How we've supported Britvic to develop their packaging
The client
Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd is a leading soft drinks company with operations in Great Britain, Ireland, France and Brazil. They have a large portfolio of leading brands such as Robinsons, Fruit Shoot, J20 and Drench. They also produce and sell several PepsiCo soft drinks, under exclusive agreements with PepsiCo.
The problem
A consumer survey run by Which, looking at attitudes to packaging and 'Wrap Rage', highlighted that 1 in 5 consumers struggle to open product packaging and as a result, this impacts their likelihood to repurchase. The most common packaging issues were child resistant packaging, shrink wraps, twist off closures, tins and plastic drink bottles.
Britvic identified a consumer knowledge gap between children and young adult user capability versus current packaging functionality. They also discovered users sometimes lack the capability to assess newly developed packaging from both a cognitive and physical functionality perspective.
As packaging plays a vital role in purchasing decisions and is one of the key drivers that can generate brand growth, it was essential for Britvic to innovate and create an inclusive packaging solution.
The project
A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) was formed between Britvic and Sheffield Hallam to help overcome the issues with their current packaging. Working with a KTP Associate, early experiments were conducted on people’s capabilities and understanding of beverage opening. The experiments included video recordings of the opening process by an adult and a child, as well as further hand movement analysis. As a result, the experiments gave Britvic a better understanding of whether people can provide reliable and repeatable feedback on packaging opening.
The results
The project has enabled Britvic to address a knowledge gap to help overcome a wider beverage industry challenge. It has provided them and their employees with a wider understanding of the packaging challenges consumers face and the importance of inclusive design. Without the partnership, progress would have been slower as the skills and expertise in consumer packaging and ergonomics did not exist internally.
Through the KTP, Sheffield Hallam supported Britvic to:
- Create staff handbooks, instructions and documents that embedded the knowledge acquired from the experiments to upskill Britvic’s workforce.
- Understand the importance of social sustainability and inclusive design through lectures delivered by the KTP Associate.
Britvic now has a user panel that is screened and trained in packaging assessment which includes training of different packaging assessment vocabulary, scoring criteria as well as different types of packaging. Their R&D Insights and Packaging Developers have also implemented new protocols and methodologies to optimise their designs.
They say
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are a great way to generate new knowledge and capabilities within the business but also to gain new, fresh and different perspectives that help businesses learn and move forward.
Halak Parikh, Head of R&D Insights and Sensory Science Britvic Soft Drinks Plc
