Don’t Take Away a Package Customers Love
In most grocery stores, the shelves containing breakfast syrup don’t reveal much diversity in packaging. No matter the brand, the standard pancake accompaniment comes in a tall, thin plastic bottle with a red flip-top cap.
For years though, Hungry Jack’s bottle stood apart in appearance and functionality. Its shorter and wider design allowed it to fit in the microwave and its handle was designed so that while the syrup could be piping hot in the bottle, the handle would remain cool. But what happens when the design changes? Hungry Jack brand owner J.M Smucker recently eliminated the beloved microwaveable bottle in place of a tall, thin, non-microwaveable package. Ardent fans of the previous design were displeased, according to Lisa McTigue Pierce’s report in Packaging Digest.
Facebook Feedback
Immediate customer feedback showed up quickly on Hungry Jack’s Facebook page. “I used Hungry Jack only because of the bottle,” read one post. “I could easily tell when it was hot, and didn't have to dirty another container to heat the syrup.” The consumer went on to say he or she used to purchase Hungry Jack because of the microwaveable bottle—not the product it contained— and was now opting for syrup from another company.
John Kelly, a columnist for the Washington Post also found additional dismay about the syrup situation on the Hungry Jack Facebook. Kelly noted that Hungry Jack replied to many of the comments, claiming consumer preference for a "taller, simpler bottle along with a shift in consumer preference away from warming syrup in its original bottle.”
Taking issue with the notion that consumers now prefer to warm their syrup outside of the bottle, Kelly opined that the great thing about Hungry Jack was that the option existed. If a consumer preferred to heat their syrup in another container, they were free to do so. Now, though, it’s required.
“Nobody makes you microwave Hungry Jack,” Kelly explains. “Isn’t it better to have a bottle that you don’t have to microwave but can, as opposed to a bottle you might like to microwave but can’t?”
The Value of the Package
To illustrate just how much fans of the microwaveable bottle loved that packaging design, Kelly turned to the economic arbiters of the web, Amazon and eBay. An Amazon search turned up unopened microwaveable Hungry Jack bottles going for $13 to $30. Over on eBay a seller was listing three bottles for $39.98.
Following up on her Packaging Digest article, Pierce found that it wasn’t just fans of the microwaveable bottle that were upset. Members of the design team that created the bottle were dismayed to see their hard work being pulled from store shelves.
“I was part of the original design and development team when this innovative container was developed and I’m named on the patent,” read one comment in the Packaging Digest article. “At the time this was an interesting innovation. It was a lot of fun and we developed a package that had some real in-use advantages. I'm sorry to see it go. Microwave heating ability addressed a real need, was unique, and gave the product a clear point of differentiation.”
