Detergent downsizes for a bigger impact

January 29, 2014

2 Min Read
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Small in size but making a big splash in laundry detergent aisles, new All® Small & Mighty™ provides a three-times-concentrated version of Unilever's All® brand detergent, cleaning as many loads as a 100-oz bottle “but in a smaller, more compact package that's easier to pour, store and carry,” explains Helayna Minsk, director of marketing for Unilever. “We were looking for a way to lighten the consumer's load, literally and figuratively,” she says. “The key was to do this in a way that didn't compromise the great cleaning they got from nonconcentrated All.”

Designing the bottle to address consumers' issues with handling big, bulky detergent bottles, Unilever also worked with Wal-Mart to make the bottle more shelf-friendly and more sustainable. According to Minsk, the 32-oz mini bottle uses less plastic in its packaging, 64-percent less water in its formula than regular detergent and fits into smaller cases, saving on corrugated. And, she adds, it also takes less fuel to ship these smaller bottles because a larger quantity of product can fit into each truck bound for the customers' warehouse. According to Unilever's website, this results in an annual savings of almost 500 million gal of water, 26 million gal of diesel fuel, 150 million lb of plastic and 750 million sq ft of corrugated.

At the retail level, because more of the smaller bottles can fit on-shelf, retailers realize cost savings in distribution, inventory and labor, Minsk claims.

The product's custom, high-density polyethylene bottle is from Graham Packaging Co. (www.grahampackaging.com) and is topped by a polypropylene cap, also from Graham. An oriented polystyrene label, with graphics designed by Vibrandt Ltd.(44-01753-624242) in the U.K., is reverse-gravure-printed by Fort Dearborn Co. (www.fortdearborn.com).

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