There’s something about seasonal and limited-edition packaging that makes each of us light up with excitement. Whether it’s Starbucks’ red cups during the holidays, Superbowl packaging, or your favorite product wrapped in a seasonal package, packaging is an incredibly powerful tool that can pique interest and evoke joy.
“Packaging is another piece of canvas for your branding… when used correctly, it’s priceless,” says Stefan Lewinger, Co-Founder & CEO of Sock Fancy, a sock subscription service that ships to sock lovers all over the country.
But creating seasonal packaging can be a big undertaking for brands as they face high plate set-up fees and high minimum orders from conventional printers. But with digital printing, brands of all sizes can print seasonal, holiday, and specialty flexible packaging to celebrate any occasion. And one company out of Atlanta, GA, knows firsthand how easy it is to utilize digital printing for holiday packaging.
Sock Subscription Service Keeps Their Packaging Festive
Sock Fancy is an Atlanta based sock subscription pouch service that ships to over 20,000 subscribers each month. The experience-based company leverages digital printing to create unique pouches for their regular line of socks, as well as for holidays and special events to add that “something special” to each order. But before the brand teamed up with the digital packaging printer ePac, Sock Fancy didn’t think that creating seasonal designs were feasible.
“We didn’t even know we could do it. We thought it would be way too cost-prohibitive, with plates and high minimum orders. We thought, ‘maybe one day we can do that’ but once we were introduced to ePac, we learned we could do it now,” says Stefan Lewinger.
Since discovering ePac and digital printing, Sock Fancy quickly learned that printing multiple designs per order was no problem. With digital printing for packaging, there are no plate or set-up fees, so it’s as easy to print one design per order as it is to print hundreds.
“Our only limit is our imagination,” says Lewinger.
Currently, Sock Fancy is creating holiday packaging for its subscription pouches that looks drastically different from the all-black design it ships out regularly to subscribers. And subscribers have taken to the new designs.
“Halloween was the first adventure beyond the solid black bag; we made them orange. It was a fun and refreshing change, adding some colour, and playing with design. It’s been a new thing for us, and we’ve had good feedback from customers,” says Lewinger.
For Christmas and other winter holidays, the team got even more creative, shipping out two unique holiday bags that depict traditional designs like gingerbread and snowman, as well as four unique “gift-wrapped” bags. These “gift-wrapped” bags are printed to look as though they are wrapped in gift wrap, and are designed to go right under the tree, from the mailbox.
The seasonal and holiday packaging campaign is going so well that two of the designs sold out before Christmas. Plus, Sock Fancy is seeing more social media interaction with the bags than ever before. The pouches’ success has paved the way for the brand to create even more designs.
“We’re building it out throughout the year with more gift-wrapping options. We’ll have bags that look like gift wrap for Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and birthdays,” says Lewinger.
Seasonal Packaging Creates A Special Experience
The stand-up, resealable pouches from ePac are easy to open and handle and make receiving the socks a unique experience over a traditional subscription box. And with the packaging design opportunities opened up by digital printing, subscribers get to enjoy a new design each month delivered right to the mailbox.
“A lot of care goes into each package. The seasonal packaging emphasizes our attention to detail, and creates a fun experience for subscribers,” says Lewinger.
Leveraging digital printing to create seasonal designs allows brands like Sock Fancy to deliver short run flexible packaging designs that resonate with consumers as they celebrate a holiday, a birthday, or a season.
“It’s been a great tool to create really timely package designs, and play around with different designs in different seasons. Using multiple designs in our packaging is a great option for us to complete our branding and show our dedication to our customers,” says Lewinger.
Have you been thinking about adding seasonal packaging to your brand’s line-up but didn’t think it was possible? With digitally printed flexible packaging, you can affordably create seasonal packaging with short runs and low minimum orders, all with a quick turnaround to get your packaging into consumers’ hands fast. Call ePac today to learn more about our flexible packaging services !
