Flexible Products Co., Marietta, GA, a division of Midland, MI-based Dow Chemical Co., introduced Great Grip in June 2000. Retailing for $14.99 per 12-oz bottle, Great Grip is a liquid non-skid rug coating used to keep wayward rugs in place. The high-density polyethylene bottle is topped with a plastic foam roller applicator protected by a paperboard wrap. The paperboard doubles as a graphics-carrying billboard and is die-cut for peg board display. The paperboard roller wrapper, now patent pending, aided the company in gaining a packaging award in its category at the National Hardware Show, held in August in Chicago (see Packaging World, October '00 p. 30), says Don Bratton, the company's senior graphic designer.
The product is rolling out this fall into home centers and mass merchandisers nationwide, according to Bratton. He says the response to the product has been outstanding. Great Grip is positioned as a less-expensive, easier-to-use replacement for double-sided tape, foam or cloth-pad underlayments.
Protective merchandising wrap
The roller is protected with a wrap of 14-pt SBS paperboard. Printed in four colors, the paperboard is die cut, scored and glued to cover and protect the roller and function as a merchandiser. It is slipped over the foam roller and wrapped around the roller topper's plastic shell. Then the entire cap/roller assembly is screwed onto the bottle in a manual process. After a hard plastic inner seal is removed and the roller put back on the top, the bottle can be squeezed, which pushes the product through channels within the topper and onto the foam roller. The roller topper is supplied by Allied Mold and Die (Fontana, CA).
The stock bottle, molded of white pigmented HDPE, is supplied by WNA Larkin (St. Louis, MO), formerly Larkin & Associates. The pressure-sensitive 3.4-mil white polypropylene label, from Corporate Express (Wichita, KS), is printed in four colors.
POP adds pop
The point-of-purchase (POP) display is quite unique, Bratton claims. It was done with the assistance of the Alliance Display and Packaging Division (Winston-Salem, NC) of the Rock-Tenn Co., which is dedicated to turnkey POP displays.
Six bottles are inserted into a stackable shelf display tray made of E-flute corrugated with an outer liner printed in four colors. Bratton points out that the tray back accepts industry standard clips that allow for merchandising using a wire rack or slat wall.
The company also offers a 36-count floor display unit that holds six of the trays. Printed in three colors on a liner mounted to B-flute corrugated, the display holds six bottles on each of six shelves. Two provide a footprint of one-fourth of a 40''x48'' GMA pallet, Bratton adds.
