Project Overview

PepsiCo is proud to be one of the world’s leading convenient foods and beverages companies, with products enjoyed more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo aims to be the global leader in convenient foods and beverages by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is a strategic end-to-end transformation, with sustainability at the center of how PepsiCo creates growth and value by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for the planet and people.

Organisation

PepsiCo Design & Innovation

  

Project Brief

Frito-Lay is already making significant advancements in this area through their brand Off The Eaten Path, a line of light and airy snacks made with real wholesome veggies. Off the Eaten Path launched industrially compostable bags this past Fall. The bags are available at Whole Foods Market and select retailers and are an example of PepsiCo's investments in breakthrough food packaging technology and the overall pep+ goal to design 100% of its packaging to be recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable across their portfolio by 2025. Producing the materials used for these bags creates approximately 60 percent lower GHG emissions than traditional packaging and the technology may be licensed to other companies at no cost to further the use across the consumer-packaged goods industry.

Project Innovation/Need

After developing the functionality of this commercially compostable packaging as a joint effort across multiple PepsiCo functions, the Design Team needed to create a consistent yet flexible visual system for on-pack sustainability communications. This design system needed to work across the entire convenient foods portfolio, but also had to highlight how this packaging is different, educate consumers on proper disposal, and build equity for Frito-Lay brands. In order to achieve this, this compostable pack design had to be scalable across all brands, sizes, and channels. The Design team wanted to push boundaries visually while managing expectations, effectively reaching our target consumers, and following legal requirements for commercially compostable packaging.

Design Challenge

Off The Eaten Path was the perfect brand to pilot these commercially compostable bags. Finding new paths is in the brand’s DNA, starting with the ambition to turn real and wholesome veggie ingredients into an absolutely delicious chip consumers can feel good about. As the brand is focused on sustainability, shifting Off The Eaten Path to commercially compostable packaging at Whole Foods Markets was also a natural fit.

This commercially compostable packaging, which looks the same as a standard chip bag, took many iterations to get just right for the pilot launch. The Design team faced a daunting task to communicate this innovation to consumers; since, in the past packaging has typically not been recyclable or compostable and the idea of commercially composting packaging is new to most consumers. Beyond the consumer messaging, there were many rules and legal requirements to be taken into consideration.

For example, under various state laws a green band is required to be featured at the top of the pack on both the front and back. This helps composting facilities easily identify the packaging as commercially compostable—which is crucial—since currently this packaging is only commercially compostable and is not suitable for home compost bins. The green band also serves to help the packaging stand out to consumers as being a more positive choice; but we also wanted to keep in mind not to detract from the original snack brand’s thoughtful design and messaging.

Effectiveness

Educating consumers about the packaging and proper disposal was of crucial importance. And so, the Design team had to consider how to best incorporate a back-of-pack QR code in a fun and interesting way, which when scanned, further explains the story behind this newly developed packaging. The QR barcode is nestled onto a bag sprouting out of a flowerpot, to convey the story of the packaging being plant-based. Balancing the information on pack was important since we didn’t want to overwhelm consumers during the new packaging rollout. The goal was to tell the story in a simple and interesting way through design, to keep consumers engaged.

The success of Off The Eaten Path commercially compostable bags has already proven itself in the market. Commercially compostable packaging was the key driver to get Off The Eaten Path into Whole Foods Markets for the first time, providing an incremental retailer for the brand. All told, these commercially compostable snack bags are off to a great start.