Like many seasoned packaging professionals, Mike Long started his career by working with glass—primarily beer, liquor, food, and beverage. However, Mike felt a pull toward personal care product packaging and he soon became quite the specialist in the industry. Today, he is in his eighth year as Regional Sales Manager for MJS Packaging and he hasn’t really looked back.
As we highlight more than 30 years he has put into the business, we are excited to share Mike’s insight for the benefit of your product.
Gaining Solid Packaging Experience
When Mike began working with a distributor in 1988, one of his first customers was a large sunscreen manufacturer. Found in a variety of packaging options, sunscreen turned out to be the perfect springboard to working with an assortment of personal care products.
As a product area where he could specialize and make an impact for both brand names and private labels, Mike excelled. He was soon bringing a positive return on investment for customers who needed a variety of personal care product packaging, including hair care, skincare, suncare, and nasal product manufacturers.
Specialization and Innovation
To thrive in his work, Mike learned to master all the basics and more. Through his experiences with personal care product packaging, he developed an impressive depth of knowledge in a number of related areas. This included knowledge about both materials and components.
From his work with plastic bottles, pumps, dispensing closures, and innovations in the industry, Mike can connect any customer with personal care product packaging so it stands out and utilizes packaging innovations that complement it.
“At one time, only high-end, prestige brands could utilize some of the packaging innovations we’re able to bring to our customers,” Mike said. “But with help from our team at MJS Packaging, our customers are able to realize the benefits of packaging options like airless dispensing containers. Manufacturers of skincare, suncare, and many other products are now enjoying some great advantages.”
Marketers are getting mileage from these innovations as well, as the product is kept fresher for a longer period of time. Consumers, too, have appreciated the ease of dispensing products down to the last drop.
“We’re also leading in another personal care packaging option. Flexible packaging and pouches come with a long list of qualities that boost ROI. Cost savings, convenience, and dispensing options are especially appealing. They’re a nice fit for sunscreen and other on-the-go personal care items. They can even be tailored to be resealable or just designed for one-time use.”
Boosting Personal Care Product Packaging Appeal
As Mike can tell you, there is much to say about today’s trends with personal care product packaging and labels.
“With the growing use of foil and embossing, there are several great ways to get creative and provide an upscale look,” Mike added. “Pressure-sensitive labels are also growing in popularity and shrink sleeves are becoming quite common. It’s all about eye appeal, grabbing the consumer’s attention. The use of multi-color graphics on a label plays a huge role in this.”
If companies really want to get started right with personal care packaging though, Mike says there needs to be more testing done.
“Performing adequate testing is a must,” Mike emphasized. “It’s worth the time and effort to make sure the product is compatible with the packaging materials being used. It’s also equally important to test all the packaging components—bottle, cap, pump, label—to make sure that all are compatible.”
Putting the ‘Custom’ into a Customer’s Molds
With companies deep in the world of private label products, Mike has had a great experience finding custom solutions without breaking the bank. It can be a difficult task to position the product and give it great packaging while steering clear of pitfalls, but he has proven it can be done with great success.
“One customer was coming out with a line of sunscreen products under a chain drug store’s label,” Mike explained. “But they wanted the product to look like the national equivalent brand. We were to then produce a ‘me, too’ product that doesn’t cross the wrong lines.”
The customer in this instance had even gone to a competitor first. After sensing they weren’t being heard by the competitor and finding that the initial bottle hadn’t been designed to the customer’s specifications, they were looking for strong contrast from MJS Packaging.
“Even when factoring in the nature of the project and the time crunch the customer was in, my team and I were up for the challenge. There’s no formula for this type of private label packaging though, so we rely on our experience and internal guidelines. I’m proud to say we got them just what they needed and wanted within the time frame we had.”
With a quick turnaround on sketches, solid models, and package delivery that satisfied the customer, Mike was a champion of customer service and industry expertise.
Bringing His Passion to Your Product
Especially if you’ve ever felt a little overwhelmed by the fast pace of personal care product packaging lifecycles, you may be relieved to know that Mike finds it to be a big source of his passion for his work.
From relying on his formidable experience to his willingness to learn from market dynamics and innovation, Mike can be the perfect partner for your packaging needs. There are always new products being developed, bringing the need for new packaging options, and we are confident that yours could be the next success story incorporating Mike.
