Marlton, NJ –  Ken Botterbrodt, Senior Vice President of Technical Help in Engineering and Marketing (T.H.E.M.), explains the growing popularity of single-serve packaging. “Let’s face it,” says Botterbrodt, “plain bottled water can be boring after a while. Stick pack-based powders make it easy for bottled water drinkers to add a literal dash of variety.”

According to Botterbrodt, “Stick packs enable active lifestyle consumers to do more than give their bottled water a little flavor kick. It also allows them to put some of the important minerals back into their favorite brands of bottled water.” Botterbrodt explains that most people do not drink pure spring waters rich in mineral content. “The bottled water most people carry around is processed by the big bottlers. Reintroducing some of those missing minerals is a good idea.”

Want to know the level of recognition and respect packaging professionals, like myself, receive? Think about the last cocktail party you attended. The moment of truth comes when that most basic of all class-defining questions is asked. “So what do you do for a living?”

Oh to be able to say doctor, lawyer…even Indian chief. But no. Each time we say the word “packaging” it seems that most party guests side step toward that “must-have” appetizer across the room, or suddenly realize that their drinks need refilling. 

‘Profession envy’ and promotional dysfunction evident
By Neil Kozarsky

Marlton, NJ One clear example of how poor a job the packaging industry has done in promoting itself is to consider that everyone knows what a company called General Electric does, and those same people think that packaging is basically about brown bags and boxes.

Another familiar situation that drives home this point is the good old-fashioned cocktail party (which could not be staged without advanced packaging and material handling technologies) and the most basic of ‘ice-breaking’ questions such as “so what do you do for a living?”