As you get your product packaging ready for St. Patrick’s Day, take the time to make sure that you do not make some common mistakes. The potential for problems with your packaging is similar during holidays as another time of the year, but there are additional things to avoid when you plan on making a special edition packaging.
Not Thinking of How Your Audience Celebrates
The simplest way to incorporate St. Patrick’s Day into your packaging is just adding a bit of green, but this is not usually enough; instead, think about what the holiday means to your target audience. If you appeal to kids, they are probably interested in hunting for leprechauns or pots of gold. If your market is adults, they probably plan on celebrating with some Irish beer and snacks. Those selling food could appeal to those interests by marketing their product as something leprechauns would enjoy eating or a snack that goes great with beer for kids and adults, respectively.
Straying Too Far from Your Branding
While you want to take advantage of St. Patrick’s Day to create some festive packaging, you should avoid straying too far from your typical packaging and brand image; after all, you want loyal customers to be able to recognize your product, even in the special edition version. You also want to ensure that if you get new customers with your holiday packaging, they will be able to find your regular product when the special version is gone.
Ordering Too Many Boxes
From a financial and practical perspective, you should try to avoid ordering too many boxes with your St. Patrick’s Day packaging. Ordering excess special edition packaging is wasteful and you will be forced to sell products in the leftover packaging at a discount or just toss the packaging, costing you money. You will need to do some careful calculations to figure out how many boxes you need – and remember that some manufacturers specialize in short runs, so you don’t have to get more than you need.
Not Being Eco-Friendly
The color green is in everyone’s mind during St. Patrick’s Day so don’t make the mistake of not being green in another way: eco-friendliness. Your packaging should be environmentally friendly year-round, preferably being made from recycled materials and being recyclable itself. As always, make sure that your customers know your product is environmentally conscious.
Same Potential Problems as Other Times of the Year
Of course, you also want to avoid the same things with your packaging during St. Patrick’s Day as you would any other time of the year, so make sure that your packaging is easy to open and both fits and protects your product. Confirm that the information on it is accurate, lets customers know what the product is and how to use it, and that the design is modern and interesting. This is not the time to save money and skip hiring a designer; let a professional create your St. Patrick’s Day packaging and you will more than make up the cost of their design in sales.
