Package Design - December 2013 - 23

among the most effective brand packaging in the toy world; consistently executed and rigidly managed across an
enviable range of sub brands and thousands of SKUs.

Try me 2.0
"Try me" is a term and tactic often and
long applied in the toy industry. The
strategy solves the challenge of enticing
and engaging an audience who cannot
yet read.
Social networks have accelerated
every consumer's ability and desire to
discover and share anything new, and
today's kids have spent their entire lives
in this age of rampant technological
innovation. They also have personal digital devices at earlier and earlier ages.
Today's packaging has integrated
technologies that take the try-me feature even further, using QR codes and
newer augmented reality.
The use of on-pack QR and access
codes, as well as dedicated apps, continues to be a trend, particularly on techenabled toys and collectibles. Brands
such as Hasbro's Furby line use both an
app and QR code.

Sustainability and responsibility
Kids care deeply about their world. They
care about their families, friends and the
planet. They know things need to change.
Our most critical challenges require kids'
involvement to create large-scale, concrete changes. Time and optimism are on
their side in such efforts. The brands that
will matter most in the future will stand
for products that are good for people and
good for the planet. They'll help make a
healthy future possible. But if they aren't
appealing, alluring and exciting that

future will never exist. If they aren't fun,
no one will want them.
Quite a few toy brands have successfully tapped into the trend of doing good
in the world, by contributing a portion of
purchases to help others in need. Many
of these brands are primarily geared to
girls and largely in the doll category.
Hearts For Hearts Girls by Playmates
Toys are beautiful dolls in gorgeous,
sophisticated, yet fairly traditional, fifthpanel window box doll packaging. The
brand and package messages encourage
girls to join their mission "to become
agents of change in their communities,
their countries and the world."
Every purchase of a B.toy product
benefits Free the Children. The nonprofit
was started by 12-year-old Craig Kielburger in 1995, when he gathered 11
school friends to begin fighting child
labor. Today, Free The Children's mission
is to create a world where young people
are free to achieve their fullest potential
as agents of change.
B. packaging is also intentionally different. It's packaging, while beautiful, is
also recycled, recyclable and reusable.
The package design promotes repurposing and is often even reversible to be used
as gift wrap. (Editor's note: To learn more
about B. toy packaging design strategy,
turn to page 26 of the December 2011
issue of Package Design.)

Winning over kids and parents
Toy marketers know they need to engage
two audiences-kids and those who care
for them, via what we call bimodal messaging. Many of the aforementioned
brands have achieved this balance to win
with kids and their caregivers. For
instance, B. toys and GoldieBlox appeal

to both moms and kids directly in both
style and mission.

It's all about having fun
With so many things vying for kids'
attention and time, it's important not to
forget a basic design tenet for toy packaging: Those that are the most fun will
always win in the end. Yes, packaging has
to create a personal connection and have
the proper balance of messaging for kid
and caregiver/giftgiver. This is especially
essential at the earliest ages.
But the packaging must engage the
kid. After all, they are the end users.
The trick is to pay attention to how
the messaging and marketing must shift
as kids mature. The products and packaging must be fun on their terms, as
they define it. And as kids grow, their
expectations become much more difficult to meet.
Many brand managers and designers
will find, though, that simply asking kids to
help define that message is fun in itself. PD
Bill Goodwin is founder of Goodwin Design
Group. Bill uses his insight as husband, father
and designer to create family-oriented packaging for companies such as Campbell Soup
Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Crayola, Disney,
General Mills, Hasbro, Hershey, Johnson &
Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Mattel, Nickelodeon,
Procter & Gamble and Toys R Us.
Shawne Goodwin is part of the husband-andwife team at Goodwin Design Group. Shawne
brings a background in education, from nearly a
decade of experience as a special education
teacher, and parenting in the care of her and
Bill's four children. Today, Shawne coordinates
kid-and-mom consumer panels, which inspire
and inform client projects with invaluable, firsthand insights, when she's not lending her own
unique perspectives, creativity and keen eye to
the group's projects.

PACKAGEDESIGNMAG.COM

Package Design - December 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Package Design - December 2013