When Packaging Calls the Shots (And Wins the Pitch Meeting Too)
Years ago, someone decided that oat milk needed to look like a Scandinavian fashion zine. We nodded. Now, everything from canned cocktails to dog shampoo is dressed like it summers in Copenhagen. There's beauty in that. But I'm more interested in the radical outlier: the brand that lets packaging make the creative decisions for everything else.
Take Athletic Greens. The packaging is not wildly brave. Deep green and utterly serious. But let’s zoom in on what that one colour tone triggered. It cascaded downstream like a creative river. Their ads carry the same no-nonsense energy. Their copy, calm and hushed, speaks like a personal trainer who also reads Stoic philosophy. Even their influencers seem pre-approved by the green pouch. All because someone committed to an art direction that quietly said, “We have nothing to prove, but everything to optimise.”
Now imagine if more brands did this, but weirder. Packaging, if taken seriously, is a compass. It's not just a vessel for the product. It’s a mission brief. Want to create a viral campaign? Cool, but start with the box. What world does it belong to? How does it speak? How does it sleep at night? (Probably in a fridge, next to the bone broth.)
The best briefs I’ve ever written began with holding the product in my hands. Feeling the awkward cap. Noticing the matte finish. That’s where the gold is. Because once you know what the box is saying, every touchpoint afterwards just becomes echo. And in a world full of noise, echo beats shout every time.
Take Athletic Greens. The packaging is not wildly brave. Deep green and utterly serious. But let’s zoom in on what that one colour tone triggered. It cascaded downstream like a creative river. Their ads carry the same no-nonsense energy. Their copy, calm and hushed, speaks like a personal trainer who also reads Stoic philosophy. Even their influencers seem pre-approved by the green pouch. All because someone committed to an art direction that quietly said, “We have nothing to prove, but everything to optimise.”
Now imagine if more brands did this, but weirder. Packaging, if taken seriously, is a compass. It's not just a vessel for the product. It’s a mission brief. Want to create a viral campaign? Cool, but start with the box. What world does it belong to? How does it speak? How does it sleep at night? (Probably in a fridge, next to the bone broth.)
The best briefs I’ve ever written began with holding the product in my hands. Feeling the awkward cap. Noticing the matte finish. That’s where the gold is. Because once you know what the box is saying, every touchpoint afterwards just becomes echo. And in a world full of noise, echo beats shout every time.