15 One Product: Limited edition packaging

15

ONE PRODUCT: LIMITED EDITION PACKAGING

People love to see what’s new. While we might be content with a brand we’ve used for as long as we can remember, we’re often tempted by something different and new because it’s interesting. But what if you are so happy with your product you don’t want to change anything about it?

The idea STEAMCREAM, a British-Japanese brand, has one product. They make a face, hand and body cream which ticks the right ethical boxes: Vegan, natural, one layer of packaging. It started off in a plain, recyclable (or reusable) aluminium tin, different designs were added to the range, and are now there are over 100.

In the UK, they keep the original plain design in stock, and one intriguingly named Freedom & Discipline, which is decorated with the UK Union Flag, (AKA Union Jack). The others are limited editions and only last until they sell out, all at the same price, apart from the bling-a-ding-dong Swarovski crystal version that sold for ten times more than usual.

Use up the cream and you can keep your paperclips in the packaging. Vogue’s beauty blog featured the tins as a cool way to store small things. As repurposing becomes the most creative way to be green, STEAMCREAM has become part of the environmental movement. They also keep their customers by sustaining their interest.

This approach will only work if the designs are good. Many of the STEAMCREAM tins are quirkily Japanese–the duck, dog and pig faces (Quack, Bow-Wow and Oink) are particularly unusual for skincare–but most of them are appealing because of their attractiveness. They also run competitions for customers to have their own designs put into production, like Vinyl, a tin that looks like an LP.

An idea like this only works if the product is great quality. Customers might be attracted by good packaging, but they still want good value from what’s on the inside.

In practice • Invite designers to repackage your product. • Organise competitions to get hold of good designs. • Provide yourself with reasons to contact the specialist media with a news story each time you bring out a new design.