From Candle Box to Keepsake Box
Here at GWD we are used to requests for intricate and stylish packaging. It is not uncommon for boxes to be built with compartments, drawers and miniature shelves (see previous blogs ‘Specialist Packaging For High Street Brands’ and ‘Afternoon Tea, Anyone?’, for example). But it is important to consider what happens to these boxes after their primary function, as a corporate or presentation packaging item, has been fulfilled.
The box above, which was commissioned by the high-street brand Lush was originally designed to display a range of their bath bombs, bath salts and other accessories. If you were lucky enough to receive one of these boxes as a gift you’d be unlikely to discard it after the products had been used. Indeed, the average lifetime of boxes similar to these cannot be underestimated as they are often put to use as ‘keepsake boxes’ for trinkets, valuables and the like.
In a blog late last year we discussed packaging for candle makers such as the lovely example shown above. This box is manufactured not only with a slide-out tray as shown (in which the Client placed matches/tapers) but also with an internal tray to hold the glass in which the candle was poured (below).
The candle manufacturer had the foresight to realise that once the candle had been removed or had burnt down, the owner would be reluctant to throw away such a stylish item, so the internal tray could be simply removed and the box reused as a keepsake box on a chest of drawers or a make-up table, perhaps.
The fact that the company’s brand and logo is hence displayed prominently in the customer’s household for a number of years – as a very subtle form of advertising, – is obviously an added bonus.
So when considering the packaging requirements for your product why not consider a secondary function too? Can it be stylish or original enough to be repurposed and kept in the home, perhaps for trinkets or keepsakes, as a reminder to the customer of the quality of the original product?
Noel Greenwood is the Managing Director of GWD Ltd, the designers and
manufacturers of presentation and promotional packaging. You can reach him
on (01279) 416093 or at the company’s website: www.gwd.ltd.uk