Branding is all about having a signature style. Something that sets you apart from your competitors and is easily recognizable to your customers. How you package your items for the holiday season can also heavily impact your brand image. Having unique and memorable holiday packaging can even support your marketing; like with Starbucks where their custom holiday cups are a yearly news event.
Your holiday retail packaging can help promote your brand to gift recipients, can help you gain new customers, and can help you improve customer loyalty. Creating custom holiday packaging also creates a special feeling that your customers will enjoy while they shop for holiday gifts.
Here are some holiday packaging themes that can help reinforce your brand’s signature style:
Minimal But Festive
Holiday spirit can be shown in subtle ways. Not all holiday packaging has to be over the top or obvious. Subtle designs on your packaging like wintery snowflakes, Christmas floral designs, or even just color choices can convey holiday themes without overtaking your branding. Some brands like to take a minimal approach to their holiday branding and add more subtle holiday or winter themed details to their packaging while keeping their brand and logo as the main focal point.
Luxurious And Exclusive
A luxury brand wants to maintain their elegant and high-end image through all seasons, especially during the holidays. Luxury brands can use elements of holiday themes and styles, like metallic silver and gold foiled designs, unique patterns, and high-end finishes like textures and laminations. Luxury branded packaging often includes finer details like custom ribbon or bows, custom tissue paper, textured or detailed designs, and unique color schemes. Foiled metallic accents, UV gloss printing, or soft touch finishes are some of the ways you can make your custom packaging look and feel more luxurious for the holidays.
Eco-Friendly And All Natural
Brands who value environmental responsibility and recycling want to maintain that throughout the holiday season. While many holiday packaging options are not recyclable and not very eco-friendly, brands may choose to go against the grain and design more natural and earth-friendly packaging.
Brands who want their holiday packaging to be eco-friendly still have many options of how to make it festive and aesthetically pleasing. Custom printed paper bags are one of the simplest ways to make holiday packaging for retail stores that is eco-friendly. Recyclable and biodegradable paper shipping bags and corrugated shipping boxes can also be customized for e-commerce sales. Tissue paper and gift wrap can be made to be biodegradable and can be custom printed with any design, logo, or holiday pattern.
Many paper packaging options including bags and boxes are recyclable and/or biodegradable and are usually made with some amount of recycled content. Just ensure that the packaging doesn’t have any plastic lamination that would prevent it from being recyclable. There is also the option for reusable gift packaging that can be reused many times to negate its environmental effects.
Whimsical And Fun
The holidays are a special time for everyone, but the season also “brings out the kid” in a lot of people. Whimsical, cute, and fun holiday designs can make people feel more relaxed, happy, and child-like. This is something brands may want to consider when designing their holiday packaging. If you are a brand that wants to make your customers feel happy, child-like, worry free and fun this holiday season, then a whimsical style might be right up your alley. A great example of this style is some of Starbucks’ past holiday cup designs.
Classic Branding With Holiday Accessories
There are many reasons why you wouldn’t want to create custom branded packaging only for holiday season use. Budgets, time constraints, and brand image are a few reasons why you might want to use the same packaging year-round. The easy way to have a fresh holiday look is to add accessories that will give your packaging a festive finishing touch.
You can easily customize your existing packaging for the holiday season by adding holiday ribbon, bows, tissue paper, gift wrap, or custom labels or stickers. All of these packaging options are relatively inexpensive but can give your packaging the festive boost you want for the holiday season.
Why Gift-Like Packaging Increases Customer Satisfaction
Your customers are looking for gifts that are special, unique, and memorable. Among a sea of people all looking for the same thing, packaging is one effective way for your business to stand out among the rest. Providing gift-like holiday packaging to your customers when they purchase your items helps them and helps you.
Saving the time and hassle of buying and wrapping gifts is one of the major benefits of offering gift packaging. It also increases your chance of making a positive impression, improving your customer loyalty, and possibly gaining new customers in the process through positive reviews, word of mouth, and gift recipients.
However you choose to style your holiday packaging, having a consistent branding message is an important way to connect with your customers and make a long lasting impression.
Every holiday shopper appreciates cheerful, holiday themed packaging when they are shopping for gift items. Whether that is a minimalist design or a colorful and festive holiday design, it makes the shopping and purchasing experience more fun for shoppers during the stressful holiday season.
