CASE STUDY No. 9644
KEY WORDS: RETAIL PACKAGING, PAPERBOARD CARTONS
Warner-Lambert Company
182 Tabor Road
Morris Plains, NJ 07950
Contact: James C. Lime, Vice President Environmental Affairs & Compliance
Tel: 201-540-4355
Summary
Eliminating the outer paperboard carton of Benadryl Cold Formula reduces packaging materials by 33 tons per year.
Summary
Warner-Lambert's Benadryl Cold Formula had been packaged in an outer carton of paperboard, with the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) cold medicine bottle inside. The outer carton packaging technique was used to prevent scuffing of the bottle, was sufficient to satisy tamper evident/ safety reasons, provided ample space for advertising, and held good shelf presence.
In 1993, with less than a month of paperboard carton inventory remaining, Warner-Lambert initiated a major packaging change--elimination of the outer carton. This decision was approached carefully over a long period of study by a multi-disciplinary team including technical packaging, product manufacturing, marketing, and environmental staff. When considering a change in a product's appearance, Warner-Lambert is concerned about:
With respect to market share, there is always an element of risk when a product's packaging changes. Warner-Lambert calculates that the greater risk is loss of market share--that is why the factor is listed first among other factors.
In the case of the Benadryl bottle, other considerations were thought to counterbalance market share concerns, even though eliminating the carton did reduce product advertising space. Without the paperboard carton, W-L was able to increase the number of bottles displayed in the same shelf space. And for tamper evidence, the dispensing cup now is tightly shrink-wrapped to the cap of the PET bottle, completely enclosing the top. Previously, the outer carton contained a seal which had to be broken to reach the bottle, and the dispensing cup was placed loose atop the cap.
The environmental benefits of the packaging change were never promoted on the product by W-L because of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations concerning environmental "Rates & Dates" legislation and the cost of changing labels, the company said.
Payback
Warner-Lambert estimates it eliminated 33 tons of paperboard by removing the outer carton of Benadryl Cold Formula. The company declined to place a value on this saving.
Other W-L products--Actufed, Benylin, Sudafed--remain in paperboard packaging out of
concern about changing product image. W-L notes that competitors of these products also
remain in cartons. The container of another product, Lubriderm, was reduced in weight by
10% in September 1996. The reduction in HDPE (high density polyethylene) will total 41
tons over a year, the company says.