PACKAGE COMPRISING HOLISTIC CODING SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

A package for household articles is claimed, which package is provided with a holistic coding system. The coding system allows consumers to select the articles required for their needs fast, without confusion and with limited likeliness of wrong selections. The coding system comprises first coding elements on the dispensing means of package and second coding elements on the articles contained in the package. Both first and second coding elements are consumer-noticeable through the closed package.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Household articles, especially hygiene articles are available in many sizes and varieties from many manufacturers. Especially in the field of absorbent articles the consumer is offered a multitude of different sizes, absorbencies and other performance features. Further, absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, are more and more tailored towards certain specialized end uses, such as overnight pads, incontinence pads and the like. As said above, the variety of offers to the consumer is further increased by the fact that there are numerous producers and brands competing in this field, which multiplies the amount of articles presented in the shelves of the retailers to the consumer. All this variety is of significant benefit to the consumers as it more and more reflects all their individual needs, but on the other hand the sheer amount of different articles in different packaging configurations also oftentimes leads to confusion. Consumers are more and more likely to purchase an article, which is not the one they were actually planning to purchase because of loss of orientation in an ever increasing amount of offers to them. Of course such experiences lead consumers to frustration and potentially to the wrong conclusion that all the variety of articles offered by the industry is not to serve them but more to confuse them.

Therefore need for better presenting household articles to the consumer such that the consumer can easily recognize the product and its performance features, so that bad buys are becoming less likely.

Furthermore there exists a need for presenting household articles to the consumer such that the consumer can easily select the right articles for his or her needs such that the time he or she has to spend at the shelves of those articles is reduced. This would significantly aid discretion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above needs by providing a package for household articles, especially hygiene articles like absorbent articles, which package is provided with a holistic coding system. The dispensing means of the package comprises first coding elements and the articles contained in the package comprise second coding elements. Both first and second coding elements are consumer-noticeable when the package is closed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary execution of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

"Household articles" herein refers to various kinds of articles needed on a daily or at least frequent basis in the household. The household articles herein are either discrete articles, or in case of e.g. detergent powders and the like are filled in individual wrappers. Examples for household articles herein are detergent tablets or liquitabs, hygiene articles, or cosmetic articles such as beauty care items.

"Hygiene articles" as used herein refers to products of personal hygienic care, typically disposable ones. Typical disposable hygiene articles are moistened and non-moistened wipes or pads, or absorbent articles like infant diapers, sanitary napkins, panty liners, breast pads, tampons and the like.

"Package" as used herein refers to envelopes for household articles. The package according to the present invention is typically made from polymeric film like polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), laminates, woven webs or fabrics. Polymeric films also include blown or cast film materials in a blend of low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), metallocene PE blends (metPE), ethylene vinyl acetate, Surlyn®, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), mono- and biaxially oriented polypropylene (M/BoPP) and nylon. Woven and non-woven webs can be formed from monocomponent fibres, bicomponent fibres, multiconstituent fibres, capillary channel fibres and the like. A polymeric film can be two or more films laminated together. A polymeric film can be pigmented. A polymeric film can be clear or opaque. The package encloses the household articles in a hygienically protective manner. The household articles are typically arranged in one or more stacks inside the package. In alternative embodiments the package can be made of carton / cardboard material.

"Individual wrapper" or "wrapper" as used herein denominates an individual envelope for an article or a certain amount of solid or liquid substance. The individual wrappers are in some embodiments herein used for packing articles or substances individually inside the package of the present invention. Such wrappers may have any suitable size and shape and may be constructed from any suitable material. An example is a pouch wrapper as currently on the market for ALWAYS ^® sanitary napkins as marketed by the Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati / Ohio. This wrapper is represented as a film being tri-folded such that the two end portions overlap each other. The overlapping portions are reliable joined by an adhesive strip. On the sides this wrapper is closed by crimp lines.

"Holistic coding system" as used herein refers to consumer-noticeable information being present on the package and on the articles contained in the package. By the holistic coding system the consumer is enabled to properly select the household articles he or she actually was planning to purchase in a fast and convenient matter without having to extensively study the package. The consumer-noticeable information is provided by the first and second coding elements. "Coding elements" as used herein refers to consumer-noticeable colours or indicia, such as letters, symbols, lines, patterns, ornamental designs, pictures, script, characters and the like as well as combinations thereof. The coding elements are present in various regions of the package and the

articles contained in the package. The coding elements herein typically refer to product properties. Such product properties are for example certain levels of absorbency, dryness, softness, size, calliper, product shape (like thong shape) or suggested product usage like day or night product and the like. "Consumer-noticeable" as used herein means that the coding elements are noticeable to the consumer visually or via tactile sensations without having to open the package. This includes that the coding elements have to be sized and shaped to be appropriately noticeable, e.g. by the naked eye from a distance of at least 1 meter. Examples for coding elements are coloured areas on the outer surface of the package material, coloured reclosure patches for closing the dispensing opening of the package, symbols or letters, which are placed on prominent regions of the package or the household articles or combinations thereof. Tactile coding elements include embossments, notches and the like. Also combinations of visual and tactile coding elements are possible. The "first coding elements" are present on the dispensing mechanism, such as the dispensing flap or the closing means for the dispensing flap. Specifically an adhesive strip for reclosing the dispensing opening can be coloured and / or be provided with indicia and / or have a shape resembling an indicium. Another example of the dispensing mechanism carrying first coding elements is a pouch with a drawable ribbon or string as closure for the dispensing opening. This ribbon can be coloured and / or can be provided with indicia. A specific example is a coloured adhesive strip for reclosing an opened dispensing flap. Examples for the "second coding elements" are coloured areas or indicia on the household articles, or, in case the articles are individually packed, on the outsides of the individual wrappers of the articles. Another example for the second coding elements is a coloured adhesive strip for reclosing the individual wrapper of a household article contained in the package according to the present invention. The second coding elements are, although being inside the package, noticeable to the consumer even when the package is closed. An exemplary execution is a package having a window, through which the consumer can visually notice the articles contained in the package and colours and/or indicia present on them. An alternative execution of the second coding elements is that the articles contained in the package are visible through a window in the package material, which window is transparent but pigmented, i.e. coloured. The interaction between the colour of the articles contained in the package, or their individual wrapper, and the colour of the window in this embodiment resembles the coding element, e.g. the specific coding colour. In a specific example, a white tampon is perceived through a yellow

window as being yellow. In another execution, a yellow tampon is perceived through a blue window as being green.

Optionally the package herein can be provided with "third coding elements". The third coding elements are present on the household products contained in the package but are not necessarily consumer-noticeable when the package is closed. An example for the third coding element is the adhesive strip for closing the above-described ALWAYS ^® wrapper, which adhesive strip is coloured and / or provided with indicia. Alternatively the adhesive strip can itself be shaped to resemble an indicium and optionally be coloured. Another example for the third coding elements is a tear tape for opening an individual wrapper of a hygiene article in the package, such as a tampon wrapper, which tear tape is provided with colours and / or indicia. In another embodiment the removal string of a tampon is coloured for providing a third coding element. In further embodiments the third coding elements are present on the hygiene article itself, such as on the topsheet and / or on the backsheet of a sanitary napkin. By using transparent material for making the individual wrapper these coding elements become consumer-noticeable prior to opening the wrapper.

Further optionally, the package herein can be provided with "fourth coding elements", which are present on the outside surface of the package. Examples coloured areas and/or indicia on a prominent region of the outer package surface.

It is preferred that the various coding elements herein are identical. This means that all the coding elements should resemble the same colour and / or the same indicia. By "identical" it is not excluded herein that the actual size of the coding elements, thus the size of a coloured region and / or the indicia, may be different. The "same colour" herein includes also darker or lighter shadings of a certain colour, such as a darker and a lighter green.

In a specific embodiment of the present invention as shown in Figure 1 a package (10) made of clear polymeric film is printed to be opaque with the exception of a one non-opaque area, forming a window (20). The window (20) allows consumers to visually notice the articles (30) in the package (10). The package (10) is provided with a coloured region (40) on its outside.

Further, the package has a reclosable dispensing flap (50). The dispensing flap (50) is provided with an adhesive tape (60) for reclosure, which has the same colour as the coloured region (40). Finally, the individual wrappers of the articles (30) contained in the package (10) have the same colour as the coloured region (40) and the adhesive tape (60), which can be noticed through the window (20). Such an execution provides the possibility to correlate for instance certain colours with certain features of the articles (30) in the package (10), such as their absorbency capacity.