The seven plays
This week, seven CPG brands shipped a packaging move instead of a new product. Poppi wrapped three flavors in collectible Spider-Man four-packs with a Fandango reward that only pays out at volume. Dove scooped dessert-counter color codes onto the body-care shelf in a Target-exclusive Ice Cream Parlor line. Hershey put all 151 original Pokemon on Kisses foils with a digital collection tracker. Just Shrimp reshaped an intimidating protein into the freezer’s most trusted format, the nugget. Ghirardelli redesigned a candy-aisle classic while protecting the silhouette shoppers scan for. Perfect Bar sized one Oaties pack for kids and adults at once. OUAI repackaged its hero Wave Spray and let two new scents extend the line.
One signal runs through all seven: the shelf moved because brands borrowed a format, a moment, or a code from an adjacent category rather than launching a new product. Borrowing an adjacent cue lowers risk and speeds time to shelf, and it turns the package itself into the campaign. When the package carries the idea, the shelf becomes the fastest media a brand owns.
What is Pack Pulse?
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.
What packaging moves shipped the week of July 13, 2026?
Seven: Poppi’s Spider-Man collectible four-packs with a Fandango volume-based movie reward, Dove’s Target-exclusive Ice Cream Parlor body-care collection with food-style color-matched caps, Hershey’s Pokemon collectible Kisses foils featuring all 151 original characters with rare Team Rocket variants, Just Shrimp’s Shrimp Nuggets debut in frozen seafood at Harris Teeter, Ghirardelli’s redesigned Premium Milk Chocolate bars with bolder color-blocking, Perfect Bar’s Oaties four-count boxes sized for both kids and adults, and OUAI’s refreshed Wave Spray with two new scent extensions.
What is the “adjacent category borrowing” strategy in CPG packaging?
Adjacent category borrowing means applying a format, navigational system, or cultural mechanic that shoppers already trust from a different category to your own pack. Dove borrowed food-aisle color coding for body care. Just Shrimp borrowed the freezer’s most trusted format, the nugget, for seafood. The borrowed element lowers the shopper’s barrier to trial because it reads as familiar before the product earns that familiarity on its own terms.
Why does a collectible packaging mechanic drive repeat purchase?
A numbered collectible series with built-in rarity converts a single impulse buy into a behavioral goal. Hershey’s Pokemon foil series works because the shopper isn’t just buying chocolate. They’re tracking progress toward a complete set. Each purchase has a new reason, and the social mechanic, trading, revealing, and sharing, generates earned reach without additional media spend.
How can CPG teams pressure-test a packaging move before it prints?
A production-matched comp is the standard tool. It replicates how the finished pack will read at shelf, in-hand, and in photography before any tooling, printing, or retailer commitment is made. The comp is the lowest-risk place in the system to find out a move doesn’t work.
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.