when marijuana edibles maker dixie elixirs undertakes a redesign of the packaging for its thcinfused soda to meet new colorado laws, it finds itself &39running full speed at a brick wall.&39by anne marie mohan, editor, shelf impactolder designin january 2014, the floodgates were opened on an entirely new category of consumer products when colorado became the first u.s. state to legalize marijuana. in its first annual report, released in february 2015, the colorado marijuana enforcement division disclosed that in 2014, 4.8 million edible marijuana products and nearly 150,000 lb of marijuana flowers were sold through licensed dispensaries.being the first to navigate such unknown territory can bring a number of challenges, as colorado&mdashand its marijuana product manufacturers&mdashlearned over the last year. according to lindsay topping, director of marketing for dixie elixirs & edibles, a maker of thcinfused medical and recreational edibles based in denver, the ground is constantly shifting in this new market. &ldquothe laws change really fast, product types change really fast, and what we want to say on our labels changes very fast because we are learning every day, and we are trying to make the best decisions with the information we have,&rdquo she says.in september 2014, the colorado marijuana enforcement division threw pot product manufacturers a curveball when it enacted new regulations around the maximum dosage of thc per product serving and around the packaging of edibles. for dixie, this meant removing its flagship line of carbonated, cannabisinfused beverages from the market while it designed a proprietary new bottle and cap design&mdasha project that involved multiple &ldquopivots,&rdquo as topping says, to quickly deliver a package that provided the required functionality while meeting the new regulations.new regulations for enhanced safetydixie elixirs & edibles, a dixie brand, inc. company, launched its first product, its &ldquopot soda,&rdquo in 2009. since then, the company&rsquos lineup has grown to include 30 different products comprising 100 skus, including chocolates, mints, tinctures, and other edibles as well as balms, capsules, and topicals using 12 different delivery systems e.g., ingestion, oral mucosal, inhalation, etc.. &ldquowe really try to touch on a lot of different ways that someone can consume cannabis and give them an opportunity to find the right way for them,&rdquo says topping.the dixie elixirs brand of carbonated beverages includes six varieties, primarily fruitflavored, such as sparkling blueberry, wild berry lemonade, and peach iced tea. before the redesign, the sodas were packaged in a proprietary, resealable aluminum bottle, designed specifically for the recreational market.under the new colorado edible marijuana laws however, dixie needed to change the packaging to include a childresistant cap and a measuringdosing device. the new regulations, topping explains, came as a response to several alleged incidents of overdose by adults, and an increase in the number of children admitted to the er because of cannabis consumption.she counters, however, that when comparing the number of incidents reported by the american association of poison control centers versus the number of edibles sold in 2014, the incidence rate was just 0.0006. &ldquoso it was very, very low,&rdquo she says. &ldquobut because cannabis consumption publicly and legally is so new, people are very aware of and reactive to any incidence of accidental ingestion.&rdquothe new laws also require that no single item be more than 10 mg in strength, unless it is part of a multiserving unit that is clearly demarked and separable. in the case of the liquid, the required measuring device allows consumers to calculate the correct dosage.packaging changes ontheflywhile costly, implementation of the regulations was &ldquothe right thing to do,&rdquo says dixie brands ceo tripp keber. &ldquohowever, we were forced to search far and wide to find packaging for our flagship elixir product that would meet our standards as well as meet the compliance requirements of the state. turns out, no packaging existed that was childresistant, resealable to a childresistant state that also held carbonation and contained a measuring mechanism for dosing&hellipso we invented it. however, making a new bottle doesn&rsquot happen overnight. instead of settling on inferior packaging, we made the decision to remove the elixirs, which represent about 40 percent of our revenue, from the market while we waited for the new bottle to arrive.&rdquothe new regulations, announced in september 2014, required that all packaging be transitioned by february 1, 2015&mdash&ldquoa tight timeline for anyone in packaging,&rdquo says topping.initially dixie planned to put a cr closure on its aluminum bottle, but the rolled threading on the bottle would not allow for that type of closure&mdashresulting in the first pivot. working with tricorbraun, dixie tested a standard pet preform with a 28mm neck that could accommodate a stock cr polypropylene jigger cap.&ldquowe started testing it with carbonation and understanding what works and what doesn&rsquot,&rdquo says topping. &ldquowe are actually still in the process of testing. so in version two of this package, we will modify that standard offtheshelf cr cap to be even better and be a truly proprietary structure.&rdquoonce testing was complete, tricorbraun designed a custom mold for the 8.5oz bottle that mimics dixie&rsquos trademark aluminum packaging, with the bottle supplied by tricorbraun. the second hurdle came at the package manufacturing stage. &ldquowe wanted to do everything we could to mirror our aluminum bottle. but at the last minute, when bottles were coming off the line, we saw that they were not as opaque as they needed to be,&rdquo explains topping. &ldquoour packaging has to be 100 opaque to be sold.&rdquowith bottles presold into the market, dixie quickly changed gears and opted for a digitally printed opaque fullbody petg shrinksleeve label. &ldquoa lot of times in this industry, you have the best intentions, but you are running full speed at a brick wall, so we have become very accustomed to pivoting,&rdquo says topping.version two of the packaging, scheduled for a july launch, will feature opaque bottles and transparent flexoprinted labels that use a special silver ink that allows for a varied striation, replicating the texture and color variation of aluminum.topping the new package is a listerinestyle pinchandclose jigger cap, also supplied by tricorbraun, that allows consumers to pour the beverage into the cap to measure. a serving line on the inside of the cap marks off 15 ml of product, or 5 mg of thc. although this is below the statemandated 10mg dose per serving, topping says dixie recommends consumers start with 5 mg. &ldquosomeone can always choose to take 10 milligrams, but knowing where five milligrams is is a really important consumer advocacy point for us.&rdquodesigning for an adult audiencein terms of public safety of marijuana edibles, topping says that while cr closures are important, they are only effective in deterring children ages five and under from accidentally ingesting the product. &ldquoonce you get older than that, safe storage is about the only thing that will guarantee it stays out of the hands of children and especially teenagers,&rdquo she says.to decrease kids&rsquo interest in the product though, dixie designs packaging that signals the edibles are intended for adults. label graphics for its elixirs&mdashwhich stayed the same on the new packaging, with the exception of the opacity&mdashhave been created to be sophisticated, clean, and &ldquoclearly not for kids,&rdquo says topping. colors are monochromatic, with fruit identifiers printed in earthy tones, rather than in bright, cartoony colors. the dixie name, in stylized lettering, runs vertically along the front of the package, with the logo repeated in several areas, including on a colorcoded tab that runs across the cap and bottle.the sophisticated graphics are also designed to inspire consumer confidence. &ldquoour customers are not stoners,&rdquo topping says. &ldquothe people who consume cannabis are not only one type of person. if you ever walk into a dispensary, you see people from all walks of life and all ages, and mostly what we believe about consumers is they want to have confidence and trust in the products they are purchasing. that is why we look the way we do, and that&rsquos why our messaging is what it is. everything we do is about communicating to the customer that they can trust us. we do what we say we are going to do, so they can have confidence in consuming our products and knowing exactly what they are going to get.&rdquoreentry to the marketafter being out of market for several months, dixie launched its new elixirs packaging on april 17, 2015. along with the new bottle, dixie also introduced new flavors, a new product formulation that eliminates artificial ingredients, such as sweeteners and dyes, and a new 90mg dosage.said kleber at the time of the relaunch, &ldquoalthough it has been a long and financially painful journey, we&rsquore very proud of our team members and packaging partners at tricorbraun for their patience and vision during this transition, and we are excited to be back with these new flavors and an allnatural formulation. we are also appreciative of the patience of our customers who we know were eager to see this product back on shelves.&rdquocompanies in this article 
