Sour Patch Kids, Marc Jacobs, King's Hawaiian: Seven quick hits from the brands rewriting the format playbook.
Seven quick hits CPG leaders can swipe:
- Sour Patch Kids shipped Chews, individually wrapped and sour on the inside, in a four-size pack ladder that runs from a $1.25 peg bag to a $5.09 standup pouch.
- Marc Jacobs Beauty made its return with packaging Marc designed himself, coding complexion, eyes, and lips into a daisy, a star, and a heart so the range navigates by shape.
- King’s Hawaiian dropped Shake ‘Em Banana Bites with Illumination’s Minions, a tub plus a sugar sachet you shake to coat, so the package becomes a three-step ritual.
- ParmCrisps rolled out a packaging redesign plus single-serve and multi-packs, repositioning a cheese crisp squarely inside the protein-snacking set.
- Boston Beer launched Lytt Electric Coolers in a patent-pending lightbulb-shaped bottle that glows in the dark, betting on an ownable silhouette over another label.
- Athletic Brewing wrapped Run Wild in red, white, and blue cans for America’s 250th and added Fruited Fields, a non-alcoholic radler, in its largest summer push yet.
- Arkay launched a 200 ml mocktail in a recyclable Tetra Pak, a lightweight grab-and-go carton engineered for the channels glass can’t reach.
Sour Patch Kids Chews: Wrap each piece. Then ladder the pack sizes.
The Story: On May 19, Sour Patch Kids shipped Chews, a soft, individually wrapped candy that inverts the classic build with the sour sanding on the inside. It launched at national retailers in four formats at once: a 1.9 oz king size at $2.49, a 2.1 oz peg bag at $1.25, a 5.1 oz large peg bag at $3.29, and an 8.1 oz standup pouch at $5.09, backed by a gaming-streamer “Mischief Mode” push running through June.
Why It Works: Individually wrapped solves the real friction in gummy candy, the sticky-hands problem that keeps the format off a desk or a controller. Then the four-tier pack ladder does the distribution work. One new product covers the impulse checkout, the share moment, and the pantry stock-up without three separate launches. The pricing architecture, from a $1.25 try-me bag to a $5.09 household size, lets a single SKU meet shoppers at every trip type.
What to Borrow: Don’t launch a format into one bag. Build a pack ladder so the same innovation earns impulse, share, and pantry placement on day one.
PR Newswire: New Sour Patch Kids Chews are here to challenge the candy status quo
Marc Jacobs Beauty: Give each category a charm.
The Story: On May 20, Marc Jacobs Beauty announced its return with a full line whose packaging Marc designed himself. The packs carry the brand’s signature charm motifs, a daisy for complexion, a star for eyes, and a heart for lips, rendered in exaggerated metallic and soft-touch silhouettes. The collection is priced from $26 to $42 and launches May 28 on MarcJacobs.com and June 1 on Sephora.com.
Why It Works: A charm-coded pack does two jobs a label can’t. First, it navigates: a shopper reads daisy, star, or heart and knows the category before they read a word, which speeds the shelf and the search bar alike. Second, it collects. When the silhouette is a playful object rather than a tube, the empty gets kept and displayed, and a kept pack is free brand media on a vanity and in a video. Tying the system to one designer’s hand also gives the whole range a coherence that a brand relaunch usually has to claim with copy.
What to Borrow: Turn your category cues into a proprietary shape system. When the pack tells the shopper what it’s for by silhouette, the range navigates itself and the empties earn a second life.
PR Newswire: Beauty’s most anticipated comeback: Introducing Marc Jacobs Beauty
King’s Hawaiian Shake ‘Em: Build the gesture into the pack.
The Story: On May 20, King’s Hawaiian launched Shake ‘Em Banana Bites with Illumination’s Minions & Monsters at Kroger, Albertsons, and Publix. The pack is a tub of soft bread bites plus a banana-flavored sugar sachet, and the eating ritual is a three-step sprinkle, shake to coat, and serve, with the option to air-fry. The film reaches theaters July 1, and the partners are running a co-branded NASCAR car at Pocono in June.
Why It Works: Most snack packs are passive containers. This one is an instruction set. Putting a shake-to-coat step inside the tub turns eating into an activity the consumer controls, and a controllable activity is exactly the kind of thing that gets filmed and posted. The Minions tie-in supplies the reach, but the interaction is what makes the pack itself the content engine. Flavor intensity becomes a choice the shopper makes, which deepens engagement past the first bite.
What to Borrow: Design a verb into the package. A finish-it-yourself mechanic converts a snack into a shareable moment, and the moment travels further than the label.
PR Newswire: King’s Hawaiian announces partnership and new limited-edition Shake ‘Em Banana Bites
ParmCrisps: Put protein on the front. Let formats follow.
The Story: As part of Our Home’s Sweets & Snacks slate on May 19, ParmCrisps debuted a packaging redesign alongside new single-serve and multi-pack formats, repositioning the cheese crisp inside the protein-snacking conversation. The move sits within a broader portfolio refresh that added party sizes and ready-to-eat multi-packs across Popchips, Good Health, and Pop Secret.
Why It Works: A cheese crisp has the nutrition to compete on protein, but the old pack sold it as a crunchy novelty. Redesigning the front panel to lead with the benefit re-files the product into a higher-intent set, where shoppers are reading for grams, not flavor. Adding single-serve and multi-pack formats lets the same product chase the lunchbox, the desk drawer, and the pantry, each a different occasion with a different pack. The redesign and the format expansion are one move, not two.
What to Borrow: When the benefit shifts, the front panel has to shift with it. Lead with the claim shoppers are scanning for, then add the formats that match each occasion.
PR Newswire: Our Home delivers “A Snack for Everyone” at Sweets & Snacks 2026
Boston Beer Lytt: Own the silhouette. Skip the label fight.
The Story: Boston Beer launched Lytt Electric Coolers, a single-serve ready-to-drink line packaged in a patent-pending, lightbulb-shaped container that glows in the dark. The range covers six cocktail-inspired styles at 15% ABV and is rolling out across Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, and Washington.
Why It Works: In a cooler crowded with near-identical cans, a proprietary silhouette is the cheapest distinctive asset a brand can own. A shape that’s patentable can’t be copied, and a shape that glows pulls a second look in a dim bar or a late-night fridge. The structure is doing the differentiation that printed graphics usually have to fight for, which frees the label to communicate rather than shout. It also reads instantly in social photos, where the container, not the logo, is the hero.
What to Borrow: A distinctive, defensible pack shape outworks another printed label. If you can own a silhouette, own it, then let the structure carry the brand.
Beverage Daily: The most creative beverage packaging innovations
Athletic Brewing: Rent the calendar with a wrap, not a new brand.
The Story: On May 20, Athletic Brewing wrapped its flagship Run Wild IPA 12-oz cans and 12-packs in red, white, and blue for a limited run tied to America’s 250th anniversary, and launched Fruited Fields, a non-alcoholic radler, alongside its largest summer campaign to date. The patriotic packaging is positioned for backyards, beaches, and the Fourth of July.
Why It Works: A seasonal skin on the hero SKU buys all the visibility of a launch with none of the equity risk. The base brand keeps its recognition while the wrap signals the occasion, so shoppers reach for a familiar product dressed for the moment. Because it’s the same liquid in a limited livery, the cost to ship is low and the play is repeatable every season. It also gives retailers a reason to feature the SKU on a seasonal endcap.
What to Borrow: Rent the moment with a limited wrap on your best seller. A seasonal livery turns a holiday into a shelf reset you can run again next year.
PR Newswire: Athletic Brewing launches largest-ever summer campaign
Arkay: Shrink the format to reach the channel.
The Story: On May 22, Arkay launched a 200 ml mocktail Tetra Pak collection, an alcohol-free grab-and-go carton built to be lightweight, recyclable, and space-saving. The format is aimed at convenience stores, hotels, airlines, and events, channels where a glass bottle is a non-starter.
Why It Works: Format is distribution. A 200 ml recyclable carton fits a hotel minibar, a seat-back cart, and a checkout cooler in ways a glass bottle never will, which means the package itself opens doors the liquid couldn’t. Right-sizing also lowers shipping weight and breakage, two costs that quietly decide whether a small brand can scale into travel and events. The recyclable single-serve carton lets a non-alcoholic brand show up where the occasion is, not just where the category usually sits.
What to Borrow: Match the format to the channel you actually want. A recyclable, right-sized carton can reach shelves and carts that your default pack is locked out of.
GlobeNewswire: Arkay launches new 200 ml mocktail Tetra Pak collection
The 12-month packaging brief just expired.
Sour Patch Kids wrapped every piece and laddered one launch into four pack sizes. Marc Jacobs Beauty coded complexion, eyes, and lips into a charm system you can read by shape. King’s Hawaiian built the shake into the tub and made the package the activity. ParmCrisps put protein on the front and let new formats follow the occasion. Boston Beer patented a glowing silhouette and stopped leaning on the label. Athletic Brewing rented the calendar with a red, white, and blue wrap. Arkay shrank the format into a recyclable carton built for the next channel.
Seven brands. Seven plays. One signal: the calendar is now the shelf, the empty pack is now the store visit, and your 2024 packaging plan is what’s sitting on the conference room table while these brands ship.
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