Clever, innovative packaging sparks the imagination and draws attention to a product. So often companies neglect packaging all together and miss a big marketing opportunity. But then there’s imaginative packaging like the examples below that go the extra mile and bring a product to life through packaging. A less is more approach with minimal package design focuses on a strong visual rather than taglines and bullet points. Who said packaging has to be boring?
You probably know by now what a QR Code is because they’re showing up everywhere- on the television screen, product packaging, etc. They’ve become so popular in the past few years due to the extremely high growth of smartphones. QR (Quick Response) Codes are a new approach to content delivery for marketers to connect consumers with a brand. They are great for marketing because they’re free to create, scan fast, have a very high error tolerance, and can link to content in many different ways to interact with consumers. QR Codes are already widely used in Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea while the rest of the world is now adopting the technology to a larger degree.
When focusing on the high error tolerance that QR Codes have, 30% tolerance in readability, designers and developers are now taking this technology to the next level. By creatively designing QR Codes, you make your 2D barcode stand out. Further, it adds a human element to the otherwise cold and techie appearance. Here’s five clever examples of designer QR Codes.
TRUE BLOOD
M&M’s
HELP JAPAN
MAGIC HAT BREWERY
AYARA THAI RESTAURANT
I recently ran across an article that addressed the “Power of Packaging” written by packaging expert Steve Kazanjian. As I’ve tried to put the importance of product packaging into words, I couldn’t say it better than Steve. The article, published on Ad Age, was a slam dunk. Here are some excerpts:
“Packaging is far more that a product’s vessel; it is the physical manifestation of a brand experience. Because of this, packaging should be a critical piece of a brand’s integrated communication strategy”
This is a profound statement regarding packaging. Steve goes on to explain that 100% of a brand’s purchasers interact with the packaging. They touch it, hold it, open it, store it, and dispose of it. At each point of interaction lies an opportunity to create a brand impression. A few examples Kazanjian uses are a follows:
1. The cork bottle stopper for Grey Goose Vodka cues the customer into a connoisseur experience which drives a high price point for the product. Would Grey Goose’s brand be as effective with a screw cap? Definitely not.
2. Lets look at orange juice. When packaged in a clear bottle, it communicates freshness. When orange juice comes in a carton, it says “Pasteurized”. Never thought of it before but I agree 100%.
In 2011, marketers are focusing heavily on social media to create highly personalized brand experiences while overlooking the effectiveness of packaging. Meanwhile, consumers are seeking rich experiences with brands and packaging. Subtle visual and emotional cues that good packaging can provide earns customer loyalty. Packaging is powerful and pays huge dividends to companies who utilize it effectively.
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Bot enhanced water launched in 2007 as a kids beverage. It is a slightly sweet, low calorie flavored water that targeted mothers. Since its release, the beverage has been fully embraced by adults prompting a change in packaging. TDA Boulder gave the packaging a new look as Bot enhanced water has recently relaunched as an adult-targeted beverage.
The new bottle features a modern looking white dot pattern with a solid color background for each flavor. The design is simple gives the beverage a stronger shelf presence. The previous design featured a white background with different colored kid characters for each flavor. The names of the flavors also changed to appeal to an adult audience. Previous flavors were simple and general: grape, orange, berry, etc. The new flavors names include: concord grape, key lime, blue plum, valencia organge, and so on.
So whether you like the new or old design better, Bot Beverage made a great move. They recognized who was embracing their product and changed their packaging to appeal to a broader audience within their new target market.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
If you haven’t heard of Angry Birds or Farmville, you have been living under a rock. These are just two of the many games that have transformed the trend of social gaming. Social gaming is playing games as a way of social interaction, via social networks like Facebook. Gaming is not only for the stereotyped teens, now moms, business execs, and retirees are reshaping the demographics of who a gamer is. The two top activities people do online is social networking and gaming, so its no wonder social gaming has become so popular.
Social gaming is not only keeping users entertained, it is also helping companies market and advertise their brands. Marketers use social gaming to reach a wide variety of people. It also gives them the opportunity to target specific groups of people by uncovering their preferences, habits, and acquaintances via social networks. This is where targeted advertising comes into play. Companies are leveraging their brands to create experiences that exist within the games to encourage engagement and interaction. For example, you can get a pair of Nike tennis shoes for your Avatar. The idea is to incorporate businesses and brands into the gaming network instead of overloading users with ads. By integrating brands into games, users will have the chance to interact with the brand instead of being attacked by numerous ad campaigns.
Social gaming enables an interaction to take place. This is the first step in attracting users to a brand, product, or service. By integrating brands into a game, it allows users to have fun with the brand and get to know it. If a user’s avatar wears Nike shoes, the user may be more inclined to buy a pair of Nike shoes for themselves.
Have you ever wondered what crowdsourcing is? I have heard of it, but never fully understood what it was. For starters, the name crowdsourcing came from combining crowd and outsourcing. By definition, crowdsourcing is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community. Still confused? Well when a company has a problem they usually hire someone to perform the necessary procedures to fix it. Now a company will involve a crowd to help them solve their problem. A larger group of people has a higher potential of finding a better solution than compared to one person. So the basic idea then is to tap into the collective intelligence of a group of people to perform business related tasks.
Crowdsourcing increases productivity, while also allowing to hear feedback from more than one individual. A lot of businesses are using crowdsourcing to gain insight and solve problems. As social media has become the way we communicate, crowdsourcing is becoming more and more popular. Businesses may use crowdsourcing to get opinions on a new logo design, voting on a product design, or rank songs and movies. Crowdsourcing can be used for any purpose a business needs.
Sony used crowdsourcing to get people from untapped audiences the chance to think of new ways to tackle the sustainability challenges we face. This started in September of 2010 when Sony set up an online open forum. PepsiCo also dabbled in crowdsourcing last year when they created their Refresh Project campaign. They asked for customer’s favorite ideas for community involvement and they would fund the ideas that got the most votes. Mob4Hire is one of the world’s largest mobile research and testing companies and they used crowdsourcing to test products.
Crowdsourcing connects businesses with their consumers and produces collaboration. It gives businesses the chance to hear what a group of people have to say to get more feedback and opinions.
Social media has encompassed our world and lifestyles. Not only is social media used for personal reasons, but now businesses have put their mark on social media. Marketing via social media is a great way for businesses to get connected with a vast amount of people at the same time. It creates communication among consumers and has the potential to attract new ones. One of the main benefits of using social media is that it is free and easy to use. All you basically have to do is create a profile and let the marketing begin! Keep in mind that content is key to having a successful social media campaign. If your content is not interesting or useful, you will have no luck with social media.
Social media allows you to share, network, publish, and discuss. Although social media has these benefits for businesses, it is hard to decide which ones to use. There are so many social media outlets to choose from that it can get confusing. Let’s take a look at the most popular social media networks and what benefits they provide.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn sets the stage for networking with business professionals. It allows you to personally brand your business and market yourself to others within your industry. It is also a great outlet for providing knowledgeable content that informs and educates users. Lead generation is the most valuable outcome of using LinkedIn.
Facebook: Facebook has more than half a billion users, making it a great way to share a message and reach a large amount of people simultaneously. It opens up a communication portal and creates social interaction. Facebook works great as a promotional tool. You can promote your products, services, and events to a mass audience, giving your business the opportunity to expand. Frequent and interesting posts will help to keep users attracted to your business.
Twitter: Twitter is your outbound messaging tool. It consists of tweeting 140 characters or less messages to users. These tweets are short and concise, creating a social buzz. This buzz creates interaction with users. While you are tweeting it exposes your business and brand, and then you get to hear who is talking about you and what they are saying. Twitter is all about listening to others through feedback.
YouTube: Known as the largest video sharing community, YouTube is also a marketing and advertising tool. It gets an informative and positive message right in front of existing and/or potential customers. Creating and sharing a video on YouTube provides the opportunity to share knowledge, market products, show off expertise, and connect with users. Videos that are compelling and entertaining will catch the attention of users, also creating interaction for your business.
I will admit that I finally signed up for Twitter a week ago, so I am a few years behind. I didn’t really understand the importance of Twitter until I hopped on the bandwagon. I was confused by all the hash marks and other symbols, that I didn’t recognize how powerful Twitter is as a business and marketing tool. Using 140 characters or less, Twitter can help any business promote and share its marketing efforts to a vast amount of people. Since Twitter is one of the largest social media outlets in the world, it has also become a new form of communication. Twitter is used to share content. Businesses want to share content to attract potential customers. So here’s a crazy idea: businesses can share their content on Twitter to attract customers to their company.
Twitter may seem confusing at first, but it is actually easy to use and provides many benefits to businesses.
Here are some of the benefits Twitter can bring to businesses:
Those are just a few benefits Twitter provides for businesses and marketers. Twitter also allows you to unleash your creative side. You can customize your profile, add a picture, and create a descriptive bio. Creativity combined with interesting and knowledgeable tweets will allow any business to be successful on Twitter. So the question is: to tweet or not to tweet? I will let you decide.
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.
QR codes (quick response) are those black and white symbols that can be found on all types of packaging, print ads, and billboards. These codes provide a wealth of information such as text, websites, and other data that is embedded and decoded with a mobile device. All this mobile device needs is a camera and the down-loadable app and the information is unleashed. Usually QR codes are embedded with some type of promotional tool such as a contest, special offer, or an unique website. It is a great way for marketers to engage and attract consumers. These codes are designed to invite customers to participate, discover, share, save, and interact with brands.
Sun-Maid, the famous raisin brand, is utilizing QR codes to promote the animated movie by DreamWorks, Kung Fu Panda 2. Sun-maid has put these codes on their packaging to take customers to a special website where they have a chance to win a trip to Zoo Atlanta. Since entering the contest is as simple as having a mobile device, Sun-Maid hopes the number of entries will be high. They have also used Facebook to promote this contest as well. Sun-Maid brand designed their packaging with these QR codes in hope the special contest will entice consumers to buy their raisins. The packaging design also gets consumers engaged in the Sun-Maid brand as well as provides consumers a way to interact with the brand.