Dave’s blog: It’s Christmas (again)

I’m not planning on revisiting this as the subject for multiple opinion pieces this year, but over the weekend I was exposed to a wealth of Christmas-themed printed packaging that I felt deserved a blog.

One of the first I saw was the collation carton for the yard of Jaffa Cakes, similar to what I photographed last year but with new slogans.                                                     

My attention was then swayed by Maynards Christmas Jellies, which come in character jars using shrink sleeves to create a cartoon graphic of a jolly Snowman, cheery Santa and cheeky elf.

Each is decorated with a hat that best suits their personality, with a gift tag graphic carrying the brand and product name.

A more adult-oriented gift is the Gallo Girls Night In pack, featuring a bottle of wine and Lindt chocolate truffles.

Last year I spotted a Gallo/Lindt gift set featuring a small bottle of wine housed in a conventional carton design, with a large window cut from the body and replaced with plastic to display the contents.

The Girls Night In carton is designed to replicate a handbag, complete with handle and curved edges to give the packaging a more lifelike appearance.

Other beverage packaging is using a festive theme too, like the Thorntons pack (pictured, left) featuring a bottle of chocolate liquer, plus two decorative glasses, and the Malibu carton (pictured, right) featuring snowflake graphics with individual segments die-cut out of the substrate to accentuate the design.

An old favorite of my blogs, Cadbury has yet again put some interesting festive packaging on to the consumer market. Dairy Milk, Cadbury’s flagship confectionery, has had a Christmas makeover, with red and green snowflakes, while Dairy Milk Winter Wonderland uses white snowflakes and Christmas tree shapes to decorate the packaging for its tree-shaped milk and white chocolate bar product.

It’s not just about Christmas

As well as all the brightly colored and highly decorated cartons and flexibles hitting the shelves for Christmas, I also took the opportunity to revisit one or two other examples of printed packaging that have caught my eye this autumn.

The redesigned range of Phileas Fogg crisps from KP Snacks is a real eye-catcher on the shelf, and takes its flavor inspiration from different locations around the world, such as Italy, Mexico, Indonesia and America.

The Phileas Fogg range has been redesigned to provide consumers with taste profiles from around the world, mirroring the exploits of the main character of the same name in the novel Around the World in Eighty Days, but which they can experience at home.

These flavors are replicated through the printed packaging, with vibrant colors and graphics.

Dreamies cat treats are another bright and vibrant product set. Although not for human consumption, they demonstrate the importance of packaging at the “Moment of Truth”, and how flexible packaging is becoming ever-more present on the shelf.

As well as individual pouches in different colors to match each flavor, you can also purchase Dreamies Mix, which combines two flavors. The packaging for these combines the two parent colors in a radial pattern. They can also be purchased in a Big Pack, featuring an oversized pouch for an increased volume of product.

Another interesting flexible packaging application I photographed was the Ella’s Kitchen range of baby foods.

The range includes mains and puddings, with different closure types depending on the product. Again, the packaging features bright colors and strong visuals, although this time more child-like to appeal to the target demographic as well as those with the purchasing power – parents.

I’m sure to see plenty more themed, and generally interesting, printed packaging examples in the coming weeks, but I implore you to keep your eye out too for anything that grabs your attention and illustrates the vibrancy and versatility of folding carton and flexible packaging.

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