The Promise of a Box & The Power of Digital Print

(Image courtesy of HP showing HP C500-printed box samples)

Boxes from Amazon.com, DHL packages, FedEx boxes, shelf displays at the local warehouse store, and boxes of fruit and vegetables at the local grocer share many characteristics with the boxes that envelop our favorite cereal, pasta, or latest technology gadget. They provide a platform for customer engagement. However, not every packaging designer or brand is using the opportunity effectively. It takes a bit more planning, a bit more design, and a modified workflow, but there are payoffs. It takes some rethinking!

The Latent Power of Packaging

The standard brown corrugated packaging does its job very well. It cradles the contents and makes transportation and shipping logistics manageable. It doesn’t require much interaction with the sales or marketing departments, and its production is most often managed by Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. What that packaging often misses is the opportunity to be part of the sales and marketing cycle. To do that requires new facets to the overall packaging workflow involving design, linkage to marketing, and the ability to execute shorter production runs.

Powerful Design and Marketing Options for Packaging Procurers

Corrugated packaging as a message carrier has been available for years. The ubiquitous Chiquita box is only one example of using the box to get attention for both the brand and the contents, but today, with the capabilities of producing digitally printed corrugated packaging in short runs, the game is changing.

Today, any brand owner can choose packaging options for their flexible containers, folding carton or corrugated packaging that is printed in short runs on digital equipment with variable images and messages to support specific campaigns. However, to take advantage of the opportunity requires the print providers to develop extensions to the supply chain and supporting workflows. It all begins with a brand owner commissioning a design.

When a brand owner has an idea that uses corrugated packaging in their messaging, the first step is to engage with a designer who can execute their vision. That designer should understand the nature of corrugated print. It starts with understanding the dimensions, crease points and cut line of the corrugated pieces, as well as how corrugated substrates accept color. Will the job be printed to already-formed corrugated sheets or printed on a liner that is later combined to form the corrugate? It may make a difference in selecting colors and design elements. Having samples in hand to show the designer can help them visualize how to work with available substrates, test color ideas, and become comfortable.

For the designer, whether working with one of the design tools that links to the PantoneLIVE libraries or working from samples, the goal will be to execute the vision. And with digital corrugated, the opportunities are vast. Every surface can be a billboard for the brand, and with digital printing, those billboards can include targeted or segmented design elements that promote a specific store location, focus on a local sport franchise, or highlight limited time offers. Anything you might design for a targeted direct mail marketing campaign can be ported to the corrugated package.

To use the power with the greatest impact, packaging design and marketing campaigns should be linked from the start. This may require a change in how the marketing team, design team and the procurement team who place the orders interact. In some organizations the procurement team is charged with placing orders based on the lowest cost options, which will not usually work when taking advantage of digital corrugated packaging as part of the campaign. The procurement team will need education similar to the designers so that they can place orders with the appropriate types of providers and become aware of the pricing differences associated with digital corrugated packaging as part of the brand marketing activities. 

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