By: Berlin Packaging Specialist
Date: October 20, 2019
Berlin Packaging, a leading full-service supplier of plastic, glass, and metal containers and closures, announced today that its custom Pampers Kandoo “Corner Buddy” hand soap package for Nehemiah Manufacturing has been named the Best of Show in the 2011 National Association of Container Distributors packaging competition. The custom frog-shaped container – designed to fit snugly in tub or sink corners – competed with over 100 other entries to receive NACD’s top honor.
The package and label were developed by Berlin Packaging’s Studio One Eleven design division as part of a relaunch of Pampers Kandoo, a line of personal care products for children. Nehemiah Manufacturing approached Studio One Eleven with the charter to design and manufacture a range of bodywash, shampoo, hand soap and hand sanitizer packages reflecting Kandoo’s mission of “empowering play.”
Building on its previous work with package design for children’s products, a Studio One Eleven team led by Senior Designer Liam Hawry began by gathering, documenting and analyzing package examples from related products. The team also engaged mothers and children to understand purchase drivers and physical interaction with other products in the category, including taking video footage of moms and kids using current offerings.
The results were used as a foundation for developing multiple package solutions to address how children clean up with soap and sanitizers at home, during play, and in cars and minivans. The development process for the Corner Buddy package included hand-sculpted prototypes created from automotive clay in order to convey the subtle personality of the Kandoo frog character envisioned by the Berlin-Nehemiah team as well as satisfy the technical requirements of production blow molding.
The final Corner Buddy package can be used on a sink basin or any flat surface, or it can be nestled into corners because of a form factor featuring sides with a 90-degree angle. Placed in a corner, the package’s lateral movement is restricted, allowing children to pump the package by themselves rather than requiring assistance from a caregiver to hold the container steady.
“Nehemiah is an exceptionally creative group of folks,” said Scott Jost, Berlin Packaging Vice President of Innovation and Design. “And while they are a team with tremendous product development experience, this alone wouldn’t have been enough to guarantee a positive outcome. Nehemiah proved to be true believers in the power of experiential design. It’s not just a matter of delivering a package that looks good, but also one that performs in a way that consumers want and need.”
Nehemiah Manufacturing CEO Dan Meyer concurred. “Because it was so important for us to deliver on the Kandoo brand’s promise of empowering kids with interactive products, we needed much more than unique packaging shapes from our innovation partner,” Meyer noted. “Berlin Packaging’s Studio One Eleven group not only presented us with a series of creative solutions, but supported those solutions with research insights that energized our internal team. The results – and this Best in Show award – speak for themselves.”
The Kandoo Corner Buddy package and individual category winners will be honored at the NACD Annual Awards Gala Banquet on April 8 in Palm Springs, California.