Braving ridicule and feigned indifference, the inventor is seldom acknowledged and credited until decades after his/her innovation is introduced. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Invention takes time. Development and scalability require adoption  and investment.  Eventually, widespread market adoption becomes reality.

Inventions for the packaging industry are no different.

When the invention of the Pop-Top feature was first introduced to the beverage industry, the major brands did not embrace it. They saw the Pop-Top beverage can as a gimmick. One of the primary reasons for its skepticism was that the can opener (church key) was virtually ubiquitous. Why should a large brewery or beverage company pay for added machinery to modify their existing beverage canning lines?  How and why was a Pop-Top a better solution for opening carbonated beverages? Didn’t every consumer have a handy church key? Why would a crazy new Pop-Top packaging invention be introduced to already profitable beverage brands

A small Pittsburgh (U.S.A.) brewery saw the opportunity to differentiate beer packaging by offering convenience. In less than a year, Iron City Beer quadrupled its sales by adding the convenience of a Pop-Top can. No church key required. After ten years, the Pop-Top feature became ubiquitous across the beer industry and as well as all canned carbonated soda beverages.

So what might be coming along in terms of flexible packaging innovation, and what motivates inventors to come up with such innovations?

Sound as a brand differentiator

I predict that sound will be an integral element of plastic packaging in the years ahead. Consumers want to know that their products are safe, trusted, fresh, uncontaminated and have not been tampered. Covid-19 has brought about heightened awareness to cleanliness, safety and hygiene. Indicators that provide brand trust and a sensory experience to delight the consumer will soon become critical differentiators.

When opening a can of refreshing cold soda or beer, consumers expect to immediately hear a hissing sound caused by the release of CO2 from the carbonated beverage inside the can. What if you don’t? Do you drink the soft drink or beer? Probably not.

The Pop-Top has become not only a feature to open a canned beverage, but also a sensory experience indicating the sound of freshness.

The Sound of Freshness: From Pop-Top to EasyPop^®

So, what’s coming down the pike in terms of sound incorporated in packaging? Very soon, many flexible packages for liquids, solids and beverages will be opened with the “pop” of an air bubble.

Opening packages in the future will not use a tear-strip and will not require knives or scissors. Packages will transcend the miserable frustration of struggling to open packages or using one’s teeth to tear open. Instead, an EasyPop^® air bubble will provide a simple means of opening flexible packages by popping a bubble to easily break apart the packages’ seals. The experience of sound when popping open the air bubble to open the package reassures the consumer that there has been no prior tampering. Importantly, the bubble can be popped only once, providing comfort to the consumer that the product is safe, clean and fresh.

Consumers now demand feedback from their packages. Sound from popping an EasyPop^® bubble is a sound way (pun intended) to create consumer interaction and build brand loyalty.

Just as the Pop-Top feature is found on virtually every can of carbonated soda or beer, expect that the EasyPop^® air bubble will be found in many flexible packages of all shapes, sizes and types – from bottles to trays, pouches and sachets. Assuring the consumer that there has been no prior tampering will be soon be a mandatory requirement of most flexible packaging. The EasyPop^® “pop” sound will reassure the consumer upon opening the package that both the package and the product are authentic, clean and safe to use and consume.

Similar to the Pop-Top feature, the invention of the EasyPop^® feature for flexible packaging will became a necessity, reinforced by the “sound of freshness”.

From gimmick to breakthrough packaging

Surely you are familiar with the expression “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Over time, the equation changes. “Invention is the mother of necessity.” Think about it!

Indeed, this is a case where a historical invention, a Pop-Top beverage can – or an emerging invention, the EasyPop^®, become the mother of necessity. EasyPop^®, a newly introduced packaging feature, is changing the way consumers interact with packaging with the sound of an air bubble to pop open flexible packages.

EasyPop^® – the world’s first and only “Air-Powered Package^®”

For flexible packaging, the “popping” sound delights customers with confidence and assurance. The tactile EasyPop^® air bubble defines the consumer brand through a sensory experience. There are no package opening instructions required. The popping sound signals true functionality, freshness, tactile control, reclose-ability, and experiential delight.

After almost a decade of trials, development and investment EasyPop^® is ready to launch its packaging features – customized for brand owners to adapt the invention to consumer products. Packaging machinery companies are ready to bring EasyPop^® forward for market adoption for millions of products and product uses, and for packages in many different sizes, shapes and forms.

Sound will re-open the door for invention in the packaging industry through an entirely new category of sensory consumer experiences. Building brand trust for safer, cleaner and fresher products will innovate product packaging.

The EasyPop^® invention for packaging is now breaking through at the speed of sound.