CHALLENGE: Design packaging to dispense two separate solutions to mix on contact for fresh activation on each use.
SERVICES: Insights, Design, Engineering, Prototyping
AWARDS / PRESS: Best of Show NACD Awards; PAC Global Leadership Award
Before: SmartMouth sold the product in two separate pump bottles.
Triumph Pharmaceuticals’ SmartMouth Mouthwash provides 12-hour protection from bad breath by attacking the real source: sulfur gas that’s created when bacteria in your mouth react with protein molecules in saliva and food.
SmartMouth’s formula comes from two different solutions that release odor-neutralizing zinc ions when mixed. Originally, this meant selling the product in two separate bottles with pumps and a cup, requiring the consumer to pump three times from each bottle. Consumers loved the mouthwash, but hated the pumps of the retail packaging design. That's when Nottingham Spirk stepped in to solve the packaging problem and make a consumer-friendly dual-spout bottle that mixed two separate mouthwash solutions on contact.
The mouthwash innovation involved eight different components. These included two PETE bottles, a PETG stage (patent pending), a foil seal, a foil protector, a spout (patent pending), an overcap and a shrink sleeve. Previous to this new design, two separate pump bottles and a dose cup were sold together in one box. Take a look at an early concept from the design team at Nottingham Spirk.
Designing a dual-spout bottle presented our team with unique engineering challenges. For example, the two solutions flow at different rates, but a dose must contain equal amounts of both for proper activation. The bottle had to pour accurately from any angle and prevent accidental mixing of the solutions inside when tilted upright again. Its retail footprint could not exceed that of the original two-bottle package, and the consumer product packaging had to resemble the familiar packaging as closely as possible.
Through extensive prototyping and consumer testing, we engineered a bottle that eliminates all the pain points. Multiple patents are pending on the new bottle, which is now available in stores everywhere.
The redesigned SmartMouth bottle has been recognized for retail packaging design excellence, receiving accolades from the PAC Packaging Competition, and “Best of Show” at the Annual NACD Packaging Awards.
