Pretzel bags raise autism awareness

To support the first U.N.-sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, promote awareness of autism spectrum disorders and to raise money for Autism Speaks™, the Bachman Co. debuted a new pretzel in the shape of the Autism Speaks puzzle piece. The product launched first in grocery stores in the Northeast and online at www.bachmanpretzels.com.

The pretzels are packaged in coextruded, laminate-oriented polypropylene bags, which were designed by J. Roy Parcels Assoc. (www.jroyparcels.com) under the direction of The Bachman Co. and Autism Speaks. According to The Bachman Co. marketing product coordinator Jennifer Zechman, the design process, which began in December 2007, had multiple goals. “Consumers associate the bright yellow bags with Bachman,” Zechman explains. “Our brand conveys our high standard of quality: we've been making pretzels for 124 years. We also wanted to convey that this was a fun new pretzel that supported a great cause.”

The packaging design uses the co.'s stylemark yellow along with a newly design logo sporting the Bachman Co.'s tagline, “Classic quality since 1884.” The bags also incorporate a color band of the Autism Speaks blue as well as the organization's logo and information about the group's relationship with The Bachman Co. To allow consumers to see the specially shaped pretzels, each bag also features a window. CP Flexible Packaging (www.cpconverters.com) in York, PA, converted and printed the 12-oz and the 100-calorie single-serve bags. Bachman fills the bags using a Hayssen Packing Machines (www.hayssen.com) vertical form/fill/seal machine. The bags ship in a brightly colored matching case, which can be used to build displays that grab consumers' attention in the grocery aisle.