Packaging can play a role in delivering your marketing objectives.
Get some creative packaging ideas into your marketing mix by giving this topic attention and focus during your plan development process. While “package design” or graphics tends to get more attention, don’t overlook opportunities to leverage the actual product container (“structural packaging”).
Plus, depending on your product or service, there may be integrated, total experience, packaging-related benefits and/or news you can create.
Here are two recent examples that caught my attention. They’ll give you some food-for-thought this summer.
KFC Germany’s Bluetooth tray liner. Translation: Try the zinger burger. Credit: photo from KFC video.
Bluetooth Tray Liner Keyboard – KFC Germany
For fast-food marketers like KFC, creating news and staying top-of-mind with customers are always primary objectives. But there are only so many price-oriented product promotions to roll out.
Plus, since some of the KFC menu items are eat-with-your-hands foods, it can be difficult, or should we say greasy, to operate a smartphone at the same time.
So, while their American colleagues are pushing the return of Colonel Sanders, the German KFC team (and partner Serviceplan) came up with a clever idea. They turned a common tray liner into a useful tool – a Bluetooth connected “Tray Typer” keyboard for smartphones and other mobile devices.
Check it out in this video:
Pizza Box Movie Projector – Pizza Hut Hong Kong
There’s not much excitement, or news, for cardboard pizza boxes. They do a good job of making sure your pizza gets from the oven to your home in good shape. Over the years, some marketers have touted better “keep warm” properties. But that’s about it.
So what if your soon-to-be trash or recycled box could have an encore performance?
It can in Hong Kong. Working with agency Ogilvy & Mather HK, the Pizza Hut team transformed its pizza box into a mobile movie projector (hat tip to Dante D’Orazio of The Verge).
Although the “Blockbuster Box” execution was more gimmick than high-tech according to commentators (come on, what did you expect?), it’s still a clever idea:
- The movie projector box is ideal for word-of-mouth and social media. It gets consumers talking, posting, tweeting and sharing;
- In other words, it creates engagement;
- The Blockbuster Box utilizes existing packaging plus an easy add-in “lens;”
- It offers some short-term differentiation versus other take-out/delivery pizza buying options.
For more ideas and examples about integrating packaging into your marketing mix, click on “Packaging” under “Select Category” in the right-hand sidebar.
Harvey Chimoff is a marketing and business team leader who drives performance in consumer products and manufacturing companies.
StratGo Marketing 