Thursday, July 22, 2010

sneak peek - dish soap

UPDATE Looks like I might be right about my August instead of September guess! A fellow advocate asked method about the apparent lack of fabric softener on store shelves, and their response was: "are you psychic? check the shelves mid august." So expect to see a new "lighthouse" fabric softener bottle (in the new laundry scents) this August; and I'd definitely say this is when many of the other new items (kitchen hand wash line, new dish soap, etc.) will also hit! It's just a matter of a few weeks! We can do it! (Well, actually I'm not so sure, but I'm gonna try! Real hard like!)

+

Well, that was quick! Thanks to this snappy new article over on thedieline.com, we now get a really nice sneak peek of method's brand new dish soap (version 4.0!)

As I've mentioned before, they're taking their new, highly awarded (in fact they just won another one!) and lauded laundry "lighthouse" shaped bottle, and placing it on your kitchen sink! Along with that, we know now that at least one new scent will be clementine (which I'm dying to give a sniff! Clementine, mmm!) Another interesting bit is this new bottle will hold 18 oz. of dish soap, compared to the previous 25 oz. (which from the image seen on thedieline.com site, seems to have been maintained throughout all three previous bottle versions.) Not sure if this will mean a reduction in the price or not (I'd go with a not, given how everything seems to be going up, up, up! Have you eaten at Subway lately?! Oh wait, I digress...) But the extra good news is it's concentrated! So you use less! So I'd call that a win-win!

More soon! In the meantime, read this! (And... one more exclamation point! There, done.)

target a go-go

Well, everyone has been asking method what's up with the apparent lack of replenishment when it comes to their favorite dish soap being carried by Target! Many Target stores appear to be out, empty shelves, crying for more cute colored bottles! People just can't find their dishy suds! And with method announcing (via their recent Q&A chat session on Inc.com) a new dish soap in their lighthouse/laundry shaped bottle, the answers have finally been revealed!

Target has placed all the current method dish soap (mine still has it on the shelves) on clearance! And I gotta tell you (don't get all freaked out yet, as I don't know the answer) but I'm not sure if the current scents (cucumber, lavender and pink grapefruit) will make the move over to the new line, or not. From the pics we've seen, I'd say we can definitely expect one new scent! Other than that tidbit of knowledge, time will tell. method said we could expect to see the new detergent in September, but with Target already clearancing the current version out, I'd guess it might be more like mid-August!

Now, along with Target clearancing out the dish soap, they're also clearing out the go-naked gel hand wash, and all the multi-surface cleaning wipes! I'm not sure if we're about to see a new line of wipes as well, or if Target is just finished carrying them!

More information to come, don't ya know! In the meantime, I'd stock up just in case, OR there is always Lowe's Hardware for your method dish soap needs, until the new line hits the shelves!

Friday, July 9, 2010

eric (sorta) live - video!

Did you miss Eric Ryan's live Q&A session this week? If so, no fear! You can now view it in full glory over at Inc.com! (I've also included some better shots above of the new product sneak peeks. Apparently the anti-bacterial products will be called method antibac (what do you think of the name?) and will of course use natural means to kill bacteria. I still can't read the fragrances on those bottles, though. Gosh darn it!)

Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

sneak peek - (was) live!

Eric Ryan is now speaking live (see post below!) And he's already given some sneak peeks for upcoming products debuting this September (or earlier!) Above, new dish soap in the lighthouse (laundry detergent) pump! Tada!

Anti-bacterial spray cleaner (I'm sorta shocked about this one!)

And kitchen hand wash (to help remove heavy scents, such as garlic, onions, etc.)

+

I can't wait! I so wish I could read those bottles, and figure out the fragrances! Ah, patience, Nathan. Patience!

+

Apparently there is a new website coming! (Not sure if it's a new methodhome.com website, or a specialty website ala methodlaundry.)

+

They also liked to have a little fun with Eric, as well. You'll notice the mariachi band in the background. They also had dancing daisies, and some Trojan warriors throughout the hour!

chat with eric!

Wanna chat with a method co-founder? Sure you do! Well, today (Wednesday, July 7th!) is your lucky day! Head on over to Inc.com at 1 PM EST (10 AM PST) and join in on their live chat with Eric Ryan! As method says:

"go ahead, ask him anything: what inspired him? what's his favorite method product? where does he buys his skinny ties? tune in, and get live answers!"

Have fun!

lauded laundry

(Read to the bottom, you won't be disappointed!) method's new laundry detergent is getting lots of applause! From advocates, bloggers, design pros, and the industry in general! Personally, I love the new bottle! Four pumps, and it's done! I can't get over how easy it is to use. It's funny how we have to retrain ourselves when something this revolutionary comes along. Every time I pump it out, I just look into the washing machine and go "that can't be enough detergent to clean my clothes?! There's nothing in there!" But I go with the flow! Less is more, Nathan. Less is more! And I get perfect results every wash!

Recently, method has even won an International Design Excellence Award! FastCompany.com had all the dirt:

"Method Products, the eco-friendly cleaning-products company, believes it has a winning strategy for scouting ideas. "We try and identify dirty little secrets in the categories we work in," says Joshua Handy, Method's senior director of industrial design, whose business card lists "disrupter" as one of his titles.

When Handy's team researched laundry detergents, it found three key problems. First, most laundry detergents are primarily water, requiring big jugs that, as they are hauled from factory to store to home, require the burning of lots of carbon. Second, Americans are chronic overdosers -- we use far too much detergent, which is bad for the environment, not great for clothes, and rotten for washing machines. Finally, laundry rooms tend to be messy, blotched with sticky patches of lint-covered soap spills.

Method's solution: develop a highly concentrated detergent (eight times the norm) and deliver it in a rugged pump-equipped bottle. The first clue that the team was onto something big: "People wouldn't give us back our prototypes," says Handy.

To the IDEA jurors, the innovation isn't just the detergent or just the bottle; it is the whole product. "Even though the pump structure is nothing new in cosmetic packaging, combining it with ultra-concentrated detergent prompted new consumer behavior that reduces both resources and water use," says Starbucks executive Fumi Watanabe, a judge in the packaging category. "Why hasn't anybody done this before?"

+

And method was also recently invited, and attended the Dwell design conference!

"It’s crazy that a laundry detergent product is on the show floor at a design conference,” says Matthew Loyd, the vice-president of brand experience for method (or as he’s known internally, the “Brand Poo-bah.” But really, it’s not that crazy. Dwell on Design is the pages of Dwell brought to life and there are few things as necessarily for day-to-day living in the modern world than cleaning products.

method, a San Francisco–based company known for their teardrop-shape soaps and environmentally friendly attitude and approach, is one of over 200 companies sharing their wares and the stories of their products on the Los Angeles Convention Center show floor at the fifth annual Dwell on Design. Before taking the stage for panels about how to get published and prefab architecture, Dwell associate editor Miyoko Ohtake sat down with the method creative team to chat about the products and the new method Laundry Detergent, which debuted in January 2010. Here is Miyoko’s conversation with method design director (aka “Artsy Smartsy”) Sally Clarke.

What was your role in creating the new Method Laundry Detergent?
The creative team is involved in the development. Rather than being given a product at the end and told to make a label for it, we’re involved from the beginning.

How did this product come to be?
We started doing laundry and had the 3x version. People were catching on but we still thought there was a better way to do laundry. We tried a tablet monodose method but it wasn’t working so one of our designers made a prototype, showed it to Method co-founder Eric Ryan, and it was “Eureka!” We do a lot of design prototyping and experimenting..."

Read the rest of the article at Dwell.com!

+

Yet what could possibly be the biggest news out of the Dwell design conference?

"Yippee! (method) told me at Dwell on Design that there is a method softener coming out in September! I've been waiting for it. - HoganMaggie"

Looks like method is also adding fabric softener to their new "lighthouse" laundry bottle packaging (probably also in the updated detergent scents!) I think you can trust me when I say this fall is gonna rock, method products wise! Just you wait!

+

What have your experiences with the new laundry detergent and bottle been like? Pros, cons? Yays, boos? Applause, slaps across the face? Tell us!
Related Posts with Thumbnails