaging that showed
some improvements in function, graphics, or presentation of information.
Packages are easier to open and reseal or are highlighting nutritional
information about fats, sugars, allergens, or calories on their front
panel. Some packages have front panels on the back as well as the front,
and many were easier to open, pour, carry, or reclose than packages
submitted in past years.
* 67% of the packages that I scored had packaging that communicated
quality parity with national brands.
* 33% of the packaging looked to me like a breakthrough, a
significant departure from the private label products and packages of
years past.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Consumer Network,
Inc Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.