Mr. Lid (Plastic Storage Containers) – A Marketing Review

That was another delicious meal!

The freshly roasted Spamburgers tasted great with the stewed Brussels sprouts and side of fresh kale.  While everybody finished their Spamburgers, you noticed that both of the kids failed to eat their mandatory number of Brussels sprouts.  Both of the kids quickly vanish from the table before you can confront them about their uneaten vegetables.

Well, let’s just see how they enjoy having them for breakfast, you chuckle to yourself.  This isn’t the first time that they have skipped important parts of their meal, and you know that it won’t be their last.

You walk over to the cupboard and quickly find a plastic container larger enough for the Brussels sprouts.  But there’s no lid!  You frantically rummage through the cupboard, checking underneath other bowls and containers.  You take the search into the next cupboard, but there’s still no lid.

Grrrrr.  Where in the &#$% did that lid go?  I know I placed it in the cupboard after it was washed, you tell yourself.

Oh, if only there was a solution to your incredibly disorganized cupboards.  The Brussels sprouts are going to have to go to waste as you don’t have any other plastic containers with matching lids.  It seems that the kids won the battle against yucky dinner . . . this time.

While preparing to take the Brussels sprouts outside and launching them across the yard with your trusty slingshot, an interesting television commercial catches your eye.

Mr. Lid website — www.MrLid.com

What’s this?  Mr. Lid?  Are they freakin’ serious?

Mr. Lid TV commercial

Yes, apparently these people are freakin’ serious.  It’s a plastic container with a lid attached to it.  The level of genius here cannot be measured.

Let’s take a closer look and review the Mr. Lid plastic container television commercial.  Perhaps there’s more to this product than what we’re seeing.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Where did I put that f&$%ing lid?!?

The Mr. Lid advertisement begins with a woman frantically trying to find a matching lid for her plastic container.  It’s chaos as she has about thirty containers scattered across her table and twice as many lids.  One can only wonder how all of that counter space behind her can be so neat and tidy, yet she apparently has the organizational skills of a rabid cow.

How can this poor woman find a matching lid in that huge mess?

Does she simply need some basic organizational skills?  Should she just give up and hire a third grade student to organize her plastic containers?

Mr. Lid TV commercial – It’s a plastic container . . . with an attached lid!

No, what this woman needs is Mr. Lid.

Mr. Lid happens to be a plastic container with an attached lid.  A hinge on one side of the container always keeps the lid with the container.  I bet you’re all jealous now for not thinking of this ingenious idea.

We’re also informed that the Mr. Lid is “green.”  I’m assuming this qualifies as the “reuse” in the whole reduce, reuse, recycle process in the world of the tree hugging greenies.  These Mr. Lid containers are plastic, but it’s not indicated whether or not they are made from recycled plastic.  Normally you’d hear about it if that was the case.

My fiancée and I reuse the plastic to-go containers from a local Chinese restaurant.  They’re very sturdy containers with great lids.  Since we’re washing and reusing the plastic containers, we’re also being “green.”  On top of that, we have so many of those great to-go containers that we recycle all the new ones that we receive.  Do we get double points since we’re both reusing and recycling plastic containers from the same source?

Mr. Lid TV commercial – This highly advanced concept even has a patent.

And how do you store your Skittles?

Do you use keep them in a plastic resealable bag?  I used to use plastic bags when sneaking candy into movie theaters, but that concept was a little too easy.  Now I’m going to try it with one of those Mr. Lid containers.

I bet the rest of you resort to using any random container to store your Skittles.  Yeah, and I’m sure it’s a frustrating experience as you spend hours on end trying to find a matching lid, too.  See, you should just get Mr. Lid containers and save yourself from all of that unnecessary stress and aggravation.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Whew!  These leftovers smell worse than that episode in the bathroom last night.

In a public service announcement, the Mr. Lid television commercial reminds us that air and bacteria can spoil food.  If wonder if that’s why people use air-tight containers for their leftovers . . .

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Let’s hope the family eats all of that food before it starts to spoil.

That’s right!  People do use air-tight containers to help preserve leftovers!

Here we see what an ideal refrigerator looks like when the people stores a ton of fresh food with the Mr. Lid plastic containers.  But what’s special about this versus using other plastic containers with lids?  It looks neat and uniform, but how many families really care about that versus just finding a plastic container the right size for whatever food they’re trying to preserve?

Mr. Lid TV commercial – I’ve seen worse organization skills in high school lockers.

Uh oh!

This this how your cabinet looks?  Come on.  Be honest.  Are your organizational skills so poor that Kindergarten students shake their head in shame?  If your cabinets look anywhere near this bad, perhaps simply getting Mr. Lid isn’t going to help you.  What you need is a combination of willpower and basic skills taught in preshool.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Look at all of those snacks!

And here’s that very same cabinet, but this time it’s organized with the Mr. Lid containers.  In addition to all of those delicious looking snacks, do you see something else, perhaps a fault with Mr. Lid?

Sure, it looks nice and neat when you manage to stack plastic containers correctly.  Our cabinets look great when we stack the containers and place all of the matching lids beneath them.  It works great when you keep the similar sizes together (a.k.a. using common sense and basic geometry).

But that’s not really possible with Mr. Lid.

As you can see, the lid is always attached to the plastic container.  Look at how much extra room it takes to stack those containers.  When you stack Mr. Lid containers, remember that you’ll need double the amount of space to also account for the lid.  Can you handle losing that much storage room in your cabinets?

The same is going to be true when you place Mr. Lid containers in your dishwasher.  Remember that with the attached lid, the amount of space you have to work with is quickly decreased.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – A blood bath with tomato sauce.

Nooooooooo!

A weak plastic container fell and hit the floor.  Now there’s a big mess with tomato sauce everywhere.  Oh, how could somebody be so careless?  Is there any way to prevent such a spill from occurring again?

Mr. Lid TV commercial – And the sauce is *still* in the container!

Yes, Virginia, there is a way to help prevent accidental spills from weak plastic containers.

Allegedly the Mr. Lid container can do just that.  As long as you close and lock the lid as instructed, then, according to the example in this commercial, the container will stay closed if it falls to the floor.

This may be a good solution to those people who are accident prone or have young kids.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Open wide, here comes the airplane!

Up next we’re informed that Mr. Lid is non-toxic and safe for both dishwashers and microwaves.  Oddly enough, many of my other plastic containers are the same way.  Eerie.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – If you don’t return home with this container, I’m going to put your &#%$ in it!

What’s one of the best things about Mr. Lid?

That’s right.  The lid is attached to the container, so it never gets lost.  Imagine that.

As far as this example in the commercial, is Mr. Lid supposed to be functioning as the kid’s lunch box?  I mean, who sends their kid to school with their lunch in a generic plastic container of all things?  That’s one way for bullies to find weak targets.  Personally, I was always a fan of just using a small paper bag to carry my lunches to school, just like everybody else.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Look at those carrot and celery flavored chips.

You can also make your friends jealous when you show your fancy Mr. Lid containers at parties.  Make sure you write your name on them first, otherwise somebody else may try to claim ownership of them.

If you’re going to use the Mr. Lid plastic containers as serving dishes, make sure that the lid side of the container faces the wall.  It’ll be awkward for the people to keep lifting or needing to reach around the lid when they want something in the container.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Displaying your nuts . . . and bolts, nails and screws.

It even works in the garage!  Holy cow!  Will the wonders never cease?

I wonder if my other plastic containers also work in the garage . . .

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Help keep Barkey’s food neat and fresh.

And it can even store dog food.

That is, it can store some of the dog’s food.  When we purchase a big forty-pound bag of dog food for our canine, we need a significantly larger container than that to store and help keep it fresh.

Mr. Lid TV commercial – It can even store some toys!

It feels like the Mr. Lid advertisement is splitting hairs with these recent examples of what you can do with plastic containers.  Using it in a garage, storing some dog food, holding a few toys for the kids, arts & crafts supplies, etc.  I mean, how many other plastic containers can do those same exact tasks if not better?

What makes the Mr. Lid containers so special in those examples?  Anything?  Anything at all?

Mr. Lid TV commercial – Money, money, money, money, moneeeeeey.

Here we’re told to stop spending money on all of those flimsy containers.  You know, those containers that you cannot stack correctly, the ones that have bad lids, and the containers that are toxic and will probably kill you if you try to eat out of them.

So are we supposed to throw away, errrrr, recycle our plastic containers and simply re-stock our cabinets with the Mr. Lid version?  Yeah, that sounds plausible.  But what if my plastic containers stack well, don’t take up much space, are great at holding and preserving food items, and are dishwasher and microwave safe?  Should I throw out those plastic containers as well because the lids don’t stay permanently attached to them?

Mr. Lid TV commercial – The BIG promotion!

At the end of the advertisement we’re hit with the BIG promotion, something that you will not find in the stores.  Not only can we purchase a 10-pack of Mr. Lid plastic containers (four 4-oz containers, two 8-oz containers, two 16-oz containers, and two 32-oz containers), but they’ll throw in a second 10-pack for FREE.  All we have to do is pay a little bit extra in shipping & handling fees.

The TOTAL COST of the Mr. Lid plastic container promotion comes to $25.90 ($10 + $7.95 S&H + $7.95 S&H (for the “free” set of containers)).

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Mr. Lid container is a plastic container with a lid that always stays attached to it.  That’s it.

It’s an extremely simple concept.  In fact, the concept is so simple that the vast majority of the advertisement is filled with scenarios that would work with almost any other plastic container, not just Mr. Lid.

A promotion like the one for Mr. Lid would most likely be appealing to those people just starting out and they need new storage containers.  If you already have a cabinet full of plastic containers and their lids, it’s very doubtful that you’re going to throw them away and purchase this set of containers.

One of the key things to remember here is that the lid always stays attached to the Mr. Lid containers.  They’re going to require a fairly large amount of space when it comes to storing and putting them in the washing machine.  Yes, you can stack them in your cabinets, but you also need to save room for the lids.

When you really sit down and compare the Mr. Lid with other plastic containers, you’re really splitting hairs when it comes down to true differences.  This is evident in the advertisement and many of the asinine examples that we see, such as the highly disorganized people.

On the Mr. Lid website, did anybody notice the slightly wacky slogan?

It says, “You Never Lose the Lid!”  Wouldn’t it be better to say, “You’ll Never Lose the Lid!” as in you will not lose it?

One of the funniest things about Mr. Lid is the name.  I can just see it now:

– “I have this great new plastic container.”

– – “What’s it called?”

– “Mr. Lid!”

– – “Hahahahahaha!  No, really, what’s it called?”

A ridiculous name like Mr. Lid reminds me from a scene in one of the greatest spoof movies of all time . . .

Spaceballs (1987) – (c) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Come on!  Mr. Lid for a name?  Really?  You guys could have at least tried to have a more original product name than that one.

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All of the Mr. Lid commercial images are screenshots of a TV commercial currently available on YouTube and the product’s website.  For more product information, please visit the company’s website at www.MrLid.com.

RellimZone.com is not affiliated with Mr. Lid.