PACKAGING: Box Wine Redesign

I am exploring packaging options for ‘bag in a box’ wine packaging that will reduce environmental impact and differentiate a brand.

You’ve probably seen and/or experienced box wine before, but here are some references:
http://ibankcoin.com/jakegint/wp-content/imagescaler/9751c6fd3cef82af9e957a7d967a2b08.jpg
http://collegecandy.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/franzia.jpg (sorry, I had to)

Box wine already has some pretty nice advantages over glass:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/million-dollar-drop-as-wine-tumbles/story-fn7x8me2-1226099418346
-It’s better for shipping (quantity, chance of breaking), cheaper to produce and for the consumer, and better to recycle.
-It can come in larger quantities, has great graphic opportunities, and is easy to carry home and pour.
-It also stays fresher for longer because the bag disallows exposure to air that would spoil the wine.

Right now, I’m looking at recyclable materials such as transfer-molded paper pulp or vacuum-formed plastic.

Here are some reasons why paper pulp would be a great replacement for current corrugated cardboard boxes:
-Possibility to reduce adhesives and assembly time
-Possibility of embossed graphics and better integrated handles
-Ease of assembly and disassembly (maybe)
-Stackable shells
-Brand differentiation through materials and form

I’m still looking for a better resource to understand the limitations and abilities of this manufacturing process. My main sources of knowledge at the moment are egg cartons and fast food drink trays combined with websites of pulp packaging manufacturers.

Here are some unforgivably rough sketches of what I am getting at:

The shallow option has clear advantages as far as dealing with less severe draft.
For securing, I’m looking at a couple options… molded parts similar to egg carton mechanisms, snap-ins, or even exterior plastic clamps. For safety and branding, a sticker-seal could span the opening?
For now, the bag and nozzle will remain unchanged, and the box will use a similar ‘punch-out’ method to protect the contents until purchased.

Any resources, comments, discussion, criticisms, hatin’, lovin’, questions welcome.
More developed and readable content is on its way, I promise.

Step back a little further.

You’re still thinking “Box”,cube, suitcase, gas can… The bag inside can take on any external shape you give it. I’d think about what forms make sense for presenting wine, serving wine, drinking wine…then, what forms fit together for shipping, flat packing, die cutting, stacking, etc

from a few days ago.

Brett is correct. I would encourage you to do a bit more research 1) on boxed wine and it’s usage, how it is packed, what all the materials are, etc…and 2) on you proposed materials.

Boxed wine is nothing more than a plastic bag inside a box. It looks to me that you are thinking the box is the primary pack that holds the wine. This is not the case. Actually I have taken the bag out of the boxed and taken it on back packing trips as the bag gets smaller as it is consumed and makes for easy pack out.

I would also recommend really thinking about the usage occasions of boxed wine. Why do people buy it? What is it’s perception? When is it used and not used? What determines that? Remember this is more than just a box.

As far as your proposed materials…Like I mentioned before, do some homework on how these are made and how they would be translated into a wine box. You need to remember that this needs to be filled at high speed and efficiently. Molded pulp is a material that is messy and without heavy coatings cannot hold liquid. You would also have to mold two shells and them put them together. This makes filling challenging.

I hope this helps. Sounds like a great project and can’t wait to see the progress.

J

Really nice project idea.

I agree with the guys. Think about the experience, not just straight to ‘bag in box’ concepts.

PackagingID is right - Ask… Who is buying it? Why do they buy it? What is the perception? Maybe also ask, Why AREN’T people by this? as there is advantages to bottles?

Also think about it’s useage occassions. They remind me of parties and summer bbq gatherings, as they are mass quantity and easy to decant, everyone can help themselves. How can you improve or play up to this experience?

Just a few ideas, looking forward to some updates!

Really like the potential with a shaped form to fit a wine bag… blocky Wine boxes exist only because that’s an easy shape with cardboard, the formed paper could be anything

PM with your email and I can send a breakdown of wine users from a student wine packaging competition - it breaks down wine buyers into 6 main categories and describes them. interesting stuff and it might help you identify users to target

Wow. That is generous and If I were you Sheilds I would take advantage of that. Sounds like great work.

It’s from a Constellation wines competition… they are a house of brands like Diageo or Edrington. They provided their marketing research for the students where over 10k people were categorized. Maybe I can put it on a share site or something, it’s interesting stuff

Sounds like good stuff. I would love to take a look as well.

Thank you all for the input!
I’m assembling more research and thoughts at the moment, but thought I would share these images I found of very very early carton graphics. Thomas Angrove patented bag-in-box cask wine in 1965, and the airtight tap was patented two years later (by Penfolds). The images seem to relate to the initial invention. Interestingly, neither Angrove nor Penfolds, while still huge wine brands, seem to have no sense of heritage relating to their fairly important innovations, and don’t give a single mention of them on their websites (which feature nearly exclusively glass bottles).

I was particularly tickled by comparing the bag of wine to ancient man’s use of animal skins to transport their ancient wine : P

So, what ever happened with this project?

I was asking the same. I would love to see where this ended up!!