This is Part 2 of a series telling the (fictional but familiar-to-us) story of Alana Marshall and Jacob Franchi, co-founders of a small start-up cocktail mix company. (Read Part One here !)
Why are we telling this story? Well, we know that a lot of entrepreneurs who go on to have a lot of success and satisfaction do quite a bit of thinking and dreaming before they ever start anything up. They wonder what all the various parts of setting up a business would be like. They worry about not having the right information or reasonable expectations. The uncertainty of the journey ahead can make taking that first step pretty difficult.
As label and packaging people, we have walked alongside many a newly minted entrepreneur, helping them set up everything from labels to retail displays…the full packaging gamut! So, we can tell you what the packaging part of your journey will look like. That’s what this series is all about. We’re going to cover Alana and Jacob’s entire journey, from their big idea to their start-up experience, partnership with retail, rise to success, and finally, their expansion.
We are huge fans of entrepreneurs. We have to be…we’ve worked with thousands of them. If you’re destined to become one of them, allow us to celebrate that fact in advance with you.
Now, back to Alana and Jacob.
Labels
Alana and Jacob have been friends for a long time, and now they’re start-up partners. With their pre-mix cocktail business, they’re both breaking out of the employment box they both feel like they’ve been stuck in. And they have a great idea: a mix that tastes good because it has great ingredients—not a surplus of sugar—packaged in an attractive and functional way. They picked their three flavours to start with and bottled them in a maple syrup-style bottle.
So far, the product looks great and the bottles are distinctively shaped. Jacob and Alana figure their next step is to get the bottles labeled. They have graphics nailed down and know what they want to say on the bottle. But then they find out that because their bottle has a unique shape, they need a customized label.
Fortunately, they connect with us, Great Little Box Company/Ideon Packaging (GLBC). We make an embossed die-cut product label that follows the shape of the bottle. We put branding graphics on the front and the ingredient list and other critical details on the back.
Alana also remembers her frustrating nights at the bar trying to deal with leaky pre-mix bottles. The team at GLBC creates a bottle cap label to make the cap fit tightly. Of course, this label is also a security feature; it shows clearly whether or not the bottle has been opened.
E-Commerce boxes
Next, Alana and Jacob must pick a box for shipping their pre-mixes to e-commerce customers. An e-commerce box can hold multiple products (like how about three bottles) safely for shipping to a customer. They have two-sided print for making the box as visually appealing and on-brand as possible so that getting it in the mail feels like a momentous occasion. Plus, a custom insert is yet one more opportunity to include a fantastic-looking branded element.
The GLBC team suggests these four styles:
• Roll-End Tuck Front (RETF) with Dust flaps
• Roll-End Tuck Front (RETF)
• Roll-End Tuck Top (RETT)
• Roll-End Tuck Top (RETT) with Dust flaps
They choose the roll-end tuck top because it looks ultra-simple and elegant. Plus, to keep the front flap intact, you use a seal—which meant another opportunity to add a branded element that elevates the overall look of the box.
The product is bottled, labeled, and boxed for e-commerce; that means it’s time for cartons, sleeves, shippers, and the RSC tear-away. We’ll talk about that in Part Three.