A How-To Guide on Branding & Packaging That Works Best for Your Brand

For any consumer brand, packaging and branding are key in creating a recognizable and unique identity. Packaging can also be instrumental in encouraging that all important repeat purchase from your customer. A recent study by Nielsen revealed 41 percent of consumers buy a product again, simply because they like it’s packaging.

So how do you choose the right branding and packaging design for your company? Ross Cutting, Managing Director of jewelry company Jana Reinhardt recently rebranded his company’s packaging and marketing materials. He shares his top tips for a successful rebrand here:

1. Make sure your packaging represents your company values  

We wanted our branding to reflect our wildlife inspired designs, love of artistry and skilled craftsmanship, so we chose jewelry designer Jana’s hand drawn wildlife pictures as a starting point. Our packaging designer then used these drawings as a repeating pattern. This unique wildlife pattern is now used throughout the branding, on all our jewelry boxes, wrapping paper and gift cards. We love the fact it embodies both our skill and what inspires us.

2. Appeal to your audience

Our consumers are almost entirely women. We chose a pinky, peachy color for our branding that we thought they might enjoy. To emphasize the fact, we are a luxury brand, we added a logo in shiny gold foil. The shiny look also echoes the shiny qualities of our jewelry. We used this gold and pink color scheme throughout our branding, it keeps continuity and has a luxe and feminine feel.

3. Be flexible 

Jeweler boxes are one of the most important pieces of packaging for us. Originally, we wanted the wildlife print pattern to feature on the inside of each box, but it was difficult to get the quality right and proved costly. Instead we lined the boxes with white velvet. In hindsight, we much prefer this option as the pattern might have looked too ‘busy’. The white velvet provides a clean and uncomplicated finish, much like our jewelry. 

4. Dedicate enough time to get things right

Make sure you build researching your branding and packaging into your marketing plan, as each element can take some time to perfect. For example, when designing our business cards, we had to request samples from all over the world.

Investing time was worth it because we sourced the ideal card: G.F.Smith – Color Plan Range, Vellum White. It’s a craft paper with a nice weight and texture, in the same subtle pink shade as our packaging.

5. Tailor your package design to your product’s individual needs

Jeweler can rattle inside boxes, causing products to slip out of place or occasionally become damaged. To prevent this, we created a box with a pull-out drawer and a specially designed cushion, to keep everything in place. The cushion is lifted away with a gold ribbon to reveal the jewelry, adding a nice luxury feel, even though we used simple, inexpensive materials. The drawer design is an interesting alternative to a standard box with a lid.

6. Continue to innovate 

As our business grows we are always looking for new ways to improve our packaging. Future plans include designing an animal print lined envelope to hold a gold foiled thank you card, producing a recycled cardboard postage carton and creating an animal print polishing cloth and a fold out jewelry care booklet.