With their strong social media appeal and unmistakeable shelf-presence, BuzzBallz have quickly become one of the most recognisable brands in the pre-mixed cocktail category. At the same time, their multi-material packaging makes them unrecyclable – an issue that has caused significant controversy over the past few days. In this article Dr. Paul Collins, founder of Packability Consulting, offers a different perspective.
There’s a great episode of Friends where Rachel makes half an English trifle and half a shepherd’s pie in the same dish, but it doesn’t prevent Joey from eating it and having an opinion that the individual constituent elements are “good”.
From the sheer number of articles I have read this week, it would appear the same can’t be said about BuzzBallz packaging. Aluminium, good. PET, good. Evidently though, no-one wants to eat this multi-ingredient combo of a dessert, and rightly so.
However, I worry that what we are overlooking is this. BuzzBallz was conceived in the late 2000’s. From what I can gather, and I could be wrong, the packaging format and material combinations we see today were conceived back then too.
If that was indeed the case, I can say with a high degree of confidence that not one person in the ideation session raised their hand to flag MRF conveyor belt compatibility and detailed alignment with PPWR legislation that would be crafted 15 years in the future. Impressively, what the brand has achieved is one of the most difficult things a brand can do. That is a lift-and- shift into multiple markets.
One thing is for sure, when I walked into the local off license to buy a couple of samples today, I could see them in the fridge from the front door. Stacked three-high, they disrupt the RTD shelf which is a sea of aluminium cans, and I couldn’t help but discreetly applaud their marketing team.
The same pack, the same identity, the same playful disruptive cues have made it all the way from Texas to a supermarket near you. Although it has successfully crossed the Atlantic, it has maintained its confidence, clarity and a refusal to dilute what makes the product distinctive. As someone who has worked on multiple packaging innovations with product developers in Texas, I know how unbelievably difficult this is to achieve.
The challenge we face today as a packaging value chain is that we have handed the microphone (literally) to the hugely knowledgeable SME’s who have career-long experience in what I’ll call the final third of a packaging format’s life cycle. There may be a few exceptions, but for the most part, not many of them have nursed a reframe or breakthrough packaging innovation that’s on life support through a technical stage gate process.
A process fraught with risk where supply chain and operations tend to be the loudest voices – and they might not even be in the room. This needs to change. The middle third needs to speak up. It doesn’t appear to have a microphone. Even if it had, it would be too busy running development trials to switch it on.
In the early part of my career as the head of R&D for a closures start-up, I ran way too many line trials at a filler in the wee small hours, covered from head to toe in peach slices and syrup, all whilst swatting away well-fed flies the size of bats. It was character-building but it instilled the understanding that what happens in the operation’s environment, usually at the filler and the sealer, often makes or breaks the success of a launch.
The investment for even minor modifications to a filler or re-tooling multiple mould cavities often prohibits what can and can’t be done. That’s why the voices crying out for a switch to an all-aluminium or all plastic alternative for BuzzBallz need to just pause for a second. In the words of a former CEO I worked for, sustainability has to be financially sustainable.
I worry that this collective pile-on we are seeing from industry leading lights and even the media could dampen the brand’s appetite for the next natural progression which is that of a lift-and-adapt model. This is where the real magic happens and should be viewed collectively not as a criticism, but as a massive opportunity.
In packaging terms, I can think of at least half a dozen iterations yet all of them require a combination of a flexible film qualification, tooling mods to preform and ISBM moulds as well as a new sealing technology. None of this happens overnight.
The clever piece of brand theatre that has served BuzzBallz well becomes a liability in a highly regulatory environment that demands mono-material simplicity, proven sorting performance and recyclability claims that stand up to scrutiny.
PPWR isn’t asking BuzzBallz to abandon its identity, merely rethink the vessel that carries it. As a community of packaging innovators, collection, sorting and recycling experts, we should help them design the boat. Especially those of us in the middle third.
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