Powerful Product Packaging: 7 tips to get it right!

by | Sep 17, 2015 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Design, Latest, Marketing

Powerful product packaging. It’s not just about the product experience anymore. Today, even the packaging needs to be an experience. Powerful packaging requires more than a basic understanding of packaging fundamentals. It’s not just about being pretty and persuasive with packaging, it’s also about being practical.

… powerful product packaging design can be likened to a powerful social media initiative

As you may have guessed from previous posts, packaging design is one of my favourite aspects of marketing. I’ve written about it often. In an earlier post, Package Design: Think of it as Social Media on a shelf I spoke about how a good package design compares to a good social media initiative: it’s inherently social, stands out from its neighbours, starts a conversation and gets people to connect with it. I promised a follow-up to that post with 7 quick tips for creating better package design. Here goes …

Product Packaging: 7 tips to get it right!

Want powerful product packaging? Here are 7 things you need to know before you even begin to design:

  1. Know your market. Who are you designing for? Research is the foundation for all successful marketing and advertising and that includes packaging design.
  2. Know your competition. Take a walk down those crowded store aisles and see what your competition is doing, then do it better! Be original.
  3. Know your story. Every brand has (or should have!) a story. Packaging tells your brand story but in a thoughtfully scaled down version that fits the physical format.
  4. Know your product. Packaging copy must tell your customers what you want them to know as well as what they need to know. These two things are not necessarily the same.
  5. Know your personality. Is your brand/product personality serious or fun? Your packaging design (i.e. shape, size, colours, textures, imagery and type fonts) must work together to reflect that personality. Don’t be afraid to use humour!
  6. Know your materials. Can the design be reproduced effectively in mass and is it cost effective to reproduce? Will your materials stand up well in the retail landscape … from initial transport to life on the shelf.
  7. Know your responsibilities. Brands have a responsibility to be environmentally conscious. Packaging should be eco-friendly.

Read more about the fundamentals behind powerful product packaging …

Packaging: More than a pretty on-shelf face

Delivering Great Packaging Design

10 Secrets to Eye-Popping Package Designs

Listening Skills: A Good Reason to Bite Your Tongue

by | Aug 9, 2011 | Business Success

There is a saying that is quite applicable in everyday life and it is hard to live by but can benefit everyone involved.

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.- Abraham Lincoln

If you are too busy talking then you are not able to hear what is being said. What is being asked of you? What guidance is being provided?  In a constant strive to make ME the most important word in the story…gear down. Set the cruise at a lower speed then you think you can handle, crank the guilty pleasure songs you admit to no one that you listen to and strive to be humble.

You do what you do because  you know how to do it -all day – no doubt, you are a champion of all things you.

BUT

If your career is to extrapolate what others are trying to accomplish, then listening is not only vital but hyper listening is a mandatory requirement. You have to foresee the limitations of communication in all people. Bank on this. The client will always try with their best effort to convey the idea or tactic, it is up to you to use your intuitive interpretation and ensure all the obvious and not so apparent thoughts are captured and acted upon.

If you say nothing until they are finished and truly process what you heard – you will be much more effective in formulating a refined focused response which has been customized to their needs. This will make your guidance more sound and your vision a shared one.