Making A Difference

The idea is nothing short of brilliant: AidPod, a PET thermoform from a company called ColaLife, is an innovative package format that fits in the space surrounding the bottles in a crate of Coca-Cola. Imagined by ColaLife’s Simon and Jane Berry, and developed with supplier pi global (www.piglobal.com), the Diamond award-winner at the 25th annual DuPont Packaging Innovation Awards competition hit upon an idea that could bring salvation to thousands of children in Sub-Saharan Africa, where its first application is for Kit Yamoyo, an anti-diarrhea kit for poor caregivers and mothers in remote rural areas of Africa where children are in desperate need.

The lead juror of the DuPont competition was David Luttenberger, CPP and VP/packaging strategist for consumer insights research firm CEB Iconoculture (www.iconoculture.com). He says, “In my nearly 25 years in packaging, I’ve never before seen a package with such a compelling backstory and with such positive and direct forward-leaning social, economic, and health implications.” Luttenberger’s enthusiasm led to an idea: “Why not use my global packaging network to raise awareness and generate support for the AidPod concept?”

In short order, Luttenberger had an outreach plan in place. Through the nonprofit fund raising organization Global Giving, a registered 501(c)3 organization, Luttenberger is asking anyone compelled by the concept to make a donation to the AidPod project.

Mid-line results of the one-year trial program look promising, says ColaLife’s Rohit Ramchandani. So much so that the package could be incorporated on a broader basis in Zambia, and interest in it has been established in other countries as well.

Summit Media Group, on behalf of Healthcare Packaging and Packaging World magazines, believes in this project and is making a $5,000 contribution. You can contribute, too, at www.globalgiving.org/projects/colalife-aidpods-for-african-children/.