Danone and the Research Packaging Center

Jul 14, 2014

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Packaging at the centre of brand politics, the consumer at the centre of the innovation process. Following this principle, Danone has built at Evian (close to its most famous source) the Research Packaging Center, where technology and creativity enter into alliance for innovation.

The idea that has led to the setting up of the DRPC, opened to the press for the first time last June 17th, is to create a strong added value for the consumer via the creation of attractive and high performance packaging and/or new sustainable packaging solutions, devised for each single market. Equipped with state-of-the-art-tools and featuring multidisciplinary skills, the center houses a team of 37 researchers led by Frédéric Jouin, working in close collaboration with customers, suppliers and prestigious international research institutions (including the MIT). Its propositive force can be translated into figures: each year the DRPC develops more than 100 projects and 150 mock-ups and registers from 4 to 6 patents. Recently, together with Avantium, Danone’s centre has launched a pilot production of PE “bio” bottles. In the photos some of the most recent packs.

Drop with lid. A sip of pure water in a 20 cl drop shaped bottle a small glass sculpture, with the outline of the Evian mountain in relief, for “the food product that is the most difficult to pack”. A packaging that is without a doubt original, the absence of the label and aboveall the replacing of the top with a lid are distinguishing features of a container that inaugurates a new consumer gestuality. Evian’s ‘drop’ has required 3 years of development, 30 thousand samples, 32 tests, 6 tests with consumers, 3 patents and 38 suppliers involved.