Harnessing the Brand Message with Packaging

The Unemployed Philosophers Guild uses its packaging to illustrate the added value of its color-changing mugs.

The Unemployed Philosophers Guild uses its packaging to illustrate the added value of its color-changing mugs.

The Unemployed Philosophers Guild uses its packaging to illustrate the added value of its color-changing mugs.

Seeing mugs hanging on hooks in a store isn’t unusual, but David Shaw knew that when he saw his mugs in a store without the packaging, it was a mistake. Shaw is co-owner of The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, a purveyor of novelty gifts, including an array of heat-activated design and color-changing mugs.

“They just had our mugs on hooks, like all the other mugs,” he says. “For our mugs that don’t change, that’s fine, but for the transforming mugs, that just seemed like, ‘you’re shooting yourself in the foot.’”

Without the packaging to convey the added value of the mugs, Shaw explains that consumers might not understand the differentiation of the product, which could be crucial in making a sale.

“I don’t feel like we can sell most of our products without the box or the copy that’s on the box,” he says.

While color-changing mugs have a special need for packaging, more straightforward products can use packaging as an ambassador for the brand, explains David Luttenberger, global packaging director of market intelligence agency Mintel Group.

“The package can almost become a brand messaging platform where the product and the package work together to create a unique experience for the consumer,” he says. “One that will motivate and drive purchasing decisions.”

But even for a company that values its packaging as an integral part of its product experience, sometimes packaging doesn’t come into consideration until the end of the product development process.

“I do think it’s really important, and sometimes it is something that we leave until the end,” Shaw says. “We work on the product, it is developed, and then we don’t usually discuss packaging until late. I think sometimes it’s a mistake, because it’s so important.”

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Luttenberger explains that brand owners generally don’t care about the printing process, primarily because it doesn’t affect the consumer. In fact, Shaw says that until recently, his company hadn’t considered the different options available in printing processes and effects.

“We were doing [mugs] for many years before we even asked the mug manufacturer, ‘Oh, we could try a box that’s not glossy, but matte?’” he says.

However some packaging decisions are considered carefully prior to a product launch. For example, The Unemployed Philosophers Guild considered using a cellophane window for its mug boxes, but Shaw explains that the company decided against it because “seeing a little bit of the mug doesn’t help you.” So, the best thing, he says, was to print details of the mug onto the box to influence a purchasing decision.

Although brand owners may not care about the printing process involved in producing packaging, Luttenberger explains that they do care about clarity so that the consumer isn’t overwhelmed with too many graphics or too much text.

“We’re seeing brands go to more of what we call clean labels or even bare branding … It straddles the line between minimalism and clean label,” he says. “It gives consumers enough information to enlighten and inform the purchasing decision without overwhelming or under-informing.”

However, one size doesn’t always fit all. Every brand owner is different and has individual needs that need to be fulfilled by its designers and printers. For The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, its packaging is not only an important communication tool, its bright graphics and large amounts of text help shape the consumer’s experience with the product.

David Shaw explains that packaging is very important to the sale of The Unemployed Philosophers Guild’s products. If a product, such as the company’s line of plush dolls, loses its packaging, it becomes difficult to sell.

David Shaw explains that packaging is very important to the sale of The Unemployed Philosophers Guild’s products. If a product, such as the company’s line of plush dolls, loses its packaging, it becomes difficult to sell.

“Our packaging is really important,” Shaw explains. “In fact, in a lot of cases, if the packaging gets lost, we can’t sell the product anymore. Our boxes have a lot of design on them. They have really funny copy. Some of our products are funny, but actually, often, I think the packaging is funnier than the product itself.”

Sometimes, packaging is the main draw for consumers, not the product itself. In the case of The Unemployed Philosophers Guild’s breath mint line, there is some variety among the flavors, but Shaw says it’s really the packaging that people are buying.

“We do have peppermint, and we have different flavors and colors,” he says. “But the whole reason you buy a tin of ‘Mister Rogers’ Encouragemints’ is because of the tin. The packaging is really what it’s all about. I think it’s a good mint, but the Mister Rogers mints aren’t really that different from ‘Einstein’s Relativity Mints’ or ‘Empowermints.’”

The Unemployed Philosophers Guild has also used complex value-added packaging to develop a line of fruit and nut bars called “Fruit for Thought.” Although the line of bars is now discontinued, Shaw explains that it was solely about the packaging, not the product.

“They were all the same bar. … The plastic sleeve that was wrapped around it that came in contact with the food, that was something that we had custom printed with our name,” he says. “That then went into the box, which is what we put all of our design energy into. The box had a cover that would open up and fold out, and on those panels of the box we put games, jokes and history. … The bar was almost irrelevant.”

In this circumstance, Shaw explains The Unemployed Philosophers Guild was willing to invest more time, effort and money into packaging that would help to sell the product, because the product wasn’t necessarily going to sell itself.

Considering Consumers and the Venues

How and where a product is sold can affect its packaging. The Unemployed Philosophers Guild’s enamel pins are all sold on a yellow card backing so a store can carry a variety of the company’s pins, but provide consistency on shelf.

How and where a product is sold might also affect the packaging. For example, The Unemployed Philosophers Guild released a line of enamel pins depicting historical and literary figures that come in sets of two. The company toyed with the idea of producing different colored card backing for the sets of pins, however, Shaw explains it might have been detrimental to the aesthetic.

“For us, when we display it, it’s going to look great to have all these different colors,” he says. “Our line is very, very colorful, but we thought, ‘Well, a store might want these six pins, and that might mean five purples and one yellow.’ That’s not going to look so good.”

E-commerce is another venue that Shaw says can impact packaging. The Unemployed Philosophers Guild sells its products on Amazon, which posts multiple pictures of a product. If, for example, a consumer views one of the color-changing mugs on Amazon, they will see both the before and after shots, eliminating the necessity for the box, which displays graphics depicting the color-changing process. The Unemployed Philosophers Guild considered using plain packaging for its sales on Amazon, with a simple branded sticker on the box.

“We decided that was a bad idea, that the box really adds value to [the product],” he says. “It makes it a better way to give it to someone, since we think of most of our products as gifts.”