When I first learned what this project was, I was very excited and eager to start. I wanted to do something super “out there” and initially might have gone too far. Somehow, I got to the thought of a gas station even though looking back it wouldn’t be quite right for the project. When I got home, I started looking but couldn’t find anything that was just right. As I was explaining the project to my friend, I used one of my Christmas candies as an example but then I had ideas swarm my head. I plan to Repackage and Design Sour Patch Kids for both commercial use and a special package for the movie theatre. I think the main problems with the current design are that the box is mainly Yellow and doesn’t really portray watermelon clearly and the watermelon text at the bottom doesn’t help much. It has a lot of distractions and text making it hard to understand what it is if you are walking down a store isle. Growing up these were one of my favorite movie theater candies to have and the worst part was the packaging. Inside is a loud plastic bag that holds all of the candy which made me embarrassed whenever I wanted another piece and made noise during the movie. Now that I am older, I don’t care to eat the whole box and don’t have a good way to reseal the box to bring it home. The main audience for this candy is mainly people that go to the movie theater but also includes kids, holiday gifts, adults, or anyone that likes candy. Most of the consumers will most likely be spending their money on other candy, movies, toys, and the usual day to day supplies. Sour patch is owned by mondelez international, who also owns many big-name brands. Oreos, chips ahoy!, belvita, ritz, Cliff, Cadbury, Triscut, Toblerone, Tate’s bake shop, and many more. However, Sour patch kids is the only sour candy brand that they own. That means Mondelez international only had one brand to make a profit off of sour candy. Last year they made $223.6 million and when I did the math it is roughly 45 million boxes, family packs, and shareable size packages sold. Sour Patch kids’ largest competitors are war heads, troli, sour punch, air head xtreme, juicy drop, and sour skittles. While some of the other brands might make good profits, sour patch is the highest ranking out of them all. Since there is such a large customer group currently I feel like changing the design won’t be a big problem since most people are already buying for the brand anyways. Mondelez international’s mission statements are “empowering people to snack right” and high quality ingredients, in a way that enables people and the planet to thrive.” I see mondelez as a Creator archetype since their goal is to create the perfect product our of quality ingredients. Sour patch kids is their most playful brand so it tends to slip away from the professional side of mondelez, Which is why I feel like sour patch itself if more of the Rebel archetype since they break norms with their goofy and playful marketing.
In terms of the packaging, I think it would be smart to reorient the box vertically so when the box is being used the design still shows easily. I also think that would help with my idea for the resealable end. If I add folds into the sides of the box it makes it where the box can fold closed. I want to take it one step farther and add a zip lock end for people to carry it around without spilling or getting stale. The box dimensions would stay almost exactly the same but come together at the top, this would allow for me to make deeper boxes for family size or shareable packs. For the Movie theatre If we remove the plastic bag inside and instead insulate the inside of the box with plastic, it would both remove extra steps to enjoy your candy as well as making it quieter for the movie theater. If I make the package a cylinder it would be able to fit inside a cup holder and even have a lid that comes off making it even easier to grab a piece during the movie without the hassle. The design of the packages needs to be simplified and more watermelon oriented. I think changing the outside of the box to a green color for the watermelon packs and having the inside of the box red would be a nice touch. Adding a die cut through the front of the box for consumers to see the candy could make it seem like a more special candy. I am very excited to see where this project goes and how it changes along the way!
