Reckitt Benckiser confirms its leadership in the European automatic-dishwasher product market with its new Turbo Dry, a two-in-one rinse agent that speeds the drying of dishes. To achieve rapid acceptance by consumers, the product's packaging needed to be particularly explicit. To stand out in this fiercely competitive sector, the bottle had to indicate the product bonus as clearly as possible to the consumer: that is, it quickly and thoroughly dries dishes. To do so, Reckitt Benckiser's marketing teams developed a universal packaging concept in seven languages, whose symbolism can be understood in all European countries. The bottle features an elliptical base that evolves into a tronconic form half-way up, with a disk at the summit, whose sides are decorated with a raised pattern that evokes the blades of a fan. 

To enhance this unusual shape, Reckitt Benckiser's marketing teams chose a Sleever Intl. (www.sleever.com) decorative sleeve label that satisfies all of the complex aspects of this project, which required a customized 360-deg decor of the blue bottle. The label combines a cutting-edge technology sleeve made from a polystyrene base film (SI-OPS-TF/060 U) for a premium finish, despite the bottle shape constraints, faithful visual management, accurate anamorphosis calculations, high-impact, six-color gravure printing that satisfies the line's graphic charter and fully controlled technical recommendations and processes. For example, the printed blade motif had to coincide perfectly with the actual shape of the blades molded into the bottles, requiring a tolerance of no more than ±1 mm at machine speeds of 850 units/min.

These demanding specifications were respected, thanks to Sleever Intl.'s expertise in offering a global system that combines sleeves and machines. In this case, Sleever Intl. provided the flexible sleeeve and easily implemented infrared/hot-air Powerskinner® linear shrinking applicator and a Powersleeve® Evolution 3 high-speed sleeving machine. In the context of this high-profile European launch, in addition to marketing and sales advice, Sleever Intl. accompanied the customer right into the plant to ensure manufacturing success. As a result, the first bottles of Turbo Dry were on store shelves in June 2007 under the Finish brand in the U.K. and under the Calgonit brand in Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Holland and Portugal.