Airforce soda takes flight

This year's Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Show was fizzing with numerous energy drinks, functional beverages, new-fangled soda flavors, soda blends and juice mixtures, many packaged in eye-catching aluminum cans that are printed to attract, sell, beautify and keep consumers thirsting for more. One of the many examples PD spotted is airforce® NutriSoda®, a carbonated soda that comes in tall, pastel-colored, 8.4-oz cans that bear names claiming to keep one “Calm,” “Slender,” “Radiant” or “Immune” or can “Energize,” “Focus” or “Flex.” Each can also incorporates a graphic of a circular airplane icon in a contrasting color beneath the flavor name, bordered in white. The unusual look, created with design assistance from Kenyon Consortium (www.kenyon2.com), is distinctive, and the air force theme, which didn't come from the military but from an air-travel idea flown in by Ardea's president, CEO and founder, Joe Heron, is sure to attract curious consumers. Ball Corp. (www.ball.com) provides the tall cans.