Fruit-Juice Maker Chooses Drink-Box for 'Grownups'

When Canadian fruit-juice producer A. Lassonde Inc. recently launched its four flavors of Oasis Health Break juice cocktails, one of the attributes the company wanted to achieve was product differentiation in a crowded product category. The Quebec-based company also knew it needed packaging that would appeal to adults — after all, the not-from-concentrate Oasis Health Break drinks are made from fresh ingredients with minimal processing.

In making its packaging choice, A. Lassonde became the initial user in North America of Tetra Pak's (Chicago) new Prisma aseptic packaging system. Oasis, now the only brand in Canada to offer a line of refrigerated functional juice products in a single-pack size, is packaged in 236-ml eight-sided Prisma cartons.

"We decided to be the first in North America to use the distinctive Tetra Prisma 236-ml packaging made by Tetra Pak," says Ginette Robert, product manager at A. Lassonde. "This new drink-box is eight-sided and has a metallic outer coating that enhances the visual impact of the package and provides an additional barrier against outside humidity."

The package, adds Robert, has the ergonomic features of a cylinder that is as light as paperboard, yet is more rigid than a traditional drink box.

Innovative, Practical
"This new container, which is already very popular in Europe, combines an innovative look with practicality," Robert continues. "The boxes fit easily into lunch bags, backpacks or briefcases, and they optimally preserve the vitamins and qualities of the juices, such as taste and color, for up to eight hours with no refrigeration."

Produced from rollstock, the Prisma package features a construction of paperboard/foil/polyethylene that includes a top layer of metalized oriented polypropylene laminated to the paper substrate. Gravure-printed graphics are protected with a layer of polyethylene.

Pull-tab or Straw
The eight-sided configuration dramatically sets the Prisma apart from conventional rectangular brick-packs, which are targeted toward children. The new packaging offers two ways to drink the juice: by removing a foil pull-tab that covers an opening out of which the consumer can either drink or pour, or through an advanced design telescopic straw.

Four flavors are offered in the new size: Orange Juice with Calcium; Orange, Passion Fruit, Peach Juice and Milk Cocktail; Orange, Carrot, Mango Juice Cocktail; and 10 Vegetable Cocktail. They are available in shrink-wrapped three-packs in the refrigerated section of Quebec supermarkets at $1.99 (US$1.35) per three-pack. They are refrigerated, as opposed to typical brick-packs which are shelf-stable, because of their fresh nature and minimal processing.

For more information: Tetra Pak, Tel: 847-955-6000.

Edited by Bill Noone