Think (in and) out of the box

As important as the product or service you are selling, the package it comes in might be your best sales tool. Consumer packaging design is ultimately your silent sales person that sells on the shelf right next to your competition. Our objective is to establish a compelling voice and package design identity that captures the unique positioning opportunity to the product. As a packaging design agency we create a visually relevant package to attract the consumer by site and educate them once engaged.

Compelling packages still require a little support

A well-planned retail packaging design only succeeds if there are consumers looking at it. While it can close the deal, support from integrated marketing campaign can drive necessary leads.

Once the retail packaging design is finalized, we extend the design into supporting assets.

• Point of Purchase (POP) and Point of Sale (POS)
  POP and POS systems are an integrated part of many in-store programs that facilitate aggressive retail product-sell through of our client's brands. Most customers make their buying decisions on impulse while standing just several feet from the shelf. POP and POS are a key component that should be implemented as part of a successful overall strategy. Recent research indicates 70 percent of all purchasing decisions are made in the store, POP design allows you to capitalize on the consumer's impulsivity. Have you made a last-minute decision lately? We'll show you how to use retail package design to capture Point-of-Purchase decisions.

• Shelf Talkers
  Shelf talkers hang off the shelf highlighting your brand's packaging, setting it apart from other products. This is a way to make your product stand out from the shelf with an eye catching promotion that calls out to your customer to choose your product amongst a sea of your competition.

• Instant Redeemable Coupon (IRC)
  With over 70% of consumer purchase decisions made in-store, use instant redeemable coupons to draw the consumer's attention to your brand and make an impulse purchase. IRC's are an economical way to encourage trial, purchase and evangelism within the retail store.

• Floor Advertising
  Floor advertising in the store stops consumers at the point of decision. This is a great tool to help guide consumers' eyes from the floor to the shelf or from another aisle to your product, creating additional brand awareness throughout the store.

• In-package coupons
  Placing coupons inside the retail packaging design promotes repeat use with the consumer.

• Translations
  With Spanish being the second spoken language in the United States, many retailers are requiring that consumer packaging design include Spanish translations. It is important to include the accurate translations in a manner that does not disrupt the brands design presence.

• Free Standing Inserts (FSI)
  Get your message out and start driving consumers to the store through FSI's. Coupons in the Sunday paper drive traffic into the store and create a trail of the product through coupon incentives.

• Retail Employee Education Programs
  Increase sales through training and incentives for the retail employees. Salespeople will sell what they know, through incentives and promotions. Allow the retail employees to learn about your product so they better connect its features with customer needs and make a recommendation in favor of your product.

Successful retail packaging design includes:

• Packaging Why-To-Buy Statement
  Clearly and quickly communicate what the product does, how it will benefit the user, and key differentiators from competitive offerings (as brief as possible!). Ideally, the WTB is set in large bold type, easily read from a distance, and positioned near the top of the package.

• Packaging Secondary Why-To-Buy Statement
  A secondary header statement on the back of the box affords you the ability to go into more detail regarding your product. The prospect has picked up the package and is engaged. The messaging need not be as brief as the cover WTB.

• Packaging Brand Promise
  Punctuate the package front with a promise of value statement. Choose wording where you empathize with the prospects and promise that your brand's product will solve a specific problem or "pain-point" that they have.

• Structural Packaging Design
  The design of your package should engage your customer immediately. This is your customer's initial experience with your product; the structural design of the package is responsible for this crucial introduction. We optimize this experience so the consumer walks away with your product in hand.

• Graphical Packaging Design
  The graphical packaging design dovetails with structural design to catch the customer's eye and focus their attention to your product. Retail packaging design has been an important and constantly evolving phenomenon for dozens of years. Marketing communications and graphic design are applied to the surface of the package and (in many cases) the point of sale display.

STEP 1. POSITION AND WRITE

STEP 1. POSITION AND WRITE

Positioning
We craft the message and voice to support the desired marketing positioning for the retail packaging design. A major effort, this is the core of all related marketing programs capturing the essences of your brand. It highlights why customers should value this difference. This includes developing the brand's Why-To-Buy (WTB) statement.

Copywriting
This requires copy development for the entire retail packaging (front, back, sides, top, and bottom) ensuring the positioning deliverables above are specifically tailored to support the overall brand identity and voice of the product(s).

STEP 2. PREPARE FRONT OF RETAIL PACKAGING DESIGN

STEP 2. PREPARE FRONT OF RETAIL PACKAGING DESIGN

Initially, we develop a spectrum of new packaging design comps for the front of the packaging design. After an internal review of a large number of initial comps, we select the strongest three to four design candidates, further the design and present them to our client.

STEP 3. COMPLETE RETAIL PACKAGING DESIGN

STEP 3. COMPLETE RETAIL PACKAGING DESIGN

Once a design direction is selected and frozen, we apply this consumer packaging design style to the back, top, bottom and sides of the package. We do a few iterations of the back of the package in order to perfect the flow of this pay off information so that it is easy to read and comprehend.

STEP 4. PERFORM QUALITY CONTROL AND PREPARE FOR PRINT

STEP 4. PERFORM QUALITY CONTROL AND PREPARE FOR PRINT

Upon completion of the entire retail packaging design, we conduct an extensive quality control (QC) including obtaining approval by your team, our team, and especially your sales team. We fully prepare and deliver print ready electronic files according to your production vendor's needs.

STEP 5. STAND BACK!

STEP 5. STAND BACK!

Watch the consumer packaging design jump off the shelves! A successful packaging design will do the selling for itself while on the shelf. Now it is time to drive traffic to the store and create in-store awareness through promotions, incentives, employee educations, point of purchase displays, shelf talkers, etc.

To see how MicroArts agency can create an effective consumer packaging design that drives your revenues, give us a call, drop us an email, or drop by the barn.