The Importance of Branding and Packaging – My New Packaging is HERE!

What makes Starbucks so amazing? Is it the coffee – I mean, it’s amazing – actually Brian and I have become quite the Starbucks coffee snobs, that is all that we brew at home. Brian will even say those exact words, “I’m a coffee snob”! HAHA.  For me, I love the smell when I walk into a  Starbucks, all the pretty and simple displays with very new and chic looking mugs, labels on the shelves, the way their food selections are very organized and easy to see what’s available. I also love the fact that after a while, the barista gets to know you by name, and if you are a very regular customer who orders the same thing – when they see you walk in the door, they say, “Hey, Bob – how are you today? (they wait for response here) – Great! Same triple shot latte, extra foam?”.  How awesome does that make you feel?

starbucks barista starbucks branding

It feels good to have a human connection in a place such as a coffee shop in an ever-advancing digital world where peoples’ faces are buried in their phones and electronics, so much as to not know what is going on around them, nevertheless, WHO is coming in the door. I am just saying, the human connection is slowly dying… or is it? How weird does it feel when someone comes up to you in a store or at a park, and says, “Hey, I just wanted to come over and say hello” – if you live in California – that just feels weird… and you are maybe thinking that this person is either trying to kidnap you, or they are maybe not from here? I mean – it feels odd – RIGHT?

I try to go out of my way to make people feel weird… I mean, not intentionally, but if I am over in the produce section at the grocery store, and a drop a piece of produce while someone is standing there, I might say, “this brussel sprout decided it wanted to go home with you, instead of me!” They usually smile, and that’s that.  Try it sometime, you may just get out of the thinking pattern that when people talk to you that you don’t know, maybe their not an axe-murderer, but in-fact they could be just a friendly person. What I am trying to say, is that branding, which is something that Starbucks has completely mastered, is what makes you feel a certain way about a product or brand.

36 Creative, an awesome company of  branding, technology and marketing gurus say it best: “People are visual creatures by nature. What differentiates a bad company from a good company is the latter knows how to attract customers’ attention with the help of packaging design. While an interesting and eye-catching logo does play a big part in marketing a product, nothing comes as close as the effects a visually appealing and striking design has on prospective customers.

A good design should always reflect the product and the creativity and personality of the company. There is more, however, to packaging design than simply ensuring a package looks appealing. There is a whole science behind it – from the shape of the package to the materials used without forgetting of course its functionality. For example, of the many things to take into consideration when creating a package, one of the most important things to remember is certainly the protection it offers to the product.

There is no point in making a package look visually interesting if it is unable to do what it was intended to do in the first place.

WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT

Other than simplicity, customers also want honesty and authenticity. In other words, they want to know for a fact that the product that is labelled on the packaging is clearly the product that can be found inside. ”

To add to this perfectly written description of what consumers want from a brand, I think that a brand or products design, should aid in the way it makes you feel when you see it, open it or experience it.

Well enough of my gabbing away. Here is some of the photos of my new packaging, along with the upgraded zip drives that I will be offering when my clients purchase their entire session at their order appointment.  If you purchase $700 or more at your order appointment in products, you will automatically get a zip drive with your session images, along with this awesome wood engraved photo box with 100 4×6 prints of your choice from your session! Let me know what you think?