Rise and Shine! Elevate your packaging with specialty print techniques

While other packages are sleeping on the job, yours can rise and shine.
 
The magic of specialty printing is in the sensory experience. Embossing, debossing, foils and lenticular graphics make people want to reach out and touch packages on display. This interaction is especially important in luxury markets where price points are higher, buyers are discerning, and brand competition is fierce.

Your brand’s images can rise off the box and shine through the competition’s clutter.

The science of “haptics”—or how something feels to the touch—has influenced consumer behavior since products have been sold. But today’s marketers and packaging designers have far more control than ever over what the buyer experiences and how they feel about it. These experiences are significant as we move through the pandemic and study the way it affects the consumer experience.

The pandemic hasn’t shelved the tactile experience altogether, but buyers are much more cautious about letting their fingers do the walking. People have trained themselves to touch fewer products in the shops, and they are relying on the full spectrum of sensory experiences to make their choices.

Brands need to employ a multisensory packaging experience.

For entertainment, we might recommend Cast & Cure for holographic-like effects, which add reflective brilliance to any print or packaging job. Cast & Cure and lenticular interact with the buyer even as they walk past.
 
Lenticular images appear to move, morph and jump off the page. This precise integration of both art and science produces vivid 3D imagery that 

prompts customers to stop, engage and spend valuable time with your product. Lenticular printing can create 3D effects, animate an image, flip, morph and zoom, lending itself perfectly to before-and-after scenarios or “picture yourself” transformation scenarios.
A simple kraft paper package with natural colors and imagery from nature will evoke a focus on sustainability. Calming textures draw the eye as well as the hands.
 
Don’t forget the power of scent. 
Can shoppers smell the perfume, lip balm, or shave cream through the package? Some buyers are sensitive to smells, and they should get to “try it before they buy it.” Even adults can’t resist a scratch-and-sniff sticker. Experiment with scents—see what piques a customer’s interest.

Reward interaction.
When a shopper reaches to pick up your package, be sure to reward them with a hands-on experience that matches the product.

Luxury is associated with a quiet, soft-touch experience. Think of a high-end beauty product encased in a molded insert within a slider box that uses muted colors, gentle textures, and subtly embossed letters and logos. The box opens easily and with a satisfying swish. There is no crinkly plastic or sharp seams. Nothing detracts from the experience of encountering the product.

Entertainment, video games, and movies are often associated with bright colors mixed with metallics. Buyers expect to see movement, feel action under their touch, or hear the crunch of foil or plastic.
 
Eco-friendly choices might have a textured or scratchy feel that evokes the bark of a tree or the veins on a leaf.
 
As we move into 2022, remember that consumers are buying with all of their senses and moving gingerly back into a hands-on experience. Be ready to fulfill your brand promise with packages that both rise and shine.
 
Carlson Print Group can take your brand from bland to beautiful with our new technologies in specialty printing and packaging. Are you ready to stand out in the new year? Let’s go!