Upscale Marketing Promotions

USB sticks might not be used as much as they once were, but that doesn't mean that we can't repurpose some of their inspirations. When we think about upscale marketing promotions, this is actually our top inspo for compact and effective packaging. Meet the Flashpad. 

The FlashPad is one of our flagship containers. As we said above, we initially designed it to hold custom USB drives, but the appeal goes far beyond just memory sticks. Car dealerships, mortgage companies, universities, and more have all utilized our FlashPad for different promotions. Here are just a few of the great and innovative approaches clients take. 

Marketing Promotions That Go Beyond the FlashDrive

The FlashPad is a versatile packaging style that can speak volumes about your organization with just a little context. 

  • Gift item. Initially, the FlashPad was a piece of conference swag. While conferences might feel like a thing of the past in these COVID-times, mortgage companies and realtors are repurposing that gift scenario by using FlashPads to hold gift cards or other small tokens of appreciation for clients. 
  • Key fobs. Car dealerships and salesmen love that final wave goodbye off the lot. Our FlashPads give them a little more oomph by commemorating the new car experience by housing the extra keyfob of a new vehicle... Alongside the helpful sales person's business card. 
  • Digital books, music, photos and more. Upscale marketing never sleeps. And that's especially true for artists of all types. Whether your medium is music, words, or photos, the FlashPad provides a safe home for your work and also provides an opportunity to give your users a little more. 

These examples barely touch on the different ways that the FlashPad has met the needs of many businesses and products. Take a minute and reflect on your marketing needs. We guarantee that this might be the answer for more than one thing. If you are ready to talk and learn more about Sunrise Packaging, give us a call!

Premium Brand Refresh or Rebrand?

Let's talk about brands. And specifically, a brand refresh. 

Before we dig in too deep, let's clarify the difference between a refresh and a redesign. As Creative.Co writes:

A brand refresh is a makeover for your company... Think of it like a personal makeover ... a better haircut, up-to-date outfit, and new shoes that transform how a person is perceived. It's the same with your brand.

Rebranding can be a complete redesign... A transformation, a new identity and brand system for the same name. And with the new logo design—fresh messaging, a reinvented visual system and a transformed marketing program to catapult the organization forward.

While rebranding might in the cards for your company, it's not something that can be implemented overnight. Many organizations opt for the refresh - and refresh, and refresh - ultimately landing a little further away each time. 

A brand refresh seems straighforward enough. Update the stylesheet for the website, update the brand logos wherever they appear, etc. But for things that are a little less dynamic or harder to change--like boxes or custom packaging--the refresh isn't quite a straightforward.

Applying a Brand Refresh to Packaging Options

If it's not in the budget to completely toss the old packaging and buy new that corresponds with the refresh, there are options available. Much of it depends on the type of packaging in which you have invested. 

For example, stickers or new wraps are quick, easy ways to hide an old brand. You can also work with our team to look into new finishing options that can help disguise the old brand in different ways. We've worked with companies that leaned in completely to their brand refresh by designing a customer-focused experience that included new packaging encompassing the old packaging. 

Ultimately, it's up to your company and your budget with how far-reaching you want to take the packaging refresh.

Update Your Brand, Update Your Packaging

A brand refresh needs to extend across your entire portfolio to be effective. It can cause confusion and dissonance to see different logos, colors and other attributes for the same company. We know it's a big decision for any company to make. But when it's time to update, Sunrise Packaging can help you make the transition as seamless as possible!

Handmade Boxes: The Je Ne Sais Quoi of Packaging

The value of handmade boxes can be immeasureable, but luckily, it's part and parcel of what we do at Sunrise Packaging. 

Crafting value out of a variety of materials takes the talent of many with the vision and trust of our customers. It's truly an honor to be entrusted to bring the desires of our customers to life. And it's not a responsibility we take lightly. Every package we create is imbued with that "je ne sais quoi" or that certain something.  They're unique packaging styles. Attractive boxes for distinguished promotions. To us, it simply comes down to a simple fact: we ensure that quality is present at every level of creation when it comes to our packaging projects. 

That Certain Something of Handmade Boxes

Of course, crafting unique packaging is more than the physical labor of building handmade boxes. There's design work and proper selection of decorative elements. The purpose of the box or packaging helps determine this particular element. For example, our decorative or display kits might look drastically different from the front open boxes in the photos to the side. 

In the example here, the presentation packaging style is evident. There's a magnetic flap to aid in easy opening and viewing of the product. We opted for offset printing and matte lamination for a look that's polished yet functional. These are pieces that take a different skillset than the manual box construction.

Crafting Our Clients' Visions

When a prospective client comes to us with an idea, we can work out specifications fairly quickly. We can leverage our decades of experience to advise on best practices for various industries as well as come up with a sliding scale of costs depending on the elements a client wants to include. But one thing we always bring to our projects is ... well, that hard to describe factor. You know it when you see it, and we guarantee that we bring it to your project. 

Ready to talk more about the hard-to-describe quality you're seeking? Talk to us today.

Sample Kits Speak Up

Finding ways to leverage branding is a goal of marketing divisions across the world. Depending on the product and the organization, this looks different when it comes to packaging. But sometimes, it's nothing less than serendipitous. Like with these sample kits we created for OCA energy drink.

Designing Sample Kits

As you might guess, sample kit design varies widely. Products require different packaging styles, which in turn can inform the variety of options available. Sunrise has experience in accommodating many different factors. While we might not say that the sky is the limit, we can make a lot of things happen. 

But while some features might be compromised, things like color, content and a vibrant presence never need to be. The sample kits we created for the beverage to the side are great examples of this. Food or drink items have special needs that a non-perishable item doesn't. But in this design, we were able to cleanly integrate everything from solid foam for item safety to nutritional information. We're in love with the bright colors and quite literal pop of this particular product design.

Frustration Free Packaging

Frustration free packaging extends to making compromises on your ideas and vision. At Sunrise, we go above and beyond to make sure that your packaging and box design for sample kits is fully realized to the best of our ability. No matter what your budget or market regulations might indicate, we can provide your company with a range of options and recommendations. 

If you've got ideas, we've got solutions. Let's meet in the middle and chat.

Software Company Marketing

Software company marketing efforts should be in alignment with a few things, and packaging or boxing of the physical components should be high on the list. Getting it right takes an understanding of your target market. Customer expectations, needs, and desires can help you decide how to design a software box. Alongside your branding and historic trends, obviously. 

Sunrise Packaging has worked with many software organizations to design packaging for their products. While it might feel like most software is sold as downloads vs physical boxes, there are still some people who prefer the actual box style. These design decisions can also inform your online aesthetic (and vice versa).

Getting It Right: Packaging for Software Company Marketing

Understanding your customer base is the top way to ensure that you're delivering the right box or packaging style. As we noted above, many people are comfortable downloading software packages online. Others are not. Even if it means that the box they're buying off the shelf is empty and only holds a download key inside. The buyer might even have their machines offline for security reasons, meaning that they couldn't download something off the internet anyways. Slow speeds in remote regions or access limits are other reasons someone might purchase the physical software as well. 

For those who are looking for that physical piece of software company marketing, the box is an important landmark for them. They are looking for familiar name and branding, as well as other standardized types of content. Engage with these people to be able to market to them effectively. In the example to the side, you can see how we assist software companies in designing USB drive packaging that keeps their software secure.

Engage With Your Audience

Audience engagement is the key to a lot of business. Knowing who they are, what they want and what problem your product solves for them will give you the empathy necessary to meet to their needs. This also means that you won't overwhelm them with options by providing them with the *right size* the first time. 

When you're ready to talk more about packaging design and options, talk to Sunrise!

Quality Packaging is Customer Experience

Customer experience is a somewhat new concept. It basically takes the literal needs of the customer into consideration in all matters of a product's design or marketing. Radical idea, huh?

But it's not as simple as the old saying "the customer is always right." Rather, it looks at multiple factors and arrives at best practices that serve a larger market segment and not just a single customer. It's a field that requires research, design, and any engineering efforts to work closely in alignment together. It's an investment. But it's one that we've seen pay off in huge ways for packaging efforts. 

Packaging Customer Experience

So what does customer experience look like in the packaging industry?

Well, let's say that your product is intended to be used by the baby boomer generation. From a high level, what do we know about this group of folks?

  • They're aging. They may be losing vision, hand strength, and all those other not-so-fun things that come with aging.
  • As they retire in larger numbers, they don't have the income coming in that they did once, so impulse purchases probably aren't as common. 
  • What other things come to mind for this age group?

These are all things that packaging can address. Using magnetic closure can ensure that the box stays closed but easily openable vs a latch or a pressure-activated mechanism. There are also ways to reduce cost in packaging, reducing the overall product cost as well.

Packaging for the People

These are just a few ways in which packaging initiatives can address the needs of your customer base. Building a customer experience foundation takes time and investment, but it's attainable. And it will pay off in dividends in customer retention and customer advocacy. Two things that can't really be downplayed in today's market.

At Sunrise, we've created packaging for a variety of industries and easily cross pollinate ideas. We take inspiration from healthcare, sports, and more to create an adaptable style that is unique to the needs of your customer, and more specifically, your product. Talk to our team today to learn more about customer experience in packaging design.

Design Dynamic Retail Packaging

Retail packaging is one of the most fun challenges when it comes to box design. The purpose, naturally, is to grab the attention of the intended consumer base. But what's the best method to do so? Is it by adhering to established standards or breaking the grid? What colors, typefaces, textures, etc will appeal to your customers? Do they want a magnetic box lid, or a snug setup box?

Dynamic packaging is a blend of all of these. For example, the setup box is the norm for most tech devices (i.e. smartphones, tablets, etc). But you definitely have a reaction when you see the clean silhouette on a white Apple box, or the metallic lettering on a Samsung device package. There's an artistic quality to it, but it's still functional and within the realm of our expectations. 

Retail Packaging with a Bang

Creating an impact doesn't have to completely usurp user expectations. Packaging styles have additional benefits beyond just the visual appeal, and there's a very real functional need for certain design conventions. Like the example to the side. 

This box is designed to hold a puzzle, and it's the perfect example of when it's important to stick to conventions and where to deter. What are the user needs for this type of packaging? Well, people generally need to know what kind of puzzle they're putting together and how to put the pieces together. However, where we add a new element is by bringing in a magnetic closure to the box. Most puzzle boxes simply slide together, but the cardboard makes it extra secure and strong. There are no pieces dropping out this box, that's for sure.

Excite, But Don't Upset

To get the attention of your customer base is a top goal (okay, maybe THE top goal). But rocking the boat to the point of capsizing is not. Finding that sweet spot, where your packaging is interesting but not distracting, is part of that. How do you plan to attract your customers? What do you want to achieve with your packaging?

Whether you know the answers to these questions or not, Sunrise can help you get to the next phase of retail packaging creation. Contact our team today!

Branded Boxes for Luxury Real Estate

The real estate market is one of the most subjective markets out there. From trends in color and design affecting if a home feels *dated* to the literal supply and demand of housing, a realtor needs to have capital-h Hustle if they want to make a name for themselves. And that goes double for the luxury real estate market. There are plenty of tools out there, from social media to branded boxes, that can assist realtors in this end goal. But it takes practice and in-depth understanding to wield them well. 

The New Toolbox: Branded Boxes & Tik Tok

Yup, you read that correctly. Tik Tok has emerged as a tool for realtors to move high end real estate. 

As more and more brands work through the noise and are able to keep up with the swiftly-changing Tik Tok trends, they also need to be able to stick in customer's minds beyond the smartphone. Branded boxes are a great tool for several reasons.

First, luxury branded boxes literally emulate the realtor brand. If you're looking to create a persona that conveys high-end living, a branded box should be high on the to do list. Photographable and highly shareable, it's an opportunity for unlimited exposure. Secondly, using your branded box as a thank you gift to your buyers or sellers ensures that, in addition to the content marketing piece, you're also going to be talked about with their circles. 

It is possible to tap into influencer marketing tactics without engaging with full-on influencers. By creating and sharing things that others will, in turn, share, the impact snowballs. Start an avalanche with your branded boxes from Sunrise Packaging. We've worked with countless luxury brands and know how to create high end packaging. Even on a budget. 

Reach out today!

Packaging the Fan Experience

When you go to a professional sports event (okay, think back to pre-Covid times), what do you remember about the fan experience?

Expectations and times are changing regarding what sports fans expect when they attend a professional event. Here in Minnesota, we might never live down jokes about the noise level of the Metrodome and terrible sightlines. However, take a look at US Bank Stadium or Target Field, considered one of the ballparks in the nation. We've upped our game, and the team staff have worked to create unique experiences for every attendee. And it's possible to to convey that same kind of experience even off the field. 

Boxing Up a Fan Experience

Designing a package to share the experience of live sports is a tall order, but it's one we enjoy. We recently worked with Diamond Arctic Ice on the project to the side. This was no ordinary off-the-field experience. 

This company created a Game Day Experience Kit for Iowa Hawkeye fans. It's a cocktail kit, tailored to the nth degree. It holds glasses, hats, and their flagship product: ice. The offset printing and matte laminated wrap are signposts to any Hawkeye fan, and upon opening it up, consumers have a fun display that works with any game. It's a great example of a thoughtful fan experience. Swipe through the pictures to see what we mean.

Interim Fan Fun

While we're home and waiting out coronavirus, fans have been hard pressed to find the right fit when it comes to sports. Whether the winter brings another bubble or otherwise, you can still package up the fan fun and send them something to brighten the season. Reach out to us today to talk sports!

Agency PR Kits

Working with agencies is a wild ride. We never quite know where the ideas will take us, and that's especially true when we partner with You Are Here or YAH Agency. A recent project for custom PR kits introduced us to their style, brand, and what they mean by "experience agency."

Industries change with time and technology, and that's especially true when it comes to advertising. Not only is this an industry reliant on finding consumer trends and perspectives, the last decade has brought innumerable changes in the forms of social media, smartphones and more. Being a creative firm nowadays means more than just creativity; there's a role for data scientists, paid search specialists, and of course - experience builders. 

PR Kits & Crafting Experiences

So what is an experience in this context?

Per YAH Agency, crafting experiences connects consumers with products. The actual implementation varies from space to space and product to product, but the end goal is the same: to enhance the positive impact of a product on the public perception. 

In the example to the side, you can see the Coca-Cola themed box we created for an experience at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.  DFW is one of the busiest airports in the world. With that kind of foot traffic, the potential visibility is massive. These boxes were created to make an impact but also to share products effectively. They are a showcase for shirts, bottles, a map, postcards, and a keepsake. 

What's the Story?

Think of an experience as a story. What kind of story do you want to tell? What products help you tell that story... And what will remind customers of that positive interaction they had with this brand?

Coca-Cola is an interesting brand in that it has instant recognition, but building experiences like these deepen the consumer connection. We're a fan of helping to craft these kinds of experiences. When you're ready to chat more about the kind of story and experience you want to craft, reach out to our team.