PACKAGE DISPLAYING A HOLISTIC MESSAGE
A package for storing and/or displaying products. The array has at least a first package. The first package has an inner side and on outer side. The outer side has a top portion and a bottom portion. The top portion has a foliage. The foliage has a foliage area. The bottom portion has a first fruit and a second fruit. The second fruit is stacked upon a first fruit.
The present invention relates to a package displaying a holistic message.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONConsumer and other products are displayed and advertised in many different ways. Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to maximize consumer awareness of such products in order to increase sales of the products. One way to increase consumer awareness is to advertise the product. This can, and has, been done by many different means, including, but not limited to television, radio, print and other mass media, coupons, in-store advertising, direct mailing and e-mailing, catalogs and web site links and advertisements.
In other instances, the products may be placed in stores or shown on websites in ways to increase the likelihood that a consumer will see the product and purchase it. For example, retailers may place a particular product in a particular location of the store (e.g. the end of the aisle or along the check-out line) in an attempt to increase the product's visibility to the consumer.
Yet another way to entice consumers to purchase and try a particular product may be to provide the product with unique packaging. Such packaging may be unique in terms of its shape, functionality, appearance or any other aspect that may attract a potential buyer of the product. One proven method to gain and sustain product sales is to use unique identifiers on the product packaging. Given the health awareness of the consumer, it is desirable to provide packaging that is eye-catching to the consumer, and communicates a holistic message that the product inside is natural.
However, despite the numerous and continuing attempts to make consumers aware of products and to maintain and/or increase sales of such products, there still exists a need to provide packaging which is unique and increases the likelihood for consumer awareness.
There also exists a need to provide an improved method for arranging a number of the same products or an array of similar products on a shelf or other storage device.
There also exists a need to provide an improved method for advertising a product or array of products on a website.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA package for storing and/or displaying products. The package has an inner and an outer side. The outer side has a top portion and a bottom portion. The top portion has a foliage. The foliage has a foliage area. The bottom portion has a first fruit and a second fruit. The second fruit is stacked upon a first fruit.
As noted above, the present invention is directed to improved packages, arrays of packages and methods for advertising products. The following terms used herein have the following meanings.
“Array of packages”, as used herein, refers to an arrangement of at least two packages.
“Brand logo”, as used herein, refers to indicia associated with a particular product or product line. The brand logo may include any combination of words, symbols, pictures or other graphic or textual elements.
“Brand name”, as used herein, refers to a name for a product or product line. Generally, such brand names are trade names or trademarks, but can also include generic or descriptive language.
“Consumer”, as used herein, refers to any person that purchases, makes a decision to purchase a product or is contemplating making a purchase of a product. Typically, the Consumer will be the end user of the product, but the definition of consumer, as used herein is not so limited.
“Display face,” as used herein refers to portion of the outer package which is intended to be displayed to a consumer when the package is displayed for sale.
“Equity building advertising”, as used herein, refers to a message about one or more of the benefits of a product. The equity building advertising can include letters, text, words, graphics, symbols, pictures or any other indicia related to the benefits of a product.
“Foliage,” as used herein, refers to the leaves of a plant.
“Fruit,” as used herein, refers to any product of plant growth useful to humans or animals
“Product information”, as used herein, refers to information about one or more qualities of a product. The product information can include letters, text, words, graphics, symbols, pictures or any other indicia related to the benefits of a product.
“Package”, as used herein, refers to any covering material or wrapper in which at least a portion of a product is placed for shipping, storage and/or sale.
“Product”, as used herein, refers to any object, material or substance that is intended for use by a consumer.
“SKU”, as used herein is a stock keeping unit. Stock keeping units are used to uniquely identify particular products. Generally, each product sold by a retailer will have a separate and unique SKU. Thus, all different sizes, forms, package counts, etc. will typically have a unique SKU. Often the SKU is provided as a series of numbers and/or a bar code and is often associated with the UPC of a product.
“Stack”, as used herein, is meant an orderly pile. For example, the fruit may be stacked vertically, horizontally, or at any angle.
“UPC”, as used herein refers to a universal product code. UPCs are codes intended to help identify the manufacturer of a product. Accordingly, each manufacturer has a unique UPC. Often, UPCs are on packages in the form of a series of numbers and/or a bar code.
“Vegetables”, as used herein, refers to any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower parts are used as food, as the tomato, bean, beet, potato, onion, asparagus, spinach, or cauliflower.
II. PackageAs noted above, the present invention includes an improved package for products. As with most packages, the package of the present invention provides a means for storing, shipping, protecting, containing and/or displaying the product or products that are disposed within or partially within the package. Packages are also used to identify the product(s) therein and provide the consumer with general information about the product.
The package 10 shown in
The package 10 of the present invention may be made of any suitable material and may be of any shape or size. Although it is desirable in certain instances that the package 10 has at least one generally planar face, typically the display face 12, such should not be considered a requirement of the present invention. Further, there is no requirement that the package 10 have any particular number of sides. In fact, the package 10 may be cylindrical, conical, spherical or any other geometric shape or combination of shapes.
A. Display Face
In certain embodiments, as shown for example, in
The display face 12 can be any length and height. In some instances, it may be desirable for the package 10 to have a display face 12 that is at least about 10 cm in length and a height of at least about 10 cm. In alternative embodiments, it may be desirable that the package 10 has a display face 12 of at least about 20 cm, at least about 30 cm, at least about 40 cm or at least about 50 cm in length. Likewise, it may be desirable that the package 10 has a display face 12 of at least about 20 cm, at least about 30 cm, at least about 40 cm or at least about 50 cm in length. Any combination of the above noted dimensions or any other dimensions may be used in the package 10 of the present invention. However, one advantage of the package 10 of the present invention is that it provides a medium for placing at least the holistic message, and thus, larger display faces 12 can provide the package 10 with a billboard-like effect for displaying the holistic message. This is especially impactful when the package(s) 10 are displayed in an array of packages or along side or surrounded by other packages.
Referring to
i. Top Portion of the Display Face
a.). Foliage Area
The top portion 14 of the display face 12 has foliage 11. The foliage 11 has a foliage area 44. The foliage area 44 is the entire area of the display face 12 that is covered by foliage 11 encompassed by the line indicated by the number 44. In one example, the foliage area 44 may be at least about 20% of the area of the display face surface area 42. In other embodiments, the foliage area 44 may be at least about 40%, at least about 50%, at least about 60%, at least about 70%, at least about 75%, at least about 85% or any percentage greater than about 50% of the display face surface area 42.
b.) Cap
The top portion 14 may also contain a cap 68 where the product is poured out of the package 10. The cap may be any color. For example, the cap 68 may be green, red, blue, yellow, or any combination of each. In one embodiment, the cap 68 is green to match the color of the foliage 16 which reinforces the holistic message of the package 10. The cap 68 may be any shape. In one embodiment, the cap 68 is the shape of the one of the leaves of the foliage 16 so that the cap 68 reinforces the holistic nature of the package 10.
There are various systems of defining color and intensity. Two common color systems are the HSB system and the L,a,b system. In Adobe Photoshop 5.0, the color charts define a specific color by using three characters of HSB. For example, in the HSB color system a color H can be defined along the circumference of a cone from 0 to 360, S refers to saturation which is the distance from 0 to 100 from the center of the cone, and B which is the black-white scale ranges from 0 to 100. In the L,a,b system, L refers to the white-black axis and the corresponding color identified in the L,a,b color solid is defined along three orthogonal axes.
For example,
There are an unlimited number of colors available and the various intensities of what appears to be the same color that can be made by varying H, S, and B. For example, in the HSB system, if H is constant about 240 and B is constant at about 100, while S is changed from about 100 to about 60 the color remains a distinct blue, but changes in the depth or intensity of color. Similarly, if H is constant about 250 and S is about 100 and B is about 100 the color which is a color that is definitely blue, but as B changes from about 100 to about 80 the color changes so it is a darker and more gray blue which causes a darker intensity. In another example, if S and B are about 100 a distinct range of dark to light blue occurs as the H changes from about 190 to about 260. One of skill in the art would readily appreciate that a similar set of examples can be made for several other colors by simply going to Photoshop and going to the “color picking” or double clicking on the background-foreground color area of the tools.
ii. Bottom Portion of the Display Face
The bottom portion 16 of the display face 12 has a first fruit 18 and a second fruit 20. The second fruit 20 is stacked upon a first fruit 18. In another embodiment, the first fruit 18 is adjacent to the third fruit 34 and the second fruit 20 is stacked on the first fruit 18 and third fruit 34. In this embodiment, only a portion of the second fruit 20 is shown. The portion of the second fruit 20 can be anywhere from about 90% or less of the whole portion of the second fruit 20. The portion of the fruit can be sliced any way. The fruit can be sliced into halves, quarters, or three-quarters.
Referring to
B. Other Items on the Display Face
i. Brand Logo/Brand Name
As shown in
ii. Equity Building Advertising
Equity building advertising 36 and/or product information 38 may be included anywhere on the display face 12. In addition, the particular package 10 shown in
C. Package Panels
The package 10 of the present invention may include more than one panel or face that has the foliage area 44; brand name/brand logo 30, 32; first fruit 18 stacked on top of the third fruit 34, as described above. In fact, it may be desirable in certain situations to provide the package 10 with more than one panel or face having generally the same look and indicia as the display face 12. For example, on a package like the one shown in
Further, all of the other characteristics and embodiments of the package 10, 90 and the array of packages 54, 94 described in the sections labeled “Array of Packages” and “Method of Displaying an Array of Packages” are applicable to the package 10, 90 described in this section and the disclosure in those sections of the specification should be considered equally applicable to this section and as if it were repeated in detail in this section.
II. Array of PackagesThe present invention also includes an array of packages for storing and/or displaying products. One advantage of the array of packages of the present invention is that it provides a way to uniquely display the packages in a way that may help increase the visibility of the packages on display. The array of the present invention may also provide an improved means for attracting the attention of a potential consumer.
As noted above, an array of packages, as used herein, refers to an arrangement of two or more packages. The array can include packages that are all the same in terms of size, shape, the product within the package, the package SKU, the package UPC or any other feature of the package, or may include packages of different sizes, shapes, products within the package, the package SKU or any other feature of the package. In one embodiment, the array does not include packages that are all the same in terms of size, shape, the product within the package, the package SKU, the package UPC or any other feature of the package. The array of packages 54 can also have different materials for packaging, printing on the package, price, indicia on the product or package, usage instructions or other differences. Accordingly, typically, such different packages would have different SKU numbers and/or different UPCs.
The array of packages 54 may include packages of different sizes. The different sized packages may include products of different sizes or different numbers of products in each package. For example, if the products are soft drinks, the packages may all include a single brand or line-up of soft drink, but may include different sizes, price, indicia on the product or package, usage instructions or other differences. Generally, such different packages will have different SKU numbers and/or different UPCs.
The packages may be arranged in a free-standing condition (i.e., standing and/or stacked on the ground or floor without any display structure holding them) or may be displayed on a structure such as a shelf, pallet, hanger, in a cabinet, or any other structure designed to or used for storing and/or displaying the packages for sale. The array of packages 54 can be located such that they are distant or removed from other products and/or packages or may be located next to or intermingled with other products or packages of the same or different manufacturer.
In the array of packages 54 shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
In another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
The array of packages 54 of the present invention may be provided as a display of packages separate from other packages not in the array or may be located within a display containing packages other than those in the array of packages 76 of the present invention. In one embodiment, the array of packages 76 of the present invention is located on a display, shelves 62, with other packages that are not part of the array 54. In the particular embodiment shown, the packages that are not part of the array of packages 54 of the present invention include packages having a different brand name/brand logo 30, 32 than the brand name/brand logo 30, 32 of the packages 10, 56, 58, and 60 or 70, 72, and 74 of the array of the packages 54, 76 of the present invention. In the particular shelf setup, the packages of the array 54, 76 represent packages of product that are similar in nature to the packages 10, 56, 58, and 60 or 70, 72, and 74 of the array of packages 54, 76 of the present invention. Thus, for example, the packages could be another manufacturer's brand of orange juice if the array of packages 54, 76 included packages for orange juice. Alternatively, the package could include any number of different products, including products of the same general nature, i.e. beverage products but not orange juice, or could be completely different products from the products in the packages 10, 56, 58, and 60 of the array of packages 54 shown. Further, unlike this embodiment, the packages that are not part of the array of packages 54 of the present invention could be any number of different brands and should not be construed to limit the particular arrangement of the array of packages 54 of the present invention or the surrounding packages. Rather, the figure is just one exemplary embodiment used to help illustrate the impact of the creating a display presence.
Further, all of the other characteristics and embodiments of the package 10, 90 and the array of packages 54, 94 described in the sections labeled “Package” and “Method of Displaying an Array of Packages” are applicable to the package 10, 90 described in this section and the disclosure in those sections of the specification should be considered equally applicable to this section and as if it were repeated in detail in this section.
III. Method of Displaying an Array of PackagesThe present invention also includes a method of displaying an array of packages including one or more products therein. In particular, the method includes displaying an array of packages in a retail or wholesale setting. The method includes providing an array of packages including at least one package having a display face 12 including foliage 16, a first fruit 18, a second fruit 20 which is stacked upon the first fruit 18. In one embodiment, there may be a third fruit 34 which is adjacent to the first fruit 18, wherein the display face is intended to be displayed to the consumer when the package is displayed for sale.
In one embodiment, as shown in
In another embodiment, as shown in
The method of the present invention may also includes locating at least one first package 10 close enough to at least one second package 56 such that both the first package 10 and the second package 56 can both be seen by the consumer at the same time. In certain embodiments, it may be desirable that at least one first package 10 is located adjacent at least one second package 56, as is shown in
Further, all of the other characteristics and embodiments of the package 10 and the array of packages 54 described above in the sections labeled “Package” and “Array of Packages” are applicable to the methods of displaying the array of packages described in this section and the disclosure in those sections of the specification should be considered equally applicable to this section and as if it were repeated in detail in this section.
IV. InternetThe capabilities of the present invention can be implemented in software, firmware, hardware or some combination thereof.
As one example, one or more aspects of the present invention can be included in an article of manufacture (e.g., one or more computer program products) having, for instance, computer usable media. The media has embodied therein, for instance, computer readable program code means for providing and facilitating the capabilities of the present invention. The article of manufacture can be included as a part of a computer system or sold separately.
Additionally, at least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the capabilities of the present invention can be provided.
All documents cited in the Detailed Description of the Invention are, in relevant part, incorporated herein by reference; the citation of any document is not to be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention. To the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this written document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to the term in this written document shall govern.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
Claims
1. A package for storing and/or displaying products, the package comprises:
- i. an outer side having a top portion and a bottom portion; a.) said top portion has a foliage, said foliage has a foliage area, b.) said bottom portion has a first fruit and a second fruit wherein said second fruit is stacked upon a first fruit, and
- ii. an inner side.
2. A package of claim 1 wherein said first fruit is selected from a group comprising orange, apricot, guava, mango, banana, apple, strawberry, raspberry, peach, and grape.
3. A package of claim 1 wherein said second fruit is selected from a group comprising orange, apricot, guava, mango, banana, apple, strawberry, raspberry, peach, and grape.
4. A package of claim 1 wherein said outer side has a display face has said top portion and said bottom portion.
5. A package of claim 4 wherein said top portion is less than about 50% of the display face and said bottom portion is less than about 50% of the display face.
6. A package of claim 1 wherein said top portion has a cap.
7. A package of claim 1 wherein said cap is selected from a group comprising red, blue, green, yellow, orange, white, black.
8. A package for storing and/or displaying products, the package comprises:
- I. an outer side having a.) an outer side area; b.) a top portion and c.) a bottom portion; a. said top portion has a foliage, said foliage has a foliage area wherein said foliage covers more than 25% of the outer side area and b. said bottom portion has a first fruit and a second fruit wherein said second fruit is stacked upon a first fruit, and
- II. an inner side.
9. A package for storing and/or displaying products, the package comprises:
- I. an outer side having a.) an outer side area; b.) a top portion and c.) a bottom portion; a. said top portion has a foliage, said foliage has a foliage area wherein said foliage covers more than 25% of the outer side area and b. said bottom portion has a first fruit, a second fruit, a third fruit wherein said third fruit is cut open wherein said first fruit adjacent to said second fruit and said third fruit is stacked upon said first fruit and said second fruit.
- II. an inner side.
Type: Application
Filed: May 19, 2010
Publication Date: Nov 25, 2010
Applicant: The Coca-Cola Plaza NW (Atlanta, GA)
Inventors: David R. Butler (Decatur, GA), Tom F. Farrell (New York, NY)
Application Number: 12/783,273
International Classification: B65D 85/00 (20060101);