The seven plays
Seven CPG brands moved the value from the thing you consume to the thing you hold, and every move was a packaging decision. M&M’S printed eight Practical Magic 2 charm symbols and four new sequel symbols on the candy itself, then gave the Amas Veritas Spell & Snack Pack away with a Fun Size Sharing Bag purchase in two midnight drops on MMS.com, September 3 and September 14. Monster Energy launched Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 cans across Original Green, Zero Sugar and Zero Ultra in 4, 12, 15 and 24 packs, with tab codes that unlock decals, weapon blueprints and operator skins through March 31, 2027, plus Polaris off-road vehicle giveaways exclusive to 7-Eleven, QuikTrip, Hy-Vee and RTG. ChapStick added HydraBalm squeeze tubes in five variants beside its stick and stood a 30-foot inflatable tube on Broadway to launch them. Cinnamon Toast Crunch sold a Chamoy Mega cereal in a resealable pouch exclusively on CinnamonToastCrunch.com while Chamoy Mega shipped a Cinnadust sauce on its Amazon storefront from September 13. Jo Malone London released an Orange & Cedarwood Dog Shampoo with WildWash, four breed illustrations on 285ml bottles, chosen in store and hidden online. Twinings introduced home compostable string and tag teabags in more compact packs with blends, weight and teabag count unchanged. And Touchland sold a $22 Jet Black Crocs Hand Sanitizer Case with gold-tone Jibbitz, a second edition after the first sold out.
The through-line across all seven: the candy carried the license, the tab code carried the repeat purchase, the tube opened a new occasion, the pouch answered the channel, the label became a game, the tag earned its material, and the case turned the product into a refill. Seven categories, one instinct: design the thing in the hand to do a job the wrapper never could. Your move this quarter is to take one product on your roadmap, find the surface, the carrier or the mechanic that’s doing nothing, give it a job, and prove it in a production-matched comp before you commit tooling. Pack Pulse is 3D Color’s weekly read on what shipped and the play to borrow from each launch.
Frequently asked questions
Pack Pulse is 3D Color’s weekly read on the packaging that just shipped, broken down into the specific plays CPG brand and design teams can borrow. Each issue identifies recent launches and the strategic move behind them.
Seven: M&M’S printed Practical Magic 2 charm symbols on the candy itself and gave the Amas Veritas Spell & Snack Pack away with a Fun Size Sharing Bag purchase in two midnight drops on MMS.com; Monster Energy launched Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 cans whose tab codes unlock in-game rewards through March 31, 2027, with Polaris vehicle giveaways exclusive to four retailers; ChapStick added a HydraBalm squeeze tube format alongside its stick and launched it with a 30-foot inflatable on Broadway; Cinnamon Toast Crunch sold a Chamoy Mega cereal in a resealable pouch exclusively on its own site while Chamoy Mega shipped a Cinnadust sauce on Amazon; Jo Malone London released a dog shampoo with four breed labels that online buyers can’t choose; Twinings moved to string and tag teabags in a smaller box while holding blends, weight and count unchanged; and Touchland sold a $22 Crocs hand sanitizer case with Jibbitz charms.
Because the candy is the surface the shopper keeps in hand. A printed wrapper asks people to notice a partnership, while printed candies ask them to look for specific symbols, compare them and share them, which turns a licensed pack into a reason to open the bag slowly and post it. Running it as a gift with purchase on the brand’s own site in two dated drops removes the price comparison and needs no retailer reset.
Monster attached a seven-month redemption window to a single artwork cycle, and the reward ladder only pays out its top tiers after five codes. That converts a can people notice once into a can they need again, on a container that costs the same to print either way. Offering the ladder across 4, 12, 15 and 24 packs makes it reachable from any basket size.
Before the first format is losing. ChapStick, a brand named after its stick, added a squeeze tube while the stick is still winning, so the tube reads as a new occasion rather than a replacement. Launching an addition asks loyal buyers for nothing; launching a replacement asks them to give up muscle memory.
A grocery carton exists to face forward, hold its shape in a planogram and stack. A direct-to-consumer sale removes those jobs and adds new ones: survive a parcel network, arrive uncrushed and live in a pantry where a resealable closure matters more than a printed front panel. Cinnamon Toast Crunch chose a pouch for its site-exclusive cereal for exactly those conditions.
A production-matched comp is the standard tool. It replicates how the finished pack will read at shelf, in-hand, and in launch photography before any tooling, printing, or retailer commitment is made. The comp is the lowest-risk place in the system to find out whether a move lands.
Bob Jennings is CEO of 3D Color, which produces production-matched packaging comps, prototypes, and sales samples for more than 250 CPG brands. Pack Pulse is 3D Color’s weekly read on the packaging that just shipped. Reach Bob at bob.jennings@3dcolor.com to pressure-test a packaging move before it prints.