There was no way that the shelf life requirements could be met in a square box as it can fit the lid and the bottom only as a snap fit , whereas a round box can be a screw on mechanism and thus give much better moisture barriers.
The visual facts of the brief became super dominant as the marketing strategy hinged upon it. The round pack structure had feminine connotations, the product being targeted at adult Males. The light and thin was critical as the product quantity was low, needed be carried in the pocket and consumed 'On the go'. The not too valuable feel was important so that the consumers do not attribute the packaging waste as costs and consume frequently without the psychological barrier of perhaps too premium and possibly out of reach.
The net out come was perhaps predictable, the Structure fitted the desired brief but the shelf life studies failed at the required levels.
This is extremely important to realize that the shelf life often is a clear derivative of the shape of the packaging structure and hence to get the desired results on both the quadrants of Physical appeal and Product stability, it may be required that certain compromises are made at both the ends. Yes, the brief needs to be modified and reworked!
If the box necessarily has to be square, can it be with thicker walls and a Tagger foil seal be provided inside. If all this is not possible, can shape be round and the feminine connotations be handled through the other elements of the marketing mix. If that is not agreeable, can an optimum shelf life be agreed upon. Lets start questioning , why the required shelf is 6 months before opening and 6 days after opening. Perhaps the Marketing strategy was incorrect , maybe the calculations on the segment volume projections were incorrect. Maybe such a segment never existed and the Marketing research had a fine print which nobody read.
Often the Packaging team has to contend with a whole lot of issues, which are perhaps not visible at the time of the Brief , which are deep seated in a marketing error and extremely difficult to digest.
The issue did not end here. The brief was indeed modified and the box was made into a round shape, the fit was right and perfect. The shelf life studies failed, the assumption that the shape will solve the problem was perhaps incorrect. The detailed study proved that the fault was with the product, which was not tuned to the required weather conditions and consequently did not give the required results no matter what was done to the shape.
Lets remember the Packaging shape and the product shelf life very often meet at a point and only at that one. The difficulty lies in realizing this early in the day and accepting where the error is. Who wants to accept the error, we are all at zero defect !
