Branding Outside the Box
When you think about moving, you think about boxes. And when you think about boxes you think about, that’s right, the liquor store! Boxes galore! We scored big time this time around, filling the car a few times on our neighborhood box hunts.
Exhausted from a full day of carrying those same boxes, we collapsed on the just-arrived couch and found ourselves staring at these highly stylized and branded packing boxes for every kind of booze. With multi-colored designs and distinctive logos printed on every side, these boxes are a branding bonanza.
It brought to mind one of my first design rules, to make sure everything is designed, from the tiniest postmark indicia to, well, cartons of liquor and wine. From beautifully printed, California-cool chardonnay bottles to an ice-blue Vodka label, every brand expresses a different character – relaxed, confident, bold-and-daring, laid-back cool.
Of course, these are just observations from a graphic designer, and I understand that there’s a very established and sophisticated marketing relationship between distilleries and wineries and the retailers that carry their product. I just hadn’t considered the power of those boxes as in-store displays and subliminal brand messengers (equally effective on anyone who happens to be moving).
Anyway, our move was successful. Aside from a few minor aches and pains, we walked away with a sobering lesson in branding. Done right, it will jump out at you and make an impact, sometimes when you least expect it. I’ll drink to that!
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