Fall is my happy season. I get excited over warm sweaters and scarfs, the smells of an outdoor fire, pumpkin ravioli, the colors of nature, apple picking and cider donuts, boots. Especially boots. Recently I went to a well know shoe store and bought myself a pair of gorgeous tall leather boots. Sure they were on sale, but they were not cheap. As a I grabbed the box and precariously carried it over to the register to pay, I almost dropped them. I was told the retailer didn’t do shopping bags anymore for sustainability purposes. I understand that, but I also question the retailers who ask if you need a bag after buying a pair of jeans, two sweaters and a winter coat. The box the boots were in was ripped and missing the top. It looked gross and felt dirty with stickers placed haphazardly and a Sharpie pen used to cross things out. All of this had me thinking about a recent article from The New York Times about the power of the iconic Bloomingdale’s Little Brown Bag. Those words alone can immediately conjure up what the bag looks like, so there’s need to show a picture. Or a photo of the Tiffany bag (that blue!) or the Apple bag (sleek and clean, minimalist and elegant like the product, or even a Target bag with the bright red bullseye on white plastic. You can see those a mile away! Wether you shop at those places or not, those brands have become part of the culture we live in and the words alone can conjure up an image immediately in our brain. Those of us in branding understand the importance packaging can have for a company, from carrying it around little walking billboards for your brand, to sharing unboxings of purchases on tik tok, there are so many touch points packaging can have such as visual, tactile, and emotional (because let’s face it, some of us like a little retail therapy.) Most of all, it’s serving a purpose. To help us carry a purchase. Which brings me back to my boots. I didn’t leave the store excited over my purchase, instead I felt maybe I had purchased a product that was about to fall apart. Because that is how it was presented.
