Flashing-light soap dispenser teaches kids healthy hygiene

-- Packaging Digest, 5/1/2007

Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s Henry the Hippo Hand Soap packaging, part of the seven-product Huggies(TM) Cleanteam(TM) Alphamals personal-care product line for toddlers, has gone high-tech, with a 20-sec flashing-light timer that teaches tikes how long to wash. Says Amy Attenberger, associate brand manager, Huggies Baby & Toddler Toiletries, "It provides a fun and unique product solution to help moms teach toddlers good hygiene habits and adds a feature to help moms and toddlers 'engage' with the Cleanteam Alphamals."

Henry was originally introduced in 2006 along with six other Alphamals (explains K-C, the Alphamals name is derived from Animal + Alphabet), including such kid-friendly character-based products as Billy Bison Bath Wash, Carley Crab Cleansing Cloths, Daphne Dolphin Detangler and others. In January, new Henry the Hippo Hand Soap hit store shelves nationally with an electronically enhanced, hippo-head-shaped dispenser—a launch that K-C says has nearly doubled the retail unit and dollar sales of the product.

The flashing-light feature—a red light positioned on the top of the hippo's head—is activated when the user depresses the dispenser to dole out foaming dollops of Blue Melon Splash hand soap. Says Attenberger, the package was designed to help moms ensure that children "wash enough" by meeting the Center for Disease Control's recommended 20-sec timeframe for healthy hand-washing hygiene.

The whimsical, purple-and-red polypropylene pump dispenser is constructed of a standard stock foaming pump fitted with the hippo head—a one-piece plastic part with a living hinge that contains an internal electronic device with an LED, explains senior research scientist for Huggies Baby & Toddler Toiletries Chris Bechyne. The hippo head is closed using a mechanical locking system and is attached to the pump using a snap-fit design.

"The overall concept was a challenge in that it required the combination of injection molding and electronics into a part design that had to meet key functionality requirements while maintaining the look of our Henry the Hippo character," notes Bechyne. "In addition, the design had to accommodate the geometry and functionality of our stock pump, which limited our design options."

While K-C reveals that the dispenser design was a collaborative effort between K-C, an outside design firm and a manufacturer in China, it declines to name suppliers of the dispenser or any other components of the Henry the Hippo package. Components also include a shapely, custom-designed 9-oz high-density polyethylene bottle, decorated with a vibrant, 10-color, flexo-printed, full-body shrink label—both of which were used for the original Henry the Hippo Hand Soap package.

The flashing-light hand-soap product is available for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $2.99 in food, drug and mass retailers across the U.S.