“Like our hero Yogurt & Oat Clusters range, Protein+ Granola is taste prioritized with accessible flavors and is designed to be eaten on the go with no preparation. The packaging is therefore crucial to the product’s success,” says Nomadic marketing manager Bethan Miles. 

She continues that the “iconic” top-hat bowl packaging format, which includes a spoon, for its category-leading Yogurt & Oat Clusters, is “instantly” recognizable and popular with our consumers, “so developing a similar pack for the new product line was essential.” 

The new pack is an upside-down version of the Yogurt & Oat Clusters, flipping the packaging on its head. “We worked closely with our existing supplier, Greiner Packaging, to find a way to achieve that while also ensuring it fitted easily into our existing capabilities in the factory,” explains Miles.

“The packaging is made from PP, and its main sustainability advantage is that it is made using repurposed tooling. This not only reduced the amount of energy consumed but also speeded up the NPD process,” Julie Eller, sales director at Greiner Packaging UK & Ireland, tells Packaging Insights.

“Top hat” pack popularity
Nomadic began to develop the Protein+ Granola project before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company started to think about what consumers were looking for in the yogurt category. “We realized that there was growing awareness around gut-health, and with the advent of COVID-19, there was also a big shift toward focusing on immunity support,” says Miles.

Yogurt has natural positive health benefits and its consumer demand is growing.“Yogurt has natural positive health benefits, is inherently nourishing and is also a great carrier for added benefits such as vitamins and gut-friendly cultures. We worked with a nutritionist and identified a tendency toward vitamin D deficiency in the UK and Ireland.”

Eller adds that the existing design of the “top-hat” bowl packaging format for Nomadic’s “market-leading” Yogurt & Oat Clusters product is “extremely popular with consumers, so creating familiar packaging for the new Protein+ Granola product is essential and early indications are that it is being very well received.”

Repurpose packaging
Protein+ Granola is designed to support immunity, is high in protein, features gut-friendly cultures, and contains the recommended daily vitamin D intake in each portion.

“There has been a growing interest in protein foods and with Protein+ Granola we have produced a nourishing convenience food which is accessible in terms of protein but does a better job on taste, making it more widely available to everyday consumers, not just your hardcore gym goers,” highlights Miles.

Creating the new packaging for Nomadic gives Greiner Packaging the chance to remind customers that the company has a range of tooling which can easily be repurposed to create new innovative packaging.

“We have actively championed the mantra of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ for many years – and with this project we have had the chance to demonstrate that we can add ‘Repurpose’ to this important list,” says Eller. 

“At a time when brands may have reduced budgets, repurposing otherwise decommissioned tooling creates the opportunity to be agile and introduce new packaging variations without the associated initial costs and delays – while reducing energy consumption.”

By Natalie Schwertheim