Injection molder Sussex IM Inc. has sold the company's Mr. Lid brand of plastic containers to a marketing company, but will continue manufacturing the products.
Mr. Lid features food storage containers with attached lids and has been on the market for years, including a previous stint being offered via television advertisements.
Las Vegas-based marketing company MLNV became the new owner earlier this year, Sussex IM said in a Nov. 29 announcement.
The two companies hope to inject new interest in the brand that eliminates the possibility of lost lids.
"We decided to make this move because we focus on custom injection molding, not marketing a brand — that's not our core focus. We know we are great at molding the Mr. Lid product; we just needed that extra horsepower in marketing. So we figured the best option was to find a partner who wanted to do just that," said Elizabeth Detampel, sales and marketing coordinator at Sussex IM, in an email interview.
Pall Musaev is the director of MLNV and shared some perspective on the deal.
"The benefit of the product was obvious — containers with attached lids. What was hidden beneath a great product was a team of manufacturing expertise that was located here in the USA that could take this great product and bring it to the world," he said in a statement.
The two companies expect to reintroduce the product to a wider audience.
"The MLNV team believes that Mr. Lid warranted a fun, bold and creative approach when being reintroduced to the market. While they have a loyal following of longtime customers, the brand needed a fresh take on an old problem — losing the lids to your containers," the companies said when revealing the deal.
Sussex IM, based in Sussex, Wis., uses a two-shot process to create Mr. Lid products, which features living hinges and comes in nine different container sizes. Mr. Lid currently is sold online at mrlid.com and through Amazon as well as "some additional retailers," Sussex IM noted.
"Combining Mr. Lid's expertise in food storage solutions with our industry-leading resources and manufacturing capabilities opens up exciting avenues for product development and market expansion. Being the exclusive manufacturer of the Mr. Lid product line allows us to maintain the high-quality of the product and for the MLNV team to focus solely on marketing and brand awareness," said Megan Tzanoukakis, president of Sussex IM, in a statement.
The deal was finalized July 1.