Just a box

We’ve all seen it a hundred times. You buy a child a present, you’re all excited to see their face, they strip the wrapping off and look at the toy… then proceed to play with the box!

While a child’s imagination is most likely to be the cause of such phenomena, it does give us a few clues as to the importance of the outside, as well as the inside.

We talk a lot about positioning. Most often in discussions around building brands. The process is just as vital in packaging as well.

If you don’t think that packaging matters, just ask people what their perception is on the price difference between Black and Gold Teabags and a box of beautifully packaged T2 teabags.

I’m not saying that the product doesn’t matter, but I am saying that the packaging can have an enormous impact upon how a consumer views the value of that item.

We all want ‘nice stuff’. It’s become part of our makeup. It’s an important part of most people’s image and it’s certainly an important part of a consumer’s decision making process.

Never more so, than with the purchase of a gift. The last thing you want to do is give someone a present and them think that you didn’t spend any money on them! Jeez, if I spend $200 on a bottle of perfume, I want her to know that it’s expensive (other than the fact I’ve forgotten to remove the price tag on the bottom of the box!).

Labels, boxes, packets etc all need to be carefully crafted and executed to do a job. They are part of the visual communication for your brand and they impact directly on what you can charge. We’ve seen many examples where a shift in packaging positioning has had a direct correlation to the sale of that product and the margin that was able to be achieved.

Again, I’m not saying you can whack a fancy label on a crap product and pop it in a flash looking box and charge a premium (although I can point you in the direction of a number of those examples too!!). But I can guarantee you that your packaging and product presentation will impact your sales and your margins.

Like all marketing these days, we have to work smarter and be more innovative than ever to develop and create solutions for packaging that are not only stunning and impactful but also cost effective and economical. It’s a difficult balance and one that takes skill and an appreciation for what is possible through paper engineering, printers, stocks and embellishments.

When it comes to designing packaging, we’re big kids and it’s something we all get excited about. Creating a unique, custom piece of packaging is a real joy. There’s a great level of satisfaction in seeing a well crafted and perfectly executed package sitting on a shelf.

I guess the toddler is alive and well in all of us!