The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2022
Maxx Flash's packaging kills mosquito larvae once it is dumped
VMLY&R Mumbai made Maxx Flash's 100% biodegradable coil-pack lethal to mosquito larvae in garbage, so the box fights dengue after use.
Maxx Flash
the move
In India, dengue and malaria are spread by mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water. Repellent coils dealt with mosquitoes inside the home, but authorities found that garbage collection points were focal breeding sites.
VMLY&R Mumbai's answer was the packaging itself: a 100% biodegradable box for Maxx Flash that, when discarded in a dump or stagnant water, kills mosquito larvae - turning the product's own disposal into a control measure.
The move does not depend on the user changing behavior for efficacy inside the house; the routine act of throwing a used coil pack away becomes an anti-disease action at the exact point where mosquitoes hatch.
It took the Health & Wellness Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2022, the jury rewarding an idea that extends a product's function beyond the point of sale.
why it works
- The breeding ground is not in homes but in the waste stream, so packaging is the highest-leverage place to act.
- A biodegradable pack does the work even if the user never reads an instruction.
- It converts a disposal chore into a disease-fighting action at no extra cost.
- Grand Prix juries reward products that change an outcome, not just a message.
what transfers
Design for what customers do after the product, not only what they do with it. If the waste is where the harm happens, make the packaging part of the cure and the product solves its own by-product.
what came after
The Killer Pack won the Health & Wellness Grand Prix at Cannes 2022 for VMLY&R Mumbai, and was cited as an example of product innovation that also delivers what its product is meant to do - a reference for designing packaging to work in the waste phase.
references
- VMLY&R wins two Grand Prix awards at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022
- RETAIL CAMPAIGNS: The retail & brand Grand Prix winners at Cannes Lions 2022
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