August 24, 2021
Part one: Ingredients for Creating Greater Brand Value through Packaging
From higher quality materials, to innovations in design and manufacturing technologies, one of the most effective areas to create greater brand value is undoubtedly in the packaging of the product itself.
“It goes without saying that, with the right packaging, a product can add brand value,” says LB Odendaal, Head of Innovation and Design at IPL Packaging. “Whilst this may seem obvious, it illustrates the importance of brands and companies in taking time to focus on the quality, composition and functionality of their packaging.
“In many instances it can also translate into the consumer perceiving a product they may never have used as valuable.”
“This value can be achieved through how the packaging is designed, put together and, in the instance of e-commerce, how it arrives at their doorstep. Now too, with the rapid growth in online shopping, enhancing a product’s value through packaging can be one of the easiest ways to bolster success,” he says.
Packaging’s roles can seem fairly evident but it’s important that, in the luxury sector in particular, packaging solutions look to address the following ingredients when seeking to promote brand value.
@ iplpackaging
Below, in PART ONE, we address how luxury packaging can:
• Build and enhance the brand story
• Display the product in an innovative way
• Capitalise on the unboxing experience
In PART TWO, coming next, we’ll then address how packaging can:
• Use colour to better identify with the brand, target market and location
• Enhance brand value through sustainable materials & processes (where appropriate)
• Travel well for e-commerce
• Promote secondary use
PART ONE:
Build on the Brand Story
Almost everything we encounter in life tells a story; an inscription in a book, a medal in your grandfather’s drawer, even an old concert ticket. These objects all have a story to tell – and packaging is no different!
You don’t need to tell your brand’s story through words. Colour, shape, size and visual cues can paint a picture worth a thousand words and evoke positive feelings or perceptions.
For the Bowmore 30YO Single Malt, IPL Packaging produced a packaging solution inspired by Islay’s diverse coastal landscape – and the essence of the whisky itself.
@ David Turfitt
Taking inspiration from the terrain that surrounds the Islay distillery, with cues from the detailed markings on driftwood and whisky casks to the refined polish of sea glass, the packaging solution is in perfect congruence with Bowmore’s ‘The Art of Time’ campaign.
Combining the naturally weathered look of wood with an oceanic-toned side panel reminiscent of sea glass, the packaging reflects how natural elements work in harmony with one another to shape complexity and richness of character. It reinforces the story of how Bowmore whiskies benefit from the power of time, becoming more beautiful and precious over the years.
Display the Product in an Innovative Way
Adopting an ‘outside-the-box’ thinking approach to packaging can lead to discovering new and innovative ways to display your product or encouraging customers to engage with it.
A good place to start is with the type of product or industry a product is in. In the fragrance industry, brands are often limited by crowded shelf-space but this can be overcome by clever design thinking.”
For several iterations of DKNY’s 3-pack travel-ready, rollerball fragrances, the IPL Design team created compact rigid board boxes – with an acetate window and easy to use press-release vac tray providing an easel-like display of the fragrances.
@ iplpackaging
These simple yet effective packaging display solutions for DKNY enable consumers to optimally engage with the product, both when the pack is open and when it’s closed. It also allows the products to stand out in a category acknowledged as difficult to display.
Capitalise on the Unboxing Experience
Choosing fun, exciting, and experience-enhancing packaging fitments and materials is a great way for a brand to show their value – without the product even having left the box yet!
In this way, today’s product unveiling and unwrapping experience plays a vital role in creating strong brands. Just look at the growth of the unboxing video craze!
However, whether your brand is featured in an unboxing video is not always relevant. What’s more important is that the phenomenon has raised consumer expectations of what the packaging and unwrapping experience should be. Now that the bar is raised, product packaging needs to live up to these new standards.
@ iplpackaging
A packaging product, produced by IPL Packaging for Ark Crystal’s is an example of a memorable and interactive unboxing experience. Here the client design was interpreted into a striking hexagonal pendant box complete with walnut veneered lid and base panels and three-layer unboxing experience.
A removable inner fitment inner fitment elegantly transforms into a display mechanism that glorifies the pendant itself, prolongs the joy of the unwrapping experience – and perfectly ‘heroes’ the item of jewellery contained within it.