BBDO Guerrero

Client: Naturale Market
Product: The Dissolving Bottle
Title: The Dissolving Bottle
Media: Product Design
Country: The Philippines
Date Of Campaign: March 2021 onwards

Background: 8 billion tons of plastic waste pollute the ocean every year. Shampoo bottles are massive contributors. And shampoo bars are a great solution. But after 32 years of existence, most people still think it’s a bar of soap. So it’s not appealing for the hotel industry or home consumers to use. Devise a shampoo bar that will appeal to a range of end-users: travelers, home-use, and resort-owners.

Idea: We set out to name and design a shampoo bar to highlight its key benefit: unlike plastic, it won’t be around for long. Devising the name “The Dissolving Bottle” unlocked the problem for us. Shampoo usually comes in bottles, soap in bars. The name communicated the concept easily. We designed a shape that would be robust - but also comfortable to grip. We developed a 3D- printable mold for easy replication. And we also developed a unique font that could embed the name on the product, thus eliminating the need for paper and printing. The range reflects the ingredients. eg. Lavender = purple, etc.

Results: As a nation of 7,000 plus islands, plastic pollution of the sea is top of mind in The Philippines. Many people and institutions are looking for options to the ubiquitous plastic shampoo ‘sachet.’ And thus the product has been enthusiastically taken up by 90% of independent resorts in a pilot program at the country's leading resort island. The Dissolving Bottle was first championed in this context by BBC correspondent Howard Johnson who tweeted that it was a great solution to the proliferation of plastics washing up on shore. The Dissolving Bottle has been recognized by BeyondPlastic.net and received a cash award to develop the program. Distribution is set to expand to the Middle East and South East Asia, based on orders from markets as diverse as Dubai and Vietnam.