What Consumers Like (and Don’t) About Diageo’s Paper-Based Bottles
Diageo shared consumer sentiment toward its new Baileys Mini paper-based bottles, and the early findings were promising.
Developed in partnership with PA Consulting and unveiled earlier this year, the Baileys bottles are primarily (90%) made of paper. The other 10% consists of the plastic liner (9%) and a foil seal (1%). They’re designed so consumers can recycle them without needing to separate the liner.
Two thousand samples of the 80 ml mini bottles were given to consumers at the Time Out Festival in Barcelona in May. Of this, 310 consumers were interviewed for quantitative research via a questionnaire, while 37 also provided more in-depth answers through a qualitative survey.
Among the feedback Diageo shared:
- Eighty-six percent said the fact the bottles were made predominantly of paper was important and a positive move by the brand.
- The bottles scored an 8.1 out of 10 from consumers about the quality and likeability of the look.
- When it comes to improvements, consumers noted that the three materials created confusion about recycling. (Diageo attributed this partly to the foil seal, which is not recyclable in the paper stream and was intended as a temporary solution to enable quick consumer feedback.)
- The festival-goers preferred a resealable lid over a foil lid.
"With all new-to-market innovations, we know there is always room to improve and we're embracing a progress over perfection mindset so we can develop a bottle that consumers want with them feeding back throughout the journey,” said Dave Lütkenhaus, Diageo global sustainability and innovation director, in a statement. “We'll be taking the learnings and working with PA on the next iteration of the paper-based bottle.”
Diageo is the No. 27 largest publicly owned consumer goods company.
