There are many products out on the market today that are instantly recognizable because of their iconic packaging.

In the heart of downtown Akron, Ohio, sits a hidden gem for any coffee aficionado.

Ice — everyone uses it. It’s something we can make right at home in our freezers. Why, then, does a company like Howard & Sons Ice Co. exist?

Custom packaging can accomplish so much more than simply protecting a product — it has the ability to share a brand’s story with the whole world.

Packaging not only serves as the voice of a company, but it is also an important visual communication tool that informs and educates about a particular product. With custom artwork and designs, great packaging helps differentiate a particular item from competitors while also serving as the tangible “signature” a brand leaves behind everywhere the product appears.

When Ricky Lussier founded his company, I Can Haz Jerky?!, he set out to create a jerky revolution.

Even the largest, most successful companies can benefit from introducing a new product – keeping the attention of younger consumers, especially, requires creative and fun ideas that evoke an entire sensory response.

Every contemporary brand wants to stand out from the crowd and set their product line apart from the competition.

Launching new and exciting goods that have the ability to help move society forward and reshape entire industries is a feat most aspire to. However, getting people to have faith in your new product and a willingness to try it out requires careful strategizing and crafting the perfect visual messaging that entices others to try it out. The goal is to get consumers excited about your company and its offerings to the point that they make an effort to run out to the store to grab your product before it sells out. Much of this eagerness can be created by choosing product packaging that excites and delights and aids in the overall experience of enjoying your items. 

You hear it all the time — company A is the “best,” company B is the “cheapest,” and company C is the “fastest.”

No matter what industry a business operates in, the message that most send out to customers is that they, alone, offer the greatest services and can squash the competition at the drop of a hat. As we know, not every brand or product claiming to be “the best” is right for our individual wants, needs, and desires. If every company is claiming to be number one, how can you trust that what an individual brand is saying is true?

As any professional knows, when faced with a tricky situation in the office, relying on a resourceful, trusted confidant who has your back can make a world of difference.

Janie, marketing manager for a consumer packaged goods company, found that she’d have to turn not to a co-worker, but to a packaging partner who had her best interest in mind when her company faced a dilemma. Janie’s colleague was working on a new packaging design to roll out at the Winter Fancy Food Show, but she left for maternity leave earlier than planned, letting her project go unfinished and left on Janie's plate to complete.

With a mere $50 in hand, LaToya Moppins set out to expand the limits of consumers’ taste buds and reinvent one of the nation’s most popular snacks.

Her company, Glorious Gherkins, was founded to introduce exotic gourmet pickles to the masses, with highly inventive flavors like Piña colada, birthday cake, bubble gum, and spicy mango transforming the traditional sour cucumber we’re used to tasting. Traditionally, the green vegetable is pickled in a solution of brine or vinegar and is left to ferment for a certain period of time without much fuss or attention. Moppins’ gherkins are a standout due to her creative taste profiles and the unexpected combinations she uses to enhance this tangy, crisp morsel and change expectations.