If you are a new or even established business, you may be looking into designing or re-designing your product packaging.
There are many things to consider when designing branded product packaging, here are the major considerations below: Size: you need to consider the size of the product you are putting inside the box. It's important for a product like a candle or beauty product to fit snuggly in the box, and not rattle around. Even if you need product packaging for retail shelves, it's important that when a potential customer picks up your product to inspect it, that it is packaged well. The last thing you want is for your packaging to look damaged on the shelves because the product didn't fit snuggly, and after people pick it up, it caves in. On a personal note, I also don't like it when I get home with a product, open the box up, and find there is a tiny bottle on the inside of the product packaging. What a feeling of disappointment, even for a fleeting moment. That's the last thing you want your customer to feel - regret or disappointment. You want them to be content with their product purchase choice. Style: the style of the box needs to be both practical to your needs, but also ensure the product is easy to access, and can even be a unique or fun shape, to stand out from the crowd. Think about that packaging you bought at Christmas, shaped in a Christmas tree. You may not remember the name of the brand, but I certainly enjoy buying seasonal looking packaging for fun. Think about what you need the packaging for: for example, if you are an online store and sending your products out via the post, you could send a rigid box with a ribbon closure, but this wouldn't work well on a retail shelf, as the packages need to be streamlined so they can fit nice and neatly on a shelf. Otherwise the ribbon on the side of the box will be filling up your precious retail shelf space. Protection elements: you need to think about packaging as a means to protect your product. If you are sending products in the mail to customers, depending on the fragility of the product, you need to choose the correct paper weight product packaging plus, you need to think about how it will travel in the mail. For fragile products like candles, cased in a glass canister, it would be a good idea to send the product in a corrugated mailer box, with foam or bubble wrap to support it. You could choose either a thin flat pack box for the packaging, or a rigid box, for extra protection. You need to ensure the presentation of your box suits your brand. Even if you're sending your product in a mailer box or courier bag, that might not look beautiful, you should make sure that when the client opens the mailer bag or mailer box, that they reach in to pick up a beautifully packaged item. The last thing you want is for them to spend 5 minutes unrolling and taking sissors to your bubbled wrapped package. Limit the amount of time they have to unwrap, by choosing the right mailer package or product packaging paper weight. Branding / Colour: as with all marketing efforts, you need to ensure your brand is consistent - and this includes your packaging - which is a mini-billboard to your product. Remember to keep to your business brand colours, imagery and personality consistent with all your other marketing efforts. You want your packaging to have shelf appeal, but it also must tie in with your brand image that you have created in all other forms of marketing communication. I hope the above points will put you in the right direction when discussing your packaging design needs with your graphic designer, so that your target customer will purchase your product - not only because the product is fabulous, but because it was the packaging that drew their eye to it! Remember, you may be the best product in your market - but your ideal customer might not know this - so make sure your packaging shouts it! If your customer is at the shelf where your and your competitors products are side by side, make sure you are visible and irresistible to your customer, so your product is the easy choice for them.
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Custom printed promotional boxes are a great way to present a product, in a professional way to your clients at a special event such as a product launch, or as a mail piece to your VIPs (or target market) as part of an integrated marketing campaign. Once you decide a promotional box is going to be part of your marketing strategy, there are some considerations that you must think about to ensure your promotional packaging fits it's purpose and aligns with your brand. Promotional box purpose: First of all, you need to think about the overall purpose of the box. What are you going to present in the box, and why? For example, if you are having a product lauch, perhaps you are going to give away a sample of your product, if you are opening a new apartment block, perhaps you are going to present the new owners with a keycard. If VIPs are attending a special event, you might want to give them a set of beautiful branded champagne glasses, if that's something your audience would value. Whatever your overall strategy is, you need to understand from the very start what the promotional boxes' signifgance is going to be to the reciever. That will make it easier to make decisions regarding size, elements, style, design and so on. Date needed by: As with all marketing activities, it needs to be well timed, and fit in with the overall marketing strategy. You need to start the concept and design process at least 3 months in advance. This will ensure you have time to get all the stakeholders involved. Marketing, your Graphic Desinger, and the packaging supplier, to ensure what you have time to discuss and mock up some designs, check costs to ensure the box you want is in the budget, or have time to tweak your design or elements of the box, to ensure you can get a promoptional box with most of your requirements that fits your budget. You also need to think about turn around times - producing promotional boxes can be a 4 - 12 week process, depending on the quantity), and to ensure you have time to get a sample of the box made up and sent out to test before ordering in bulk, especially if you have a product that needs to fit into the box or into a foam insert snuggly, getting a sample to test beforehand is prudent. Size: You need to ensure the box is big enough to present the product you are giving away. For example, if you are getting champagne glasses printed with your logo, you will need to find out the height and diameter of the largest part of the glass. For most products, you will need to measure the length x width x height. Once you have that, you will need to decide if you need a box that fits the product snuggly - so ensure the box is a few mmm wider for the product to fit in snuggly, or if you want to present a key card the size of a credit card for example, you might want a box that is at least 5cm wider around the card foam cut out, so you can present it in a larger box, and can custom print the foam with your logo or design, or even with a special message. Elements (foam, paper insert): Think about how the product will be presented in your box. For example, if you are presenting key cards, you would need to have them firmly secure and presented nicely in the box by placing them in custom sized foam cut outs. Or maybe you're presenting custom printed wine glasses to a client in a promotional giveaway box, and you need paper inserts to protect the glasses from moving around inside the box. Style: Think about how you want the products to be presented, and you can work out the style of the box you want. A rigid box with a silk satin ribbon, will give a different image than a flat pack box with flap lid. Think about the image you are trying to portray, and make your box fit that image. If you're a sleek property developer and want to give your upmarket buyers a gift, you would want to present them with a sleek, upmarket, expensive looking branded box. If you're a fun, vibrant, unique clothing brand, you could present your event guests with a stunning, stylish and unusual shaped box, with your logo on. Branding / colours: Your box needs to keep with your company's brand image (as with all marketing related activities). It's important that your promotional giveaway box fits in with your brand image. That means using your brand colours and logo. Printing: You can use so many amazing effects with printing to make your promotional box even more unique and memborable. For example spot uv to give your logo or design a glossy look, foiling to create a shiny effect, and embossing for a luxury feel to the box. How you will present the promotional box to the client (mail out or at an event):
If you are mailing out your promotional boxes, you will need a sturdy rigid box, to ensure your promotional box doesnt get crushed in the mail. It is a good idea to place your promotional box inside a corrugated board mailer box when sending out, to ensure it is protected in the mail. If you are handing the boxes out during an event, you may need to think about matching (or simarly themed) bags to hand them out in, otherwise attendees will have to carry them around akwardly during the event, and might leave them down. If you present them in a branded event bag, they can easily carry them around during the event. Another option is to give them out as the guests are leaving the event, as a parting gift. Follow up: After sending out the promotional box in the mail, or handing them out to deleguates at an event, its important to follow up (as with all marketing activities). You want to make sure your marketing efforts have some ROI (return on investment) for the time, effort and expense you have gone to, to create your promotional give-away boxes. A custom printed box in your brand colours with your logo or design printed, is a professional way to present your product. Your clients are sure to see you as a professional organisation that takes pride in their brand. Let us know in the comments section below what you think is important to consider when creating the design for promotional boxes for a product launch or event. Working closely with creative clients, we have the honour of supplying beautiful promotional boxes for a range of events, product launches, VIP thank you boxes....or any other reason you want to present your product in a stunning, memorable box with your logo and design printed. Here are some of our favorites below: Images (above): VIP promotional giveaway box Images (above): Promotional packaging for VIP client giveaways at events Images (above): Promotional packaging for a product launch. Including custom cut foam Images (above): Promotional product packaging to showcase products at a tradeshow and and new product launch Images (above): An array of promotional packaging ideas for your next event. Please note not ALL boxes displayed in this album were supplied by Custom Printed Bags & Boxes.
Please share with us in the comments section below if you have seen a stunning promo package, or if you have recieved one at an event. Image above: some stunning bags we supplied our client for their product launch Some creative bag ideas for your retail bag, product launch bag, event bag, product packaging bag, promotional give-away bag..... Send us links in the comments section if you have spotted some creative and stand-out bags!
Need inspiration or guidance on how to run an event? Many authors have published great books which help to plan your next event successfully. Let us know in the comments section if you have an event management 'bible' that you can tell us about and why you love it! Event Management For Dummies by Laura Capell Meeting & Event Planning For Dummies by Susan Friedmann Event Planning Tips: The Straight Scoop on How to Run a Successful Event by Natalie Johnson Become an Event Planner: The Three Necessary Steps to Begin Your Event Planning Career by Sirena Evans Time Management for Event Planners: Expert Techniques and Time-Saving Tips for Organizing Your Workload, Prioritizing Your Day, and Taking Control of Your Schedule by Judy Allen Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide by Meegan Jones 10 Step Guide To A Successful Event by Sweeney Montinola The Executive's Guide to Corporate Events and Business Entertaining: How to Choose and Use Corporate Functions to Increase Brand Awareness, Develop New ... Nurture Customer Loyalty and Drive Growth by Judy Allen
There are a multitude of very talented Graphic and Packaging Designers around the world. Keeping up with Pintrest boards, The Dieline and Lovely Packaging websites, are great ways to keep in the loop of whats happening on a daily basis with packaging....however there is always space for a book or two. I have listed some below that have had good reviews. Let us know if the comments section if you have discovered a must-have packaging design book or which packaging design websites you keep an eye on for inspiration. Packaging Design: Successful Product Branding from Concept to Shelf by Marianne R. Klimchuk and Sandra A. Krasovec
Image: people love to recieve a goodie bag at an event. These are the Air France / KLM goodie bags that we supplied Having managed events for several years, I have a check list that I go by, that I thought I would share with those of you who might not have planned an event before, and might not know where to start.
1. Venue selection. Selecting the right venue is very important, and the first thing you need to do above all else, to ensure you lock in your preferred date and time and can find somewhere within your budget. Keep in mind the following when selecting a venue: - size. This is very important as you want to ensure your guests will fit in the venue nicely. You dont want to have a small event of only 20 people and have them in a massive room, or on the other hand you dont want to have 100 people turn up and have them squeezing in uncomfortably and unable to move about without bumping into others, if you have only sourced a small room. - layout. Will you be hosting a cabaret style luncheon with a stage?, or a training sesion so you need a horseshoe style layout?, or maybe your guests will be standing at your event - so you might need high tables for their drinks? Think about how you can make the guests comfortable but at the same time make the layout practical. - catering capabilities. Will your venue be providing the catering? if so, make sure you get a look at their menu options before locking in the venue. You want to ensure that the food will be a good fit for your guests. If possible, ask the venue if you can sample the food beforehand. Food is a very important aspect and something that you need to ensure you get right. Don't serve your guests cheap, tasteless food, and dont let them go hungry. A few hundred dollars in food is worth it - otherwise my advice is don't even bother to have the event. Food really is a make or break for your brand. - look. To keep in with your brand image you need to choose a venue that will suit your brand image. If you are a corporate company you would want to hire a high class venue. If you are a funky, new fashion brand, you could do something fun and have it in an unusual place, in a funky or upcoming suburb - something you know that would delight your target market. - location. Are your target market city workers that you want to get to your event after their working day? ensure you hire a venue in a CBD location so its easy for your target market to get to. Or maybe your target market are university students - think about doing something fun to tie in with their exam or term schedules. - transport / parking facilities. Think about how your guests can get their and ensure they have a few options - not everyone has a car. - decorations. Even something as simple as your branded pull up banner at the entrance, some nice candles or flower vases in the middle of the tables, or anything that ties into your brand image and to give the room a bit of personality, is a great idea. 2. Invitation design & send out. At this stage of planning, you will need to know the agenda, so you can include as much info on the invite to entice the right people to turn up. On my invites, I like to clearly outline (in no particular order):
4. Bags for the giveaways. Make sure your event bag is the right size, colour and style for your event, and make sure it's the right thickness for what you will be placing in the bags. If you are planning to put heavy items in the bags, you will need to get re-inforced handle holes and base. You could make a statement with your giveaway bags by printing a beautiful design on them, having a call to action on the bag, having an unusual shaped bag, or an unusual and stand-out colour bag, to ensure people remember you, or re-use the bag, which will get you more exposure after the event. 5.Catering. As a follow on, and as mentioned previously, food is oneof the most important elements at your event. No matter how interesting your speaker is, no matter how great the venue is, or how exciting your product is that you are launching....much of what you do comes down to the food. People will remember the food at your event and comment on it to others even if they thought the event was great in other ways. Sounds illogical, but thats human nature, and you cannot change it - so please ensure you choose a fabulous caterer for your event, to ensure its ultimate success! Best of luck with your event! Let us know if you have any tips in the comments section below. The ANZ Stadium promotional boxes that we supplied Promotional boxes are a great way to present your clients with professionally packaged gifts or giveaways. You can also present your high-end clients with beautifully presented products or items. A fun give-away can become a talking point for your guests at a product launch or event. Custom printing and branding the packaging with your business logo, or with a call to action is a great way to communicate to your current or potential customers. Many brands use promotional give away boxes as part of an integrated marketing campaign. What you need to consider when using promotional boxes: - What is the end goal of the box? Is it a fun little package that you will be putting on the place setting of each guest at a sit down event? if so, the product that goes in the box (if any) needs to tie in with the place setting and promotion and possibly contain useful items for the event. Or is the box a practical box that contains your brand new product? if so, if your product is heavy or if you are promoting a luxury brand, a rigid box may be the best option. - what design features will make the box stand out? Foil printing, spot uv, and embossing are all printing features that make your box that little bit more special (if it fits in with your brand image). - what size / colour and style would work? You need to keep with your branding colours and within your brand guidelines of creating the box, and need to create a look and feel that ties in with your brand. You also need to think of the practical needs of the box: you need to ensure that your product give-away that you are presenting in the box, will fit snugly, and you need to consider if you need foam or paper inserts to keep your product in place or protect it. The style needs to tie in with your brand and image. A fun brand could possibly give away a product in an unusal shaped box, whereas a luxury brand would give away a product in a classic style box. Promotional give away boxes are a great way to market your product, communicate to your target audience and give them a delightful experience of opening a beautiful package to reveal the contents inside! Flat pack ANZ Stadium promo give away boxes: Promotional giveaway box that we supplied to an advertising agency's client: A fun promotional give-away idea: a pack of cards: A unique, custom made giveaway promo box that our factory created:
The Atout France conference bag we supplied If you are working in events, marketing, PR, Graphic Design, Retail, or if you are a business owner needing bags for your product packaging or your industry's annual tradeshow.... or for any of the numerous other reasons you need a bag, you will undoubteably need one that is unique to your size, printing, branding and design needs. To create the perfect bag, whether as a give-away gift bag, promotional bag, retail bag, conference bag, product lauch event bag, product packaging bag... or any other bag! these are some important elements you need to think about and get right: Your brand image: most importantly, your bag needs to fit in with the brand image (look) you want your product or service to portray. Are you a cute boutique shop selling pretty clothing and accessories? you would probably want to source a classic boutique style paper bag with ribbon handles, in your brand colour and logo printed. What about an IT event give-away bag with brochures packed inside? perhaps a non-woven bag would be best suited for the deleguates. It depends on what you want your brand image to be and how you want your business to be portrayed, amongst other things; like the bag's practicality and function. Size: the size of the bag is very important. You don't want a product packaging bag that swallows up your product, or an event bag that is too small so that your flyers or promo items stick out the top in a messy and unprofessional way. Your product or event giveaways should fit neatly and snugly into the bag - the bag should be custom made to fit you product or your giveaway needs. Shape: if you really want to stand out from the crowd, you could source a bag that is an unusual or unexpected shape. It is bound to get people looking more closely at the bag (and at your brand). A retail store in a zoo in America, sold their products in animal shaped bags - much to the excitement of children, and much to the amusement of the parents. If you can, try to make your product packaging bag fun or event bag memorable (if it fits in with your brand image). Colour: the colour of your bag should match your brand colour. That's why it's important that you source from a bag supplier that can custom print to your exact CMYK / PMS colour code requirements. Think of the colour blue for example: there are dozens upon dozens of shades of blue. The ANZ bank blue is a particular shade of blue which never changes; therefore when they order event bags, they would provide the bag supplier with the blue CMYK colour code that is unique to their brand. Printing: depending on your brand image or what the bags are used for, you can get creative with your printing needs. What about a call to action or unique pictures for a series of events that you hold throughout the year? with short runs you can make each event unique, you don't have to print just a generic logo on the bag and hand the same bag out at every event, in every shop, for every product pack bag you give out. Talk to your Graphic Designer or marketing professional about what you want to achieve - you might be surprised just what a bag can achieve in terms of communicating to your target market. Special printing features: this could include Spot UV, foil stamping, or letter press printing for example. Think about what you want to achieve with your bags - a high end look for special deleguates to your exclusive event? or a product packaging bag that will stand out on the shelves alongside your competitor's products? Your bag is a mini-billboard and should reflect not only your brand image, but should be used to communicate to your audience. First you've got to get their attention - and that's where special printing features can assist! Lamination: The type of lamination you choose on your bag, will depend on 'look' you want to achieve. Think of the brands on your level - are you a luxury brand that would need a high gloss look, or are you trying to project an earthy, environmentally friendly look, which a cotton bag or kraft paper bag could suit the brand image best? Thickness: think about what your bag is needed for, and you will be able to choose the appropriate gsm or paper / cotton bag thickness. For example if you are packaging a heavy product in your product packaging bag, you would need to look at around 400gsm thickness, but if you're just after a classic boutique retail bag, you could get away with 200gsm, which looks good quality, and can hold clothing and other light items. Even if you are purchasing bags for events, you need to know how heavy the items are that you are going to put in them. If you are going to be placing a bottle of wine, a promotional item, a heavy brochure and other items, you need to ensure you source a bag that has a re-enforced base, thick material (paper or cotton) and has re-enforced handle holes so they don't break. Material: you need to think about if a paper bag would work best or if a cotton bag be the best fit for your brand image. We understand that each client's needs are unique - that's why we do not stock any standard bags. We custom make to your unique requirements. Product packaging bags that we supplied: Event bags that we supplied: Information pack bag that we supplied: Retail bag that we supplied: Product launch bag that we supplied:
The cotton Alliance Francaise seminar bags we supplied Hosting a seminar is a good way to engage with your audience, teach, gain or retain customers, build your brand image, and learn from the seminar particpants.
In a seminar, the audience will be participating and discussing the topic or subject you are presenting. As a leader of the seminar, amongst other things, you will need to prepare the discussion points, teach what you know, and be able to ensure a wide and robust debate, but be able to pull in the reins when someone goes completely off topic or tries to take over. So here are some tips on how to run a successful seminar: 1. Ask your target audience what topics they want to cover a few months before organising a seminar. For example, on your Facebook page or regular newsletter to your customer base, you could explain you are thinking of hosting a seminar, and ask them to contact you to advise you which topics they would like covered (obviously relating to your field or expertise). You might be surprised at what people want you to discuss. You might think its common sense, but to a lot of people, your expertise is new to them! Ensure that when you pick the most popular or intriguing topic that you think people will want to learn about, that you really are an expert in that field, and that it's relating to your work or business. The worst seminar I have ever been to is a 'how to market your small business' marketing seminar last year, where the presenter (who owned a marketing agency) was trying to tell everyone he was an expert in marketing, but his business didn't even have a good website or a Twitter or Facebook account, and I ended up explaining to him and the group why it was so important to be online. I lost all respect for him and his business, because it was just so obvious he had no clue and was stuck in the 1990s. He hadn't bothered keeping up with basic advancements in the marketing world, even though that was his business! He should have kept to his expertise, which I gained was printed brochure marketing (everyone has expertise in something). So my point is: you shouldn't feel you should conduct a seminar about a topic you don't know about, just because you think people will attend your seminar, or you think it is an interesting topic that you know a little bit about - it will damage your reputation. 2. Write up the subject topic on the board. This will keep people on track. Start the conversation rolling by giving your opinion / teaching the subject, then start with those that look like they have something to say (you will spot them bursting at the seams), then make sure you go around the room and ensure everyone gets a few minutes to cover their point of view or ask questions to you as the expert on that topic. It's often the quiet ones that take a minute or two to warm up, to get the confidence to speak out, that are the ones with excellent in-depth thinking, ideas and questions, so make sure you get everyone involved in the discussion or asking questions. 3. Don't waffle and faff around. It's so annoying when I feel like my time is being wasted by someone that is taking 30 mins getting ready, talking about non-relevant, boring stuff at the start of the seminar, as if they are trying to take up as much time as possible to talk about off topic things. If you can cover and discuss a topic/s in 2 hours, DON'T make it a 1 day seminar. Be precise with your timings and your presentation. Don't go over the same exact sentence 15 times, because you want to waste time and draw it out. It's boring. Remember, a seminar is supposed to be interesting and interactive, and you want people to go away feeling positive about you and your business, because they have learnt something, participated, and feel like it was worth their time. They will feel grateful to you for teaching them something new in a timely manner. Too many times I've gone to a seminar where I feel as if we never actually got to learn about or discuss the topic that was advertised in the invitation (and the reason I attended the seminar), due to time wasting, which leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth about the seminar host. 4. Ask your attendees to fill in a feedback form. Honest feedback is really important for you to learn what needs to be improved, or what people liked most about the seminar, and what they least liked! Don't be put off by negative comments. Remember, practice makes perfect, and you will get better and better. 5. You should have a series of workshops lined up, so at the end of the seminar, you already have a captive audience that you can advertise the next seminar to. It's important you get some sort of ROI out of your efforts. Even if the goal is client retention, rather than gaining new clients. The people that attend your seminar are more likely to have you front of mind when they need your product or service in the future, or if someone asks them for a referral for the product or service you sell, they will think of you. Working out what you want to achieve from hosting seminars will make you figure out the best way to ensure you acheive your goal and will help you to measure the ROI. 6. People love to receive a promotional giveaway to thank them for attending your seminar or workshop. A useful promotional item that relates to your business is best. You should put time and effort into working out what promo item would work for your brand image. There are loads of promo companies that have excellent products, and of course it should be presented in a branded seminar bag or package with your company logo printed on it, to make you look even more professional. Best of luck with your seminar! |
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August 2021
AuthorClara Cassidy, Founder and Marketing Manager of Custom Printed Bags & Boxes, is a marketing professional with years of experience in branding, promotions and events. Categories
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