Ergonomic grips and full body shrink sleeves with 360° of graphics strengthen the impact of Bryson Industries' newly designed containers.

Greensboro, NC — Standing in the aisles of the big DIY stores and mega retail centers, today's consumer is often overwhelmed by the selection of products. Frequently the choice comes down to packaging. It is a concept not lost on Greensboro-NC-based Bryson Industries, which has seen its line of citrus-based cleaning products expand from the less-competitive shelves of small independent Hearth and Patio shops to the highly competitive retail shelves of Home Depot Expo, Kmart, and Sears. The company's CEO, David Lancaster, and his brother, company COO Tommy Lancaster knew that the industrial appearance of the company's HDPE carafe-style trigger bottle with its small pressure-sensitive label would have little impact on the average consumer.

"We needed a package that would stand out on the shelf and grab the consumer," explains Tommy Lancaster. "We also needed to build lasting product brand identification." With the help of New Jersey-based bottle manufacturer, Novapak Inc., Bryson developed an entirely new look for its Citrusafe, Citrushine, and TommyBuilt lines of cleaning products.

"Bryson's products had just been accepted into Sears and the company was looking to upgrade its product packaging from the industrial look of our HDPE carafe to a more modern design in terms of both bottle and label," explains Ken Murtagh, Novapak's Regional Sales Manager. "Novapak had just introduced a new ergonomically shaped PET trigger sprayer that seemed to fit Bryson's application."

"Early in the process we decided on a full-body shrink label to carry our new graphics and the Shoreline bottle offered outstanding real estate to showcase our message," explains Tommy Lancaster. "The resulting product packaging delivers a 360° product billboard and eye-catching brand identification."
 

Modern bottle shape, PET provide sound base for new label

The bottle is the backbone of Bryson's new package design. "The contemporary shape of the Shoreline bottle offers a bigger label billboard and grabs the consumer's attention better than our original bottle," he adds. "This allows us to display our redesigned graphics more effectively in the retail market."

The shape of the bottle is just one of the advantages Bryson has experienced as a result of changing from its original carafe-style HDPE bottle. "Due to the chemical formulation of Bryson's products, the HDPE bottles require the added expense of inline fluorination to create a chemical resistant barrier between the cleaner and the material," says Murtagh. "The Shoreline bottle, however, is made of PET, which can house these same products without any special treatment."

"PET is also a shinier, clearer material than HDPE," he adds.

Bottles are produced using a two-stage injection-stretch process that separates injection molding of universal preforms from blow molding of finished bottles. "The preforms are injection molded at Novapak's Paris, IL, plant and then transported to its Waltersboro, SC, plant where they are stretched and blown on a Sidel reheat, stretch blow machine," explains Murtagh.

"The two-stage process drives down costs by eliminating the set-up time and tooling costs associated with concurrent molding and blowing of dedicated preforms in single stage processes," he adds. The smaller size of the universal preforms is also said to increase blow ratios, orientation of PET molecules and strength of the blown container.

The finished bottle, available in 16, 24, and 32 oz. sizes, includes a 28 mm (2.3 in.) ratchet neck and an ergonomically shaped and textured grip.

"Although the full-body shrink label we're using obscures the texturing of the grip, its shape and the way it feels in the hand were very appealing to us," explains Tommy Lancaster. "The ratcheting feature is also a major benefit," he adds. "Because the trigger is locked to the bottle, leaks during transportation are eliminated."

Finished bottles are shipped by the truckload (approximately 54,000 bottles per truck) from Novapak's plant in Waltersboro to Bryson's facility in Greensboro, NC. Here, shrink labels — printed by CL&D Graphics in Oconomowoc, WI — are applied to the bottles. The irregular shape of the bottle has little impact on the labeling process. The non-adhesive shrink sleeves conform entirely to the shape of the container when heat is applied. Labeled bottles are then filled on one of Bryson's two filling lines.
 

Redesigned packaging drives growth

"We've come a long way since the days of mixing product in the kitchen sink," adds David Lancaster, recalling the early days when, with the help of an uncle, he developed what would become Bryson's flagship product, Citrusafe, a non-toxic, biodegradable citrus-based cleaner for use on the cooking grids of BBQ grills. While managing one of his father's Hearth and Patio shops, David Lancaster slowly added independent dealers in North and South Carolina, and filled orders at night in his kitchen sink. Soon Bryson Industries was formed.

Today, the company markets five products and plans to roll out three new products within the year. Bryson recently moved into a 10,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant capable of filling 5500 bottles a day. The plant, primarily dedicated to filling, includes one major water-based filling line for citrus-based products and one smaller oil-based line for polish products.

"Bryson experienced moderate growth in its first few years, but recently has begun experiencing explosive growth," says Tommy Lancaster. A more focused approach to marketing and branding and private label projects are sighted as the major catalysts for this growth. Bryson specializes in small private label projects of 5,000 to 25,000 piece orders.

"Our first private label project with a major grill company gave us a lot of momentum," adds David Lancaster. "After that we successfully launched in Home Depot Expo locations, as well as into Nationwide Marketing Group, one of the nation's largest appliance buying groups. Kmart followed with 1,400 locations and now we've moved into Sears. Our next move is to expand into DIY warehouses and grocery chains around the country, and our new packaging will play a critical role in our continued success."

The company is currently shipping several of its products in newly designed packaging. "Feedback from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive regarding the redesign," says Tommy. "At a customer like Kmart, which sold the carafe bottle last year, we are already seeing an increase in sales of more than 50 percent compared to last year; an increase that we entirely attribute to the new packaging."
 

Bryson Industries, Inc.
600 Pegg Rd., Suite 111
Greensboro, NC 27409
1-888-875-9466
336-931-0026
www.brysonusa.com
 

CL&D Graphics
1101 W 2nd St.
Oconomowoc, WI 53066
262-569-4060
www.cldgraphics.com