What are some packaging design trends for 2012?

Look for 3 packaging design trends from 2011 to carryover into 2012 and become more prevalent.

Number 1:  Keep it simple. Industry specialists are moving towards packaging designs that are unambiguous, concise, and much more simplified, thereby providing consumers with greater clarity regarding product information. This trend is not new but is expected to become more and more prevalent in 2012.

Number 2:  Open innovation. This trend of mutual collaboration between supplier and designer is becoming key to packaging design success. It guarantees that the supplier has a clear understanding of what’s required from both parties, while exposing designers to new technologies – resulting in an improved end-product for client. Custom packaging can be a complicated process when communication isn’t open and the vision of the packaging isn’t shared by all parties. But when the supplier, designer, and client work together, custom packaging can become magical.

Number 3: Sustainable packaging. When ethics and ecological concerns are translated into green packaging, consumers associate a sense of well-being and security with the product and brand at hand. Biodegradability and nanotechnology are becoming hot trends in packaging designs in all industries. Look for that to accelerate during the 2012 calendar year.

Today, we revisit wine packaging with a selection of eye-catching wine packaging designs. As popularity grows with wine, so does the sophistication to the average wine consumer. This leads to the packaging of wine becoming more vibrant taking on the character of the wine, region, and/or winemakers themselves.

TWO HOOTS

Two Hoots is a brand new fun wine that features a charismatic design. This design is intended to appeal to a young, care-free audience (Ages 20-35). Each owl character has been designed to match the characteristics of the wine varietal.

INNOCENT BYSTANDER

This Australian wine was given this striking design by Ola Gytri, a student attending Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. A typography design was chosen to enhance identity and exclusive expression. The design represents exclusivity and high class.

SNAKE BLOOD

Snake Blood wine is inspired by the Vietnamese tradition of making wine infused by snake poison. Yikes! And the packaging is dark and curious making for a perfect fit. Designed by Sasha Ermolenko, Pasha Panushkin, Julia Vanifat’eva and Lera Polybyatko, students of the British Higher School of Design, Moscow.

FIVE ROWS CRAFT WINE

The goal with this package design was to position and treat the icewine as a traditional farm staple — milk, butter, eggs… and icewine. This particular packaging embraces the charm of a farm product. The label is banded to the bottle as much of the graphics are hand drawn which is consistent with the Five Rows identity.

It’s no secret the music industry has been battered by the growth of online digital music sales. CD sales continue to be way down. The convenience of jumping on iTunes and grabbing some tunes without having to leave your home is unmistakable. Faced with that challenge, artists and labels are choosing not to completely give in to the digital revolution. Custom CD packaging is a way that artists can differentiate and offer something tangible for their fans. Going beyond jewel cases and digipaks, a lot of artists and record companies are having success customizing their packaging. These examples might be an exaggeration, as you won’t see CD packaging this elaborate everyday. Nonetheless, they’re very cool and creative.

DHNN‘s design for Beck’s 8-bit album

Vonnegut Dollhouse by Rethink

Clever Paperboard CD Packaging by Jakebox

Radical Music by SunrisePackaging

Though some are skeptical on the impact custom packaging has on consumer behavior, there are reasons why the packaging industry is one of the largest in the world. The bottom line is that companies pay lots of money for custom packaging because custom packaging is a wonderful marketing tool that contributes to growth and sales.

I ran across another study that shows the importance custom packaging has on the consumer buying process. Here are some of the highlights:

- 90% of consumers preferred buying products with packaging, 10% preferred products without packaging.

- When ranking the importance of three main characteristics of consumer products, packaging was #1 in importance:

            1. Packaging
            2. Quality
            3. Price

- On the relationship of strong brands and packaging….89% said yes that it’s important for a strong brand to feature good packaging. 11% said packaging was not an important element of a strong brand.

- When asked “Have you ever purchased a product based on it’s packaging?”, 84% said yes and 16% said no.

- 45% said that they would pay 5% more for a product with good packaging and would consider switching brands based on packaging alone.

Custom Poly Boxes

MotivAction is a performance improvement company specializing in meeting, event, incentive, recognition and learning services. They have been helping businesses get results through people since 1976. In this particular case MotivAction was developing a communications campaign for a client’s sales incentive program. The payout? A trip to Hawaii for the top achievers!

As part of their communications campaign, MotivAction wanted to create custom packaging that would be consistent with the branding they’d developed for this program.

Teaming up with our seasoned vet, Steve Sandahl, MotivAction and Sunrise Packaging created a lovely Hawaiian-themed custom poly box. The box held a mini cloth bag (wrapped in tissue paper) which held a fresh bag of Hawaiian Kona Coffee. Sunrise Packaging was able to help realize the customer’s vision by working closely with the customer from conception to fulfillment.

It’s all about differentiation. When we customize something for you, it’s yours and yours alone. We pride ourselves on listening first and packaging second. Please contact us if you have a vision and need assistance in making it a reality.

More info: Custom Poly Products

Megatrax is one of the world’s leading production music libraries, recognized by its quality and innovation in technology and services. The company wanted their promotional material to be presented on a USB flash drive. Expanding on their presentation idea, they needed a creative packaging solution for the flash drive to show their commitment to innovation. That’s when they turned to Sunrise Packaging.

Megatrax wanted  custom USB packaging with a modern look. Being solution-oriented, Sunrise Packaging rep Jason Lowe worked with Megatrax to come up with the ideal case. After working with the customer to understand their needs, Jason suggested a case featuring custom turned-edge technology with a dense presentation foam on the inside to give the case a modern clean look as well as maximum protection for the flash drive.

The foam is custom cut with a literature and USB cavity to tightly hold the company’s brochure and flash drive. The success of the project came in mid-stream as Sunrise was able to adapt on the fly and help the customer create a case that presented the company confidently.

Choosing custom packaging means choosing to differentiate.
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Permavue Album with Custom Trays

Read Naturally’s industry-leading phonics and fluency development, home support, and assessment and progress monitoring products have helped thousands of students become better readers. Their Video Workshop for Teachers is a tool that supports the proper implementation of their other materials. Because it is a high quality, high value product, Read Naturally wants those attributes to be reflected in the packaging.

Teaming up with Sunrise Packaging, Read Naturally chose a turned-edge Permavue™ album that is consistent with their reputation of providing high quality products. The outside features a turned-edge wrap that gives the packaging a classy look similar to a hardcover book. On the inside of the album, custom thermoformed trays were installed to hold the disc media and literature that comprises the video workshop. Thermoformed trays offer mass customization. No matter what your product is that you need to package, our custom tooling can find an existing mold or create one specifically for your project.

Learn more about Custom Trays.
Watch a video on how turned edge products are made

Custom USB Packaging

UBU Sports specializes in synthetic sports turf that enhances athletic performance and player safety. To educate clients on the significant differences in their various synthetic turf systems, UBU Sports wanted packaging for their promotional materials that would differentiate them and emphasize the uniqueness of their sports surfaces.

Account Manager Steve Sandahl worked with UBU Sports to create a custom turned edge USB case that would be a great representation of their company and products. Style and durability are the two main characteristics. The turned edge technology gives it the feel of a hardcover book that opens up to the inside where a piece of high density foam holds the USB flash drive securely in place. Combined with alluring graphics, this USB case is an innovative promotional package for a cutting-edge company.

Contact Sunrise Packaging today about ways to differentiate your company through packaging.

Custom Marketing Kits

Marketing kits provide a great opportunity to represent and differentiate your company or brand. Take a look at this kit for example. The customer was able to promote their company with an extraordinary marketing kit that demanded attention.

The kit is wrapped with an artificial suede-like material that wraps around the outside and inside of the piece giving it rich texture and a high class look. A gate fold opening brings you inside of the kit where you’ll see literature space in the center as well as the turned edge pockets on the inside panels. A riveted magnet closure with sharp foil stamping bring this kit together making it extremely compelling.

As you can imagine, this customer was amazed at the end result and was looking forward to the tremendous reaction they were anticipating from their customers and prospects. Custom Marketing Kits are the way to go to set yourself apart from your competitors.

Watch a video on how turned edge products are made
Contact Sunrise Packaging about Custom Marketing Kits

Metlife Custom USB Case

MetLife Home Loans was looking for a professional packaging solution for a recruiting flash demo that offers an inside look at the unique set of marketing tools that they provide to their Mortgage Consultants. Packaging the USB flash drive with this custom USB case was a great way to help distinguish their recruiting program. The case itself features turned edge technology that gives the look and feel of a hardcover book. The USB drive fits nice and snug inside and a clean piece of custom white foam.

MetLife Home Loans was equally pleased with their new custom USB case as they were with their experience working with Sunrise Packaging. Their appreciation of our responsiveness was a delight to hear as we pride ourselves on quality both in our products and our service.

More on Custom USB Drives
More on Custom USB Packaging
Watch a video on how turned edge products are made