Ziploc
Encyclopedia
Zipper storage bag
Zipper storage bags were patented by Robert W. Vergobbi on May 18, 1959. In the same year, Minigrip licensed them as pencil bags. Not until 1968 did Dow Chemical Company begin marketing for them...
s and containers originally developed by Dow Chemical Company
Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Company is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization .Dow...
, and now produced by S. C. Johnson & Son
S. C. Johnson & Son
S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. , previously known as S. C. Johnson Wax , is a privately held, global manufacturer of household cleaning supplies and other consumer chemicals based in Racine, Wisconsin. It has operations in 72 countries and its brands are sold in over 110...
. According to Dow's website, the bags were originally test marketed in 1968.
The plastic bag
Plastic bag
A plastic bag, polybag, or pouch is a type of packaging made of thin, flexible, plastic film, nonwoven fabric, or plastic textile. Plastic bags are used for containing and transporting goods such as foods, produce, powders, ice, magazines, comic books, chemicals and waste.Most plastic bags are...
s and containers come in different sizes for use with different products. The brand offers sandwich bags, snack bags and other bags for various purposes.
History
In 1951, a company called Flexigrip, Inc. was formed to develop and market a plastic zipper, by the same name, based on a set of patents, which it had purchased, of which the inventor was Borge Madsen. The initial products for the Flexigrip and other plastic zippers (such as the sliderless zippers (toptite) that were developed by Flexigrip) were looseleaf binder inserts and flat briefcases. Thereafter, the marketing efforts were directed at packaging products in plastic zipper bags, which turned out to be the principal market for the Flexigrip, Inc. products. In 1961, Flexigrip, Inc. obtained from a Japanese company, Seisan Nippon Sha, who invented the Minigrip-type plastic zipper bag, exclusive manufacturing and selling rights for the United States, based on a series of plastic zipper Seisan patents. A company by the same name was formed to produce and market Minigrip bags. In or about 1964, Minigrip, Inc. negotiated an exclusive license for the grocery trade (supermarkets) with Dow Chemical Company for the Minigrip product. Dow named their product Ziploc and started to market it in 1968. It turned out to be enormously successful. In 1978, Minigrip was acquired by Signode, Inc. and became a subsidiary of that company. In 1986, Signode and Dow formed a company, namely Zippak, to develop zipper bags for food products. In 1987, ITW acquired Signode, and Minigrip became a subsidiary of ITW. In 1991, ITW acquired Dow's interest in Zippak so that Zippak became a fully owned subsidiary of ITW. Zippak produces plastic zippers for the food packaging market. Among Ziploc and Zippak's competitors are Presto, a subsidiary of Reynolds, and Pactiv. From the time of inception till today, Flexigrip/Minigrip/Zippak have obtained over 300 patents for plastic zippers, zipper bags, and methods and machinery of producing the same. In 1996, Hefty came out with a sliding zipper bag. In 1997 Dow Chemical sold the rights of DowBrands, which included Ziploc, to SC Johnson for between US$1.3 and US$1.7 billion.Products
Ziploc has expanded their products to more than just sandwich bags. Ziploc products now vary from freezer bags to twist n' loc containers. They have expandable bottom bags which stand on their own. They also have big bags. These bags are used for non-food storage and are as big as 2 ft (0.61 m) by 2.7 ft (0.82 m). The zip n' steam bags are used to cook food in the microwave. The flexible totes made by Ziploc are used for non-food storage and are as big as 22 gallons (83.3 l). Recently, Ziploc has made an evolved line of sandwich and storage bags. All the bags in this line are made with 25% less plastic and are manufactured using wind power.Advertising
S.C. Johnson and Son uses written, online, and televised commercial advertising for their product Ziploc. The advertisements run in: Brazil, Germany, Thailand, The United States and many other countries. Ziploc's head of marketing is Scott Heim who handles their multi-million dollar advertisement campaigns. In 2002, S.C. Johnson & Son launched its biggest campaign in history, a US$50 million-plus campaign to launch a new line of disposable tableware/storage products to be marketed under the Ziploc brand nameManufacturing
The manufacturing of Ziploc bags varies among different products. The Ziploc Evolve bag is made using 35% less plastic than traditional Ziploc bags, and is manufactured using wind power, a cleaner renewable energy source. The Ziploc Evolve bag is also packaged in recycled paperboard, a technique used to increase the conservation of trees. The regulation Ziploc storage and freezer bag is made from polyethylenePolyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
plastic resin, the most commercially used polymer that is available in a large range of flexibilities and densities, allowing Ziploc bags to safely hold and store various amounts and densities of foods.
Competition
Ziploc faces strong competition from such competitors as GladGlad (company)
Glad is an American company specializing in trash bags and plastic food storage containers.-History:The Glad brand originated in the United States in 1963 when the owner and CEO of the company, David Darroch, launched "Glad Wrap", a polyethylene film used as a food wrap. Douglas G. Taylor was...
, Hefty bags and many privately owned, generic, store brand plastic bags and containers. As Jules Rose, chairman of Sloan's Supermarkets Inc. in New York City, states: "This is a highly competitive market with a lot of players and unusually strong private label sales." Ziploc's biggest competitor by far is Glad. In 1992, Ziploc was faced with sudden competition from the booming sales of arch-rival First Brands Corporation's Glad-Lock bag. Glad Lock bags jumped 13.1% in 12 weeks in the end of 1992, giving Glad-Lock an 18.4% share of the market compared to Ziploc's 43% share.