Building on a Great Brand

Inner Armour has long been both a market leader in the sports nutrition market and a front runner in the drive to provide powerfully effective products that the consumer can trust will be free of banned substances. It is with this same forward-thinking spirit that Inner Armour chose to revolutionize their packaging to sync with the desire of sports nutrition retailers to maintain a “clean store” policy that prohibits products from being merchandised directly on the floor of stores.

To begin the process of completely revamping the packaging on their popular Mass-Peak Weight Gainer and their Nitro-Peak Protein Powder, they called on longtime partner, TricorBraun, who they knew from experience would be a valuable asset in designing, manufacturing and delivering their vision.

“When we decided we needed a big, market disruptive package for our gainers, there was no question that we’d work with TricorBraun. With amazing velocity and skill, they created packaging that communicated our brand, saved money and worked perfectly at retail. In fact, we like the containers so much, we’re moving more products into them!”

John Morin, CEO, Inner Armour

Taking it Up a Notch

Inner Armour was already working with TricorBraun to package their Mass-Peak and Nitro-Peak products in flexible bags so when Inner Armour called, a team was quickly assembled. Hand in hand with the Design and Innovation team, they collaborated to create something unique that would take advantage of the entire billboard size of the shelf space, and be stackable and visually different while being mindful of maximizing shipping parameters including international sea containers.

What they built was a market disruptor; two big rigid packages, designed to hold an immense amount of product while being flexible enough to not only fill the shelf, but to be stackable in a tower, a wall or in a storefront window display. The smaller of the two packages (still a whopping 170 oz!) was also designed to stack like bricks in a circle, allowing more forward facing SKUs than could be achieved with the flexible bags and allowing 30% more product to be shipped in each international container.

The larger of the two packages – fondly nicknamed “Frank the Tank” – even included TricorBraun’s EZ Scoop feature which ensures that the scoop stays neatly nested in the neck of this big container, eliminating the need for consumers to dig around for the scoop each time they use the product.

More is More

The Inner Armour team came to TricorBraun with a vision: take two of their best products out of bags and put them in rigid packaging, add volume to each package, honor the “clean store” policy, heed international shipping issues, make improvements that would increase perceived value and maximize branding …and get it all done efficiently so it could be unveiled in time for the Mr. Olympia Competition.

And, working together, that’s exactly how it happened. Over the course of this nine-month project – from drawings to delivery – TricorBraun’s design expertise, commitment to innovation, deep relationships with vendors, knowledge of equipment requirements and awareness of sustainability issues really made the difference.

And the Results?

With the new packaging, the team at Inner Armour achieved every one of their goals. The new packaging brought greater visibility in stores, an increase in sales, a bigger footprint in the segment and now, plans to move all Inner Armour products into these packages. And in a category where being the best is vital, it was hugely gratifying for everyone involved that this packaging won the Gold Award in the Drug and Pharmaceutical category in the prestigious National Association of Container Distributor’s (NACD) annual packaging competition.

Feel inspired? Don't settle with the bare minimum, get in touch now and learn how TricorBraun can help you get the product you actually want in the market.