Graham Packaging designed a new distinctive PET bottle for Sunny Delight Beverage

Graham Packaging Company, L.P., has designed a distinctive PET bottle to power Sunny Delight Beverage Company's expansion from the refrigerated case to the supermarket shelf. The distinctive new bottle - which features the raised image of a sun and a deeply grooved neck - was especially designed for SunnyD Baja and SunnyD Intense Sport, two new Sunny Delight vitamin-enhanced drinks being introduced this summer.

"Sunny Delight had very definite design criteria that included capturing the image of the sun on the bottle and in turn capturing attention on the shelf," said Sheldon Yourist, a senior design manager for Graham Packaging.

The drinks support Sunny D's effort to make variants of its brand available in the shelf-stable aisle, in addition to its 40-year-old main line of extremely popular refrigerated drinks. "When we became a privately owned spin-off from Procter & Gamble in August 2004, we immediately initiated work to better meet the needs of consumers who prefer shelf-stable options," said Richard Zimmerman, senior vice president for global marketing and innovation at Sunny Delight Beverages. "The expertise of Graham Packaging was crucial to meeting our aggressive timetable."

Graham Packaging supplied the first round of designs within days of taking the assignment. "We were gratified with their reaction to our designs and our timely response to their request," said Dave Cappadonia, senior account manager for Graham Packaging. "They were expanding product lines but had never used PET, so they welcomed our collaboration." Sunil Shah, project manager for Graham Packaging, said, "Originally, the launch centered on a 12-ounce bottle. Then retailers requested a 10-ounce size as well. The second size was added to the project, but no time was added to the launch." Shah said Graham Packaging met all the deadlines, plus created a design that worked with virtually no retrofit of the customer's filling equipment.

Sunny Delight Beverages Company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, markets the Sunny D brand in the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, France, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Sunny D is a market leader in chilled juice drinks.