Fall 2020
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“Brands are taking responsibility for the
circular economy, where packaging is not only reused, recycled, composted, and/or disposed of in an eco-friendly manner for end of life,” Strull says. “Also, they are sourcing more readily from renewable resources, with an ever-decreasing carbon footprint. As a result, we are seeing more suppliers innovating to develop renewable resources and brands themselves replacing plastic with paperboard, which is a renewable resource.” And designers now have another piece of the brand’s story to design into the packaging: that the packaging is sourced from responsibly managed chain of custody resources and is recyclable in and of itself. In a recent Nielsen study, 50 percent of baby boomers, 75 percent of Gen Z, and 73 percent of millennials said they would pay more for a brand that is environmentally responsible. “Whenever I am speaking with a client about packaging or on stage as a guest speaker, I encourage brands to be environmentally responsible and explain how this will generate loyal consumers. You can’t ignore what your consumers are telling you about protecting the environment,” says Strull. To help brands and designers with their
sustainability strategies, Strull recommends the following four tactics.
RIGHT-SIZED PACKAGING Restructuring your packaging to fit the item is an investment that has an ROI domino effect: You’re purchasing less material and saving costs on the front end. Shipping more products in fewer containers reduces transportation and warehouse costs, reducing your carbon footprint. Finally, when consumers open the designed-to-fit packaging, they perceive your brand as a steward of the environment rather than wasteful. Become a lightweight. “Lightweighting” is purposefully choosing lighter-weight paperboard that has the same caliper as your packaging requires in order to reduce your package or product weight, resulting in reduced transportation and fuel costs.
patents for its corrugated boxes in which pieces pop out to become a sword, a house, and a rocket ship.
REUSE OR UPCYCLE Retailers and brand owners know that kids love turning boxes into forts and playhouses, and today we’re seeing some wonderful innovations. For example, Target designed boxes that are printed with its brand puppy, Bullseye, doing things such as driving a truck. Social media lit up with kids playing with the boxes. Recently, Amazon applied for several
Choosing a package design that doesn’t suit your brand story or accentuate your product could make all the work you did to get your product on the shelf a waste of time, energy, and dollars.
RECYCLE Choose to use recycled or recyclable materials. Plenty of plastic products are having a huge impact on our landfills, including the millions of plastic cards that are produced each year as gift cards, frequent- buyer cards, and credit cards. If producers created these cards from biodegradable fiberboard instead, imagine what that would mean for our environment. If the idea of researching packaging design best practices or chasing up sustainable packaging options is not your cup of tea, rely on a design professional who can read those tea leaves. Choosing a package design that doesn’t suit your brand story or accentuate your product could make all the work you did to get your product on the shelf a waste of time, energy, and dollars. Strull says it all begins with gaining intimate knowledge of whom you are selling to and what you are selling—and knowing that you are selling more than just the product. “You should understand your brand and
your consumer and what you’re trying to do for them so closely that the packaging is 100 percent true to that.”
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