Although the Club House line of One Step Seasonings was experiencing strong sales growth, consumers were having trouble finding new ways to use the spices in their cooking, leading to less use of the product. To solve this problem, McCormick Canada realized it would need to play up recipes it had developed to show consumers how to use the spices in multiple ways.

“We provide a lot of recipes for our products via our website, and support the effort with recipe cards placed with in-store displays,” says Jennifer Dionne, group marketing manager for McCormick Canada. “That got us thinking, maybe there was a way to better inform consumers on how to use our One Step spice blends.”

But how? Because spice bottles are relatively small in size, they don’t offer a lot of room for labeling. Plus, Canadian labeling mandates require bilingual copy, French and English.

Peel-back labels were the answer for Club House. Often used in the pharmaceutical and personal care sectors, the labels feature three panels carrying the brand’s logo and imagery, plus nutrition facts, an ingredients list, promotional copy, company information and six bilingual recipes.

The bottom line: Since the new packaging was introduced in Canadian grocery stores in the beginning of 2008, the line of spices has moved up a full point in household penetration (representing about 120,000 new households), the frequency of purchase has increased, and the time between purchases has decreased. (Package design: Forthought Design, www.forthoughtdesign.com; Labels: Avery Dennison, www.averydennison.com; Allstick Label, www.allsticklabel.com)