Cup containers having advertising media

Abstract

Improved cup containers for products, especially single serve products, are provided for. The novel containers comprise a cup accommodating a product and lidding for the cup. The lidding comprises one or more imprintable substrate sheets which collectively provide a lid section and a message section connected to the lid section. The lid section is sealed to the cup and thereby defines a sealed volume accommodating the product therein. The message section provides a substrate on which a message may be imprinted. The lid section is provided on one of the lidding substrate sheets. The message section is provided either on the same substrate sheet as the lid section or on a separate substrate sheet. Although connected to the lid section, the message section is separable therefrom so that the message, such as an advertising message, may be removed from the container and viewed by a consumer. Preferably, the message section is separable from said lid section without compromising the integrity of the sealed volume. The novel cup containers also include preferred embodiments having a manufacturer coupon imprinted on the message section that is redeemable by a consumer of the packaged product and that has imprinted thereon machine readable indicia to facilitate automated processing of the coupon. Preferably the machine readable indicia are a UPC bar code utilizing the UCC/EAN-128 Article Numbering System or another bar code.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to cup containers for products, and more particularly, to improved cup containers having separable advertising media and to methods for disseminating advertising messages to consumers via such improved cup containers.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Advertisers have relied on many different ways to deliver advertising messages. For example, many advertisements are delivered through broadcast mass media, such as radio and television, or through printed mass media, such as magazines and newspapers. Direct advertising is another popular and often highly effective method because messages are delivered directly to a defined population of consumers. In addition to direct mail and e-mails, other direct advertising methods include dimensional mail, catalogs, inserts in bills and other mailings.[0003]Despite the many different media available to advertisers, however, there is a continuing need to develop effective, cost efficient meth...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0032]It will be appreciated that products when packaged in the novel cup containers can occupy substantially the same space as when they are packaged in conventional cup containers, yet the novel packaging will provide significantly greater area on which advertising messages may be imprinted. Moreover, by increasing the imprintable area of 11 the packaging without significantly increasing the overall size of the packaged product, more extensive and sophisticated advertising messages may be provided even in relatively small cup containers. In particular, the novel containers, even when they are sized to package relatively small single-serve products such as jams, jellies, coffee creamers and flavorings, salad dressings, and sauces, have sufficient imprintable surface area to accommodate a manufacturer coupon, including the requisite product information and machine readable bar code used in systems that manage accounting between coupon issuers and merchants.

[0033]It also will be appreciated that the novel packages may be efficiently and inexpensively produced at high production levels by conventional methods and machinery. Moreover, the cost of providing message sections in the novel cup containers is minimal compared to the value of the advertising and that the advertising messages may be effectively disseminated for little incremental cost over the normal costs of producing and distributing the packaged product.

Problems solved by technology

For example, while distribution by broadcast media is relatively inexpensive, the cost of producing entertainment, news and other content for broadcast media can be extremely expensive, and those costs are reflected in advertising fees.

Content production costs for printed mass media also can be substantial, and printed mass media can be expensive to produce and distribute.

While most direct advertising contains little or no content beyond the advertising message, and thus, involves relatively low content cost, the cost of direct advertising nevertheless can be substantial.

Such costs typically include the generation of a mailing list and postage or other delivery costs.

Moreover, a substantial portion, if not the majority of all advertising messages are never viewed by their intended audience for one reason or another.

Many consumers receiving the advertisement may have no interest in the advertised good or service, or they may not be able to afford it.

There also is a general clutter of advertisements that makes it difficult for a particular ad to capture the attention of consumers, especially if the consumer is distracted or otherwise occupied when the opportunity for viewing the ad arises.

Although inserts in newspapers and magazines commonly have somewhat higher response rates on the order of 1-2%, newspaper and magazine advertisements also have very low response rates, usually under 1%.

The response rates for all of these methods, however, are greatly reduced because the vast majority of the ads are never viewed.

Even when presented to a consumer, however, many ads are not really viewed because they are lost in the clutter of many other ads, and this is a common problem with newspaper inserts and some forms of direct mailings.

Thus, most advertising methods are very inefficient and wasteful.

The effective cost for each advertising message that is actually communicated to consumers, therefore, is generally many times higher that the nominal cost per message.

Despite the advantages of presenting an advertising message directly to a target audience, and despite its significant cost advantage over other forms of direct advertising, the type of products and packaging utilized to carry cross ruffed and bounce back advertising messages has been limited.

In other instances advertisers may fail to appreciate the opportunities created during consumption of the product.

On the other hand, some products are consumed under circumstances that appear to provide ideal environments for delivering an advertising message, yet their use as carrier products has been extremely limited or non-existent.

The relatively small size of traditional fortune cookie inserts, however, does not provide space for delivering much more than a branding type message, and fortune cookie inserts to date have proven unsuitable for delivering more extensive and sophisticated advertising messages.

To date, however, single-serve products have not been used or used effectively as vehicles to deliver advertising messages.

To date, however, cup containers, especially those used to package single-serve food products, have not been used extensively, if at all, as carriers for cross ruffed and bounce back advertising messages.

One problem is that the serving or unit size of many products packaged in cup containers is relatively small, meaning that the cup container for such products also is relatively small.

Such containers provide relatively little imprintable space.

The materials from which cups are fabricated usually can be imprinted, but in addition to its relatively small size, manufacturing considerations place practical constraints on using the cup as a substrate for product or advertising information.

Pressure molding or thermoforming, however, can distort any message preprinted on the cup web, and thus, the lidding material most commonly is the only portion of cup containers on which messages are imprinted.

Moreover, not only is there a limited amount of imprintable space on conventional cup containers, much of it must be devoted to product information required by law or good business practice.

Typically any advertising messages are limited to relatively simple branding messages and such messages usually pertain to the packaged product.

There is very little room for more sophisticated and complex advertising messages that are essential to successful marketing campaigns.

Many cup containers commonly used in packaging single-serve products, however, are as a practical matter too small to accommodate a bar code and even minimal product identification as is required to produce a consumer redeemable, manufacturer coupon.

Another problem with providing imprinted messages on conventional cup containers is that the cup and lidding are in contact with product packaged in the cup.

Many products are messy, and may leave a residue that obscures messages printed on the inner face of the lidding.

The suitability of the outer face, however, especially as a vehicle for manufacturer coupons, is also limited because the lid typically is viewed as trash by consumers once the package is opened and the lid may have to be cleaned before it can be redeemed.

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