Premium Brands Demand Premium Packaging

McLean, Va. – In the highly competitive world of premium produce, Handsome Brook Farm, distributors of organic, pasture-raised eggs, relies on a hybrid carton, made of paperboard and molded pulp, to protect its fragile product and get attention on the store shelf. The Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds® campaign brings their paper story to life in a new video featuring Handsome Brook Farm’s chief marketing officer Matthew Sherman, who says, “We compete in the high end of the egg market and consumers have real expectations about how they should look and feel. A hybrid carton allows us to present the quality, premium image our customers expect to stand out from the competition.”

Consumers agree. In the 2018 Ipsos Survey sponsored by the Paper and Packaging Board, two thirds of respondents said paper and cardboard packaging make a product more attractive than other packaging material (67%), and most noted that paper and cardboard packaging makes products seem premium or high quality (63%).

“Handsome Brook Farm uses the hybrid carton exclusively…it allows us to deliver an uncompromised brand image,” Sherman says. “You can print side to side and edge to edge on the paper board, and you can even print underneath. This allows us to tell a more complete, and compelling, story.”

Sherman’s observations agree with responses from the Paper and Packaging Board survey, which found roughly half (49%) saying they would be prepared to pay a little more for products packaged in paper or cardboard. The fact that paper and cardboard packaging is recyclable is most appealing to those surveyed (66%), while roughly two in five say they like that it is easier to open (42%) and made from renewable sources (36%).

“One of the important things for us about the hybrid package is that it fits in well with what we want to do here at Handsome Brook. As an organic company whose principles are really about sustainability, it's important to us to have packaging that is fully recyclable and consistent with our values,” Sherman noted.

Mary Anne Hansan, P+PB president said, “It just shows how paper packaging rises to the top for customers that want a sustainable, recyclable, protective solution that is highly customizable.”

To watch the videos or learn more, visit https://www.howlifeunfolds.com/innovation/handsome-brook-farm.