I would like to share an interesting story about how a ketchup company found the “secret sauce” to packaging from the cosmetics industry. 

Since most people don’t squeeze all the ketchup out cleanly, roughly, a quarter of a sachet is wasted. That translates to about 2-3 billion packets of ketchup being thrown away. 

That’s why our client, a condiment’s industry giant, wanted a ketchup packet that squeezed out 100% of the sauce, and didn’t add to the huge trash piles after use. 

We knew finding a material which would fit their exact needs, and pass all the regulatory checks, will be difficult. Hence, during our exhaustive research, we tried to find answers to questions like – 

• Which sustainable materials are best suited for products of similar consistency?
• Which companies, startups and universities are actively researching in this space and what are they working on?
• What are the possibilities of acquiring them or partnering with them?

Our research led us to a few materials that would tick their boxes. Here’s a glimpse of what it looked like:

During our cross-industry search, we found that a cosmetics company was actively using seaweed for their packaging.

Having worked on a lot of cosmetics projects, we were aware that cosmetic companies are always very active in exploring non-traditional materials in their value chain. 

And their reason for using seaweed for their shampoo was the same as our client’s. To leave no waste. Neither with shampoo, nor with the bottle. 

So to find if this material was a true match for them, we did a ‘deep dive’ into seaweed. Excuse the pun 🙂

And that’s how we helped our clients find a solution to their 5 years long persistent problem. 

I’m sharing this story with you because it’s a very good example of how sometimes the solutions you’ve been looking for are present in another industry. 

We have a knack for uncovering hidden solutions to the pressing problems in your industry. 

If you wish to know who has the solution to your current research problem or which tech your competitors are working on (secretly), you can go here and I’m sure we can help.