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The First Cutting Bar on Aluminum Foil Boxes

Client: Reynolds Metals Company (presently Alcoa)

SIR helped Reynolds' Wrap® keep the aluminum foil market wrapped up.
Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil, first introduced in 1947, has become a classic packaged goods success story. The first product in its category, Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil has maintained its marketing leadership position through a continued focus on quality, consistent branding, and product innovation. Sometimes, product innovations went beyond the product itself.

SIR helped Reynolds explore product packaging innovations. Aluminum foil features and consumer benefits were obvious from the beginning. What was not so obvious was how consumers literally worked with the product. Through ethnographic observations, SIR and Reynolds discovered consumer frustration with tearing the foil when taking it out of the box or "off the roll."

Together, SIR and Reynolds' scientists conducted dozens of focus groups across the country testing hundreds of alternative solutions. The winner -- a safe but easy cutting bar affixed across the inside edge of the product box.

This innovation gave Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil one more product advantage over early rivals, and helped Reynolds keep the aluminum foil market wrapped up for years to come.

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