Aluminum Bottles Energize Nutrition Product Sales

It all began with one product. Vital Pharmaceutical Inc. (“VPX”) wanted a distinctive package to launch its VPX Redline RTD Fat Incinerator, a high-energy liquid supplement. The company chose an 8-oz. recloseable aluminum bottle produced by CCL Container and made Redline the first product of its kind to utilize cold-fill beverage technology in combination with a resealable bottle.

When the package won an AmeriStar Package Award by the Institute of Packaging Professionals at its November awards ceremony in Chicago last year, Vital Pharmaceutical realized that the package could be applied to a number of its other products.

Today, VPX packages its Dietex RTD (“ready to drink”), a craving-control beverage; Muscle Nitrous Pump, a muscle strength and stamina beverage; and Zero Carb and ZeroTein, no-carbohydrate/no-fat protein drinks for men and women—as well as the original Redline energy drink—in the resealable aluminum bottle. At press time, the company was set to launch Black Pearl, a libido-enhancing beverage, in the package.

“The packaging has a custom size and custom look which creates market distinction,” according to VPX Sports Operations Manager Paul Borrelli.

“No one has put an energy drink in this type of can before. All the other ones are a thin-walled tin with a flat graphic. The aluminum gives it a brilliant, dynamic look. The cobalt blue, red, and white colors create an all-American feel resulting in a powerful, attractive package that really hit well with consumers.”

In fact, according to Borrelli, the original Redline release has succeeded beyond that of any other product VPX Sports has ever launched. “We moved from an initial order of 30,000 cans to millions by year’s end. That’s within a seven-month period,” he notes.

The rapid growth, Borrelli says, is the direct result of the distinctive packaging—but not just from the standpoint of marketing impact. The package is also a performance winner.

“Aluminum definitely keeps the product cooler longer,” says Borrelli. “Resealability was also a big factor,” he adds.

Aluminum Bottle a Stand-Out for Diet Aids
The popularity of Trimspa, a diet aid and nutritional supplement, makes it a brand in demand and, as such, ripe for counterfeiting.

“A counterfeiter generally presents its lesser-quality knock-off in similar packaging to confuse consumers, steal attention, and drive purchases in their direction,” says Ed Martin, vice president of sales and marketing for CCL Container. “By making the packaging impossible to replicate, you can maintain product distinction and earned market share.”

CCL’s solution came in the form of a seamless recloseable aluminum container—an on-the-shelf standout. As the only product in the category utilizing aluminum, it immediately differentiates itself from competing brands in the more familiar plastic and glass containers.

To make the package especially difficult to replicate, a portion of the Trimspa logo on the side of the container is debossed. Further foiling imitation brands, intricate lithography includes a monochrome screened photo image.

In addition to providing counterfeit protection, Trimspa’s new packaging had to fulfill several other important requirements—among them that it contain tamper-evidence features, display environmental friendliness, and provide product stability equal or superior to that of plastic packaging.

CCL incorporated tamper-evidence functions by increasing the surface area of the lip of the bottle to accommodate a pressure-sensitive liner that serves as the protective and consumer-preferred seal. An outer band covers the neck and closure of the package, delivering the anticipated “snap” upon first use.

“We decided to use an aluminum bottle in our packaging because aluminum is the most recyclable material,” says Trimspa founder and CEO Alex Goen. “We are very concerned about the environment and felt it was the most natural and responsible thing to use.”

Additionally, the company notes, the packaging provides first-rate protection against such undesirables as moisture and ultraviolet light.

According to Goen, the package is “in perfect alignment with what Trimspa is all about—cutting-edge science and cutting-edge packaging technology. It’s like a perfect marriage. The technology of the aluminum bottle clearly supports the Trimspa brand, message, company values, product uniqueness, and commitment to people and the environment.”

The first in its field to use an aluminum bottle in this fashion, Trimspa was soon joined by the company’s entire product line—Trimspa X32, LipoSpa, and CarbSpa. Trimspa’s sister company, Winfuel Inc., has also adopted the aluminum bottle for Winfuel, a nutritional supplement designed to enhance stamina.

Since Trimspa was launched in the new aluminum packaging last fall, the market’s response has been highly positive.

Says Goen: “People feel great about buying a product that is sensitive to the environment. More important, they appreciate that we worked very hard to protect the quality of our product and designed our package with counterfeit protection in mind.”