[FR] Packaging storytelling: how can you play on emotions when receiving your parcels?

“And they lived happily ever after“: if that’s all storytelling means to you, then you don’t yet know how much this word can become a brand strategy for improving your reputation and building customer loyalty.

Discover here the art of storytelling for packaging, its benefits, and the techniques for applying it to your packaging strategy.

What is storytelling?

Storytellingis the art of telling stories. It’s a skill that was originally applied to artistic fields such as literature and film. But when applied to marketing, storytelling involves telling a story about a brand.

The basis of storytelling is the use of narrative elements to transform information about a product or brand into memorable experiences for target audiences.

Storytelling therefore involves :

• Playing on the emotions generated by the product or brand
• Embodying the brand or product in a memorablecharacter
• Solving a key problem for the target audience, in the same way that a well-told fairy tale offers a solution to a problem.

Why “storytelling + packaging = winning combo”?

Including storytelling in your packaging is a communication strategy with major advantages.

Combining packaging and storytelling allows you to :

• Stand out from your competitors. The care taken with storytelling packaging is a fantastic way of setting yourself apart from many other companies, which generally see packaging as “just a parcel”.
• Generate emotion around your brand. It’s a well-known fact that appealing to emotions encourages brand recall.
• Improve customer loyalty. This advantage is a consequence of the previous one – and it’s a very important one, especially in highly competitive sectors like e-commerce!

And the good news is that you don’t need to be a graphic artist or packaging designer to include a hint of storytelling in your packaging. Find out now how.

6 keys to applying storytelling to your packaging

The following six tips will help you turn your packaging into a visual communication tool capable of creating emotion and building customer loyalty.

Take care with the visual identity of the packaging

First of all, bear in mind that the colours, shapes, materials and textures, and the font used on your packaging all tell a story about your brand – whether you’re aware of it or not!

So, while respecting your brand’s graphic identity, you need to choose them carefully when customising or creating made-to-measure packaging.

This advice can be applied in a very simple way, without having to design 100% made-to-measure packaging. You can, for example, personalise the adhesive tape that closes your parcels, or the labels that you affix to them. So many small details that can make all the difference.

Draw customers’ attention to clear information

Attracting attention is already a good storytelling step to apply to your packaging. It’s not just a question of printing your logo on your packaging: you can go further in storytelling on the packaging itself!

For example, take care to highlight information about your product or your brand image, using a slogan printed right on the packaging, or labels that stand out as soon as the customer receives their parcel.

Highlighting your brand values right on the packaging

This involves highlighting the brand values or value proposition of your product. In short, you need to think about a way of visually highlighting what underpins your brand identity, your DNA.

For example, you might choose to :

• Print elements of your company’s value right on the packaging, using differentiating slogans.
• Choose packaging that is visibly eco-responsible, with clearly recognisable signage showing the recyclable or recycled nature of your packaging, to demonstrate your CSR commitments.

Emotional appeal

As you read earlier, the graphic design of a communication medium can evoke emotions in your customers. Use it to reinforce your brand image!

For example, you can play on nostalgia by choosing packaging with a simplistic design, made from solid, untreated cardboard. Or, on the contrary, choose to personalise a pack with a colour that establishes a strong emotional connection with your customer (for example, a red pack to mark the excitement of receiving a product).

Also remember to take care with every word that appears on and in your packaging. The slogans you include must be polished, and encourage curiosity to open the packaging to discover your product.

Play with the inside and outside of the packaging

The aim here is to create a “wow” effect by taking care with the inside of the packaging.

There are several ways of doing this:

• Print the inside of the container itself
• Choose a personalised cushioning material (such as coloured wood shavings or tissue paper in your brand’s colours, for example)
• Include creative goodies in your parcels

To find out more, read our article on packagingunboxing: the art of creating a surprise effect when you open your parcels.

Transforming packaging into an enhanced experience

What if your packaging was just the customer’s first step towards a much greater experience with your brand? That’s what this last tip suggests.

First of all, you can turn your packaging into a digital communication medium by printing a QR Code on it. By scanning this code with their smartphone, your customers can then access a web page or video (a format that’s great for storytelling!) that tells the story of your brand or product. It’s a simple and effective way of enriching the customer’s experience when they receive their parcel.

Another option: opt for reusable packaging that is so well designed that your customer will want to reuse it at home (as a decoration or storage object, for example).

Do you have a project to create or redesign your packaging? At RAJA, our specialists in customising or creating made-to-measure packaging will support you from A to Z. A project manager, accompanied by experts in graphic design and print communication, will help you turn your packaging into striking, storytelling communication media.

To find out more about our personalisation services, visit our online shop.