You’ve built THE BEST thing since sliced bread. A product that is going to completely revolutionize the way physicians are treating their patients. You’ve done all of your due diligence, bench-top testing, lab testing, physician testing, you’ve got your 510k and now it’s time to put it in a box and on the hospital shelf.
Your beautiful product, the one that you and the R&D team have spent the last two years developing goes into a plain white box.
What?!??!
But you’re saving time. You’re getting it to market faster.
What!?!?
But you’re saving money, printing a box isn’t cheap.
What’s that saying – you never get a second chance to make a first impression?
Here are our
5 Tips for Designing a Package that Makes a Statement
1. First, how will your package sit on the hospital shelf? Will it sit on it’s side? On it’s bottom? Will it hang? What side will face the user?
2. Then think about what your audience will need to see – how they’ll identify and differentiate your product from others on the shelf. What does the competition look like? How will you differentiate your brand from others from your organization so that there’s no confusion. Sometimes the spine is the piece of the box we end up spending the most time on.
3. Don’t forget about how the physician or lab tech identifies the product and the type of language that is typically used in the lab. Is someone more likely to request a ‘Zotarolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System’ or are they going to say grab me a 34mm Resolute. Put that information in an easy to spot place.
4. Use the brand hallmarks (logo, color pallate, imagery) that will define your brand moving forward. This is an often missed opportunity to start building brand identity.
Speaking of colors, a quick note on gradients. We’ve found that trying to blend two spot colors (or a spot color with a cmyk color) can pose a potential problem on press. It’s much safer to keep your gradients as a blend between two cmyk colors. Also – don’t forget about basic color theory. If you try to blend 2 complimentary colors (e.g., yellow to purple or orange to blue), the center of your gradient is going to look like mud. Better to keep your gradient between two colors that are somewhat closer on the color wheel.
5. Lastly, think about your package as a final selling opportunity – almost like an end cap display in the grocery aisle. What do you want your physicians to perceive about your product? What last bits of information do you want your end user to know?
Yes your package will likely be opened and thrown away. However, that very package is the first chance that anyone within the hospital (and within the sales organization) has to experience your brand. So what kind of brand are you building? What kind of experience do you want for them to have? Probably not the kind that starts with a plain white box!
We’ve designed lots of different packages for our med device marketing clients.
Take a look at some of our case studies, and then let us know what we can design for you.
