Creating an experiential Valentine's day pack for MARS Galaxy Chocolates
Targeting the urban market, the primary age group fell between the 18 to 35 years spectrum. These included students, young professionals for both men and women. The requirement was that the design should be e-commerce friendly, following the dimension & weight restrictions. The entire supply chain needed to be considered, whilst creating a unique gifting experience for the end consumer.
Ribbons, hearts, oodles of red - is the mantra adorned for chocolate gifting by every other brand for Valentine’s Day. These strong valentines cues while successful at creating a direct resonance with the consumer became more of a ‘me too’ approach for all chocolate gifting. By delving deeper into the nuances of the occasion, speaking to consumers as well as taking learnings from an intensive category as well as parallel category study, we aimed to create a richer experience for the consumer.
Straying away from the overused heart as a cue, we asked consumers what are the elements that they associate with Valentine’s day. Chocolates, roses and stuffed toys were some of the responses that we received. Inspired by these, we chose to introduce the concept of Seven days of Valentine to the packaging for a unique experience. Leading up to Valentine's day, Valentine week is celebrated from February 7 to February 14. The first day of the Valentine week is Rose Day, which is followed by Propose Day, Chocolate Day, Teddy Day, Promise Day, Hug Day, Kiss Day and finally Valentine's Day.
We leveraged the concept of Seven Days of Valentine to bring in a layered, engaging experience for the consumer. The unboxing experience begins with an outer sleeve. As the sleeve is slid open, the cutout window on it reveals each day of the Valentine week depicted on the inner box. The inner box, when opened, has four individual flaps with cutouts to cue the Seven Days of Valentine. These individual flaps reveal the chocolate beneath, section by section, to the consumer, keeping the consumer engaged throughout the unboxing experience.
1) Dimensions - Taking inspiration from the structural form of the chocolate and the primary packaging itself, the structure of the Seven Days of Valentine box was made long and sleek. This became a unique form to introduce to the segment, setting it apart from the competition brands. In order for the packaging to fit into the tertiary Amazon box, the dimensions had to meet the volume restriction of 1 litre. This was kept in careful consideration while developing this unique structure.
2) Movement restriction - Given the sleek form of the chocolates as well as bearing in mind the transit, it became important to ensure the restriction of movement of chocolates within the box. We introduced an insert within the box that became a skeleton structure to hold the chocolates in place and ensure that the end experience is not hampered for the consumer. This structure also guided and eased the filling of the chocolates into the box at the supply chain stage.
3) Easy Formation - E-commerce being the primary channel, it was crucial to avoid any kind of hassle at the operations end. The box was shipped in a flat formation, which did not take much space and eased the transition journey. The formation of the box was made simple and intuitive, so that the box could be formed in a short span of time.
4) Eco Friendly - Often plastic trays are included in gift boxes to restrict movement of chocolates. Through the use of a unique paper insert, we avoided the use of plastic and overcame the challenge of movement restriction. This is one the most beneficial factor that all the material used is paper and not plastic.
1) Brand extension: Galaxy being a well established brand, it was important to extend the brand language in a way that leveraged the equity established and yet lended itself to the cues of Valentine’s day. An introduction of red to the Galaxy Brand colour palette, worked well to help this balance. Maintaining the brand consistency by using fonts as per the defined usage, further served the cause.
2) Concept: Dynamic movement and depth are creative principles that the brand Galaxy abides by. A flowing ribbon formed the primary visual element on the pack & highlighted the unique concept of Seven Days of Valentine for the consumer. Heart appears as a strong visual cue, to create an immediate connection for the occasion. Using three dimensional representation for the Seven days of Valentine elements, elevated the principle of depth that Galaxy abides by. The simplified versions of these were used on the inner pack to create cutouts to give ‘peek-a-boo’ of the chocolates within and reinforce the unique concept.
3) Visual Impact: The colour-play of each layer of the packaging was carefully thought out to create contrast and build a visually impactful experience for the consumer. We begin with middleton white shade of the Galaxy brand, contrasted with a deep mink brown for the inner box. The presence of this brown in a large proportion cued the indulgent nature of the product itself. When the inner box is opened, the splash of red creates a good contrast and brings in the Valentine cue once again in the minds of the consumer.
In summary, Galaxy Seven Days of Valentine was an attempt to introduce a unique gifting experience for the modern day consumer, through the seamless amalgamation of structure and graphics.
