Why Tide Pods looks like candy
P&G had also found that consumers were tired of lugging around bulky seven-pound Tide detergent bottles, measuring and pouring liquid detergent into a cup and then cleaning up the inevitable spills. Doing the laundry had become a dreaded chore.
The company needed to develop something so different that it would convince consumers to switch away from liquid detergent. It set about trying to develop a distinctive palm-size, liquid-filled detergent capsule that would catch shoppers’ eyes on the shelf and make doing laundry a bit more exciting.
Disrupting the wash
Tide Pods was not P&G’s first attempt to develop a laundry tablet.
In 1960, P&G launched Salvo, a compressed powdered tablet. It was on the market for about five years years. In 2000, P&G introduced Tide Tabs: tablets filled with powder detergent. But the company pulled them off the market two years later — the powder tablets didn’t always dissolve completely and they worked only in hot water.
P&G’s next attempt — creating a tablet with liquid that would eventually become Tide Pods — was a hugely difficult engineering task. It involved more than 75 employees and 450 different packaging and product sketches. Thousands of consumers were surveyed.
‘Food imitating products’
Tide Pods appealed to customers with its lightweight design, blue, orange and white-striped swirl and soft, squishy feel.
Today, it features a patented three-chamber design that separates detergent (the green compartment), stain remover (white) and whitener (blue). P&G did not say why it changed the colors.
Even Tide Pods packaging was distinct.
Other examples of this tactic include bottles shaped like soft drinks and labels that depict colorful fruits.
By developing products that create links to food, play or other positive experiences, customers are less likely to automatically associate these items with an unpleasant or boring chore, Basso said.
Unintended consequences
But Tide Pods’ appearance held an unforeseen threat.
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