Shelf Space: Packaging Matters
Perhaps the coolest thing about the business of printing packaging is that you may be able to see your work in action when you go into a store or receive an order from some amorphous online retailer. The three Ps of packaging always apply, Protection, Portability and Promotion. Mapped onto the latter is Presentment, which wraps tightly to the brand.
Take for example a folding carton containing a bottle of Patron silver tequila. It stands out on the shelf in bright green splendor, the bottle within depicted on two sides of the box, a logo embossed and knocked out in black on two others. Opening the top reveals folding side panels and a hinged inner cover through which protrudes the end of Patron's bulbous cork stopper. Lifting that cover reveals a recycled glass bottle with a clear label, swaddled in green tissue and wearing a green ribbon threaded through a green tag containing product information. The back of each bottle bears a hand-numbered label to convey how each bottle is prepared with personalized attention to detail. Carrying the theme to other media, some print ads for Patron show only the back label, or just the ribbon—the color of which varies, as does the box's—based on the type of tequila.
This same type of brand imagery goes into the packaging of many upscale products because packaging is increasingly the way to distinguish one product from another, create a brand image, and help drive the purchase decision. This can be enormously successful, even iconic: consider an ad campaign that has run for decades based on the singular image of what was once a very ordinary Swedish medicine bottle. You'll recognize it by the name Absolut, which stands on the shelf identified by its shape and bold, colored text on a clear label.
This can all be scaled down or up to almost any product. Whether it is a clear label, a flexible container, a simple folding carton, a full-color corrugated box, a compelling tag on a garment, whatever—packaging matters.
In the coming issues of packagePRINTING, we're going to be taking closer looks at the business, art and technology of packaging. As we peruse these topics, I would love to hear from you: package printers, equipment and software vendors, package designers, brand owners, and more. I want to hear about your challenges, your successes, even the not-so-good parts, and why you do what you do. So tell me your stories.
Because packaging matters.
