Campbell Launches New Pace(R) Brand Package Designed for Club Store Channel

CAMDEN, N.J., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Club Store shoppers are increasingly demanding products and packaging especially tailored for their particular usage requirements. Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) recently addressed the needs of this important shopping segment when it redesigned the packaging of its largest Pace salsa container, moving from a single 64-ounce polypropylene jug to a new 38-ounce polyethylene terephthalate jar that will be sold as a "dog bone" double pack.

Campbell developed the new multi-layer, hot-fill PET jar with the support of Graham Packaging Company, L.P., York, PA. The smaller jars are designed to provide consumers greater convenience and usage flexibility, while the barrier design should help maintain product quality.

"The new package size really is more convenient for our customers and a way for us to provide them with even better value," said Donald McMillan, a packaging specialist for Campbell. "The barrier protects the quality of our product in an economical fashion and helps us with inventory flexibility. It was also important to maintain the visual traits that make a Pace jar recognizable to our customers."

Paul J. Bailie, vice president and business manager of food packaging for Graham Packaging, said, "The new container replicates the iconic hourglass shape and clarity of the classic Pace glass jar, but gives consumers the advantages of PET plastic—a jar that's shatterproof and easy to grip, handle and store. And the switch from the polypropylene jug to PET makes for greater ease of recycling."

Bailie said the jar is manufactured with Graham Packaging's proprietary vacuum absorption system, which produces vacuum panels that are virtually invisible to the consumer. "This new technology also gives us the ability to create the design that Campbell requires," he said.

Sunil Shah, a product development engineer for Graham Packaging, said use of the proprietary barrier technology should give the jar an oxygen barrier that is able to maintain the product at peak freshness for up to 18 months, compared to six to nine months without the barrier.

The development process, from conception to market, took only nine months, while the actual design work took only a matter of hours during a creative session involving team members from both companies at Graham Packaging's Design Center in York.

Said Bailie, "The bottom line is it's a new and exciting entry in the marketplace for salsa and picante sauce containers both for Campbell's Pace brand and for us."

About Graham Packaging

Graham Packaging, based in York, Pennsylvania, is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of technology-based, customized blow-molded plastic containers for the branded food and beverage, household, personal care/specialty, and automotive lubricants product categories. It has an extensive blue-chip customer base that includes many of the world's largest branded consumer products companies. It produces more than 20 billion container units annually at 82 plants in North America, Europe, and South America, and had sales of $2.58 billion in 2008.

The company is a leading U.S. supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies, nutritional supplements, wide-mouth food, dressings, condiments, and beers; the leading global supplier of plastic containers for yogurt drinks; a leading supplier of plastic containers for liquid fabric care products, dish care products, and hard-surface cleaners; the leading supplier in the U.S., Canada, and Brazil of one-quart/one-liter plastic motor oil containers; and a leading supplier of bottles for personal care products.

The Blackstone Group of New York is the majority owner of Graham Packaging.

About Campbell Soup Company

Campbell Soup Company is a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality foods and simple meals, including soup, baked snacks, and healthy beverages. Founded in 1869, the company has a portfolio of market-leading brands, including "Campbell's," "Pepperidge Farm," "Arnott's," and "V8." For more information on the company, visit Campbell's website at www.campbellsoup.com.

SOURCE Graham Packaging