Retail cardboard boxes

Retail box packaging doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, creative retail packaging can make an ordinary product extraordinary. Or at least make it a heck of a lot of fun.

Once upon a time, on a routine visit to a clothing store, I happened upon an endcap sporting a collection of corrugated cardboard boxes. Simply shaped, elegantly printed. I was so charmed by the custom boxes, I almost forgot that the contents were two plain drinking glasses of which I own plenty too many.

A pint glass and a shot glass were the contents, held safe by the durable cardboard. Nothing printed on them, nothing special about the glass. Plain old glasses. But the packaging was so smart, so funny, that I was inspired to photograph it.

The glasses were the necessary components for making a boilermaker (minus the alcohol, of course). Also called “bomb glasses, ” they are really just two everyday items but. once filled with beer and whiskey, are dropped into each other to create a powerful shot. But it wasn’t the glassware that made this product interesting. It was the custom printed boxes that really stole the show. Adorned with several different fonts spouting witty phrases. I turned the box over and over in my hands, reading and re-reading all the catchphrases and witticisms. Honestly laughing out loud. By far one of my favorite drinks, I wanted this product just for the souvenir status. Place it on a bookshelf, or a mantle. I was certainly in no need of plain old glasses.

I still think about this product when I think about creative retail packaging. Seems like the pinnacle of taking something simple–something everybody probably owns–and making it a must-have. What those display boxes represented was the coupling of smart writing and clever packaging. Someone, somewhere, took a standard cardboard box and a pair of drinking glasses and made them something memorable. Repurposed them almost. I try to consider myself above marketing tactics, but…that one got me. Hook, line, and sinker.

• Foldable cardboard boxes
• Design cardboard boxes
• Removal cardboard boxes