The E-commerce era is accelerating the need to rethink packaging
DHL recently released “Rethinking Packaging,” an important report that identifies the trends driving change in packaging, how...
Let’s be real for a moment here—is there anything more bland than a brown cardboard box? You might feel some excitement when you see one on your doorstep, but that’s often because you have no idea what’s inside it. It could be socks from a friend, a cheap marketing gimmick from a bank or car dealership, or a postal service error. We live in a world where a $1,000 dress and a $2 pair of used flip flops are delivered in the same boxes.
Why are companies continuing to send out boxes with absolutely zero personality? A box is more than something to store your items in—it’s a blank canvas to express your brand!
With that said, here are five ways you can better express your brand with custom boxes. Some are printed solutions, others are innovative solutions to package your goods.
1. Random Repeat Print
This is an option that quite a few Packsize customers opt for. With random repeat printing, the corrugated cardboard is printed with your branding before it’s cut into boxes. This allows all of the box’s faces to be completely covered by your logos and colors, and requires a minimum amount of work on your company’s part.
One creative way that some of our customers use random repeat print is they put it on the inside of the box. It creates a pretty unique opening experience—the customer thinks they’ve received a boring brown box, and then they open it and… BOOM, branding!
2. Custom Tape
If a shipping box is something you’ve never thought about as a branding opportunity, chances are custom printed tape is pretty far off of your radar. That’s a shame, since custom printed tape is easy to order and to use. The great thing about custom tape is that it can quickly turn any box into a branded box. The custom tape you see pictured above has a QR code that takes you to our website.
3. Registered Print
Registered print is added to a box after it’s been cut to show specific branding on special locations on the box. These boxes from AlphaGraphics show their icon printed on red on two of the sides (pictured), and the logo printed on white on the other two sides. On the top, customers will read “increase your reach” right before they open the box. This type of printing is useful if you want your customers to see particular messages on certain parts of the box.
4. A Good Opening Experience
So far we’ve been talking about appearance of the box itself, but the experience someone has when opening a box can leave just as powerful an impression. Few companies are as good at providing this experience as Apple. Their multi-step unboxing process has been well-documented in the media and on YouTube as some of the best packaging in the industry.
Many people may think this sort of attention to detail is something best left to the high-end consumer-packaged-goods world, but I would argue that any company could create a special opening experience for their customers. For example, every package we send out is custom fit to the products inside and careful attention is paid the presentation of its contents. A good opening experience sends a message to your customers that your company is detail-oriented and cares about delivering a good experience at every step of the buying process.
5. Perfectly-Fitting Boxes
Look at this gif.
Just. Look. At. It.
Is there anything on the internet more satisfying than this? I submit there is not. A perfectly-fitting box may not require the printing that the other options here do, but it still sends a message about your brand to your customers. That message is that your company cares about sustainability, efficiently packages products, and respects customers by not sending them excess junk they’ll have to throw out.
If you’d like to learn more about the options for custom printed cardboard boxes that we offer, or you’d just like to learn more about On Demand Packaging®, send us a message by clicking the link below. We’d love to hear from you and help you deliver the best branding experience possible.
Let’s be real for a moment here—is there anything more bland than a brown cardboard box? You might feel some excitement when you see one on your doorstep, but that’s often because you have no idea what’s inside it. It could be socks from a friend, a cheap marketing gimmick from a bank or car dealership, or a postal service error. We live in a world where a $1,000 dress and a $2 pair of used flip flops are delivered in the same boxes.
Why are companies continuing to send out boxes with absolutely zero personality? A box is more than something to store your items in—it’s a blank canvas to express your brand!
With that said, here are five ways you can better express your brand with custom boxes. Some are printed solutions, others are innovative solutions to package your goods.
1. Random Repeat Print
This is an option that quite a few Packsize customers opt for. With random repeat printing, the corrugated cardboard is printed with your branding before it’s cut into boxes. This allows all of the box’s faces to be completely covered by your logos and colors, and requires a minimum amount of work on your company’s part.
One creative way that some of our customers use random repeat print is they put it on the inside of the box. It creates a pretty unique opening experience—the customer thinks they’ve received a boring brown box, and then they open it and… BOOM, branding!
2. Custom Tape
If a shipping box is something you’ve never thought about as a branding opportunity, chances are custom printed tape is pretty far off of your radar. That’s a shame, since custom printed tape is easy to order and to use. The great thing about custom tape is that it can quickly turn any box into a branded box. The custom tape you see pictured above has a QR code that takes you to our website.
3. Registered Print
Registered print is added to a box after it’s been cut to show specific branding on special locations on the box. These boxes from AlphaGraphics show their icon printed on red on two of the sides (pictured), and the logo printed on white on the other two sides. On the top, customers will read “increase your reach” right before they open the box. This type of printing is useful if you want your customers to see particular messages on certain parts of the box.
4. A Good Opening Experience
So far we’ve been talking about appearance of the box itself, but the experience someone has when opening a box can leave just as powerful an impression. Few companies are as good at providing this experience as Apple. Their multi-step unboxing process has been well-documented in the media and on YouTube as some of the best packaging in the industry.
Many people may think this sort of attention to detail is something best left to the high-end consumer-packaged-goods world, but I would argue that any company could create a special opening experience for their customers. For example, every package we send out is custom fit to the products inside and careful attention is paid the presentation of its contents. A good opening experience sends a message to your customers that your company is detail-oriented and cares about delivering a good experience at every step of the buying process.
5. Perfectly-Fitting Boxes
Look at this gif.
Just. Look. At. It.
Is there anything on the internet more satisfying than this? I submit there is not. A perfectly-fitting box may not require the printing that the other options here do, but it still sends a message about your brand to your customers. That message is that your company cares about sustainability, efficiently packages products, and respects customers by not sending them excess junk they’ll have to throw out.
If you’d like to learn more about the options for custom printed cardboard boxes that we offer, or you’d just like to learn more about On Demand Packaging®, send us a message by clicking the link below. We’d love to hear from you and help you deliver the best branding experience possible.
//
