Japan - How often have you been cruising one hand on the wheel, down the autobahn, or M25, in your Toyota or Lexus, cool sounds on the i-pod, elbow on the window - furry dice and nodding dog optional - and reached out for a drink from that spring-loaded cup holder, conveniently placed in the dash?

Not often - right? Probably because it’s empty.

The Japanese auto industry invested millions of research and development budget to come up with the ultimate in luxury and driver convenience - and nobody actually uses it.

And let’s face it, it’s not much use for anything else, is it? You can’t use it for hiding the parking tickets in, and you can’t keep coins in it because it has a hole in the bottom.

Well, you could keep your chewing gum in it.

The Japanese packaging industry was quick come to the rescue of the auto sector and seize the market opportunity of all those cars driving around with empty cup holders.

In a moment of inspiration, they figured that if the drivers weren’t drinking cans of coffee while they were driving, they were probably chewing gum.

So now, chewing gum comes in all flavours, and in small tubs that fit these holders. Some are a masterpiece of spring-loaded engineering; squeeze the lid to pop open the closure, for one-handed operation.

If that wasn’t brilliance personified in a package, inside the tub there’s even space for a little pad of post-it notes. Post-it notes?

If you have to ask, you clearly haven’t made the grade in packaging design or thought the concept through to the logical conclusion; they’re to wrap your chewed gum in before you toss it on the pavement where somebody will step on it. Of course, in Japan tossing it on the pavement would never cross anyone’s mind, but you get the idea.

If that’s not enough, by happy coincidence since the diameter of the gum-in-a-tub packs fit the cup-holder, it also fits one of the two million drinks vending machines scattered across Japan,

by happy coincidence since the diameter of the gum-in-a-tub packs fit the cup-holder, it also fits one of the two million drinks vending machines scattered across Japan,

Therefore not only have we developed the receptacle to fill the car’s cup holder, we have more than doubled the content volume, increased the average retail price but we have also handed the brand a new distribution channel – and when all said and done; isn’t that the function of this industry?

Oh, by the way, remember, don’t put an orange closure on the top though - things could get very sticky.

Now, the next mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to develop a new pack for the underpants which these machines sell…. Strangely they’re pre-owned. On second thoughts probably we shouldn’t take that thought any further.