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. Continue reading →