Structural Graphics designs and produces 3-D interactive print communications for advertising and promotion agencies and corporate marketers. The company's range of products has included magazine inserts, direct mail pieces, sales aids, point-of-purchase displays and innovative packaging.
1Roof had worked with Structural Graphics previously on cell phone promotions, and the agency's president knew that many companies were presenting Samsung with standard packaging options for the e316 dummy phone. 1Roof met with a Structural Graphics account manager, and they worked together on ideas. Samsung chose Structural Graphics' patented sliding-shutter design, which enables recipients to open a box's lid and see a shuttered window that's approximately the size of the phone (11/2 x 3 inches). When the recipient pulls a tab at the side of the box, two shutters open in opposite directions to reveal the phone resting in a custom well that's into the box.
Images of a high jumper and cheering fans on the box tie into the Olympic theme, and the box also includes detailed information about the phone's features. Branding copy, "e316 Carry It With Pride," appears on numerous surfaces of the box. Structural Graphics created 16,000 units of the box, which were distributed to AT&T cellular retail outlets.
--Darin Painter
When Samsung, Ridgefield Park, N.J., introduced its new e316 cell phone in conjunction with the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, it wanted to excite its carrier network by delivering a sample phone in a unique way. Samsung's agency, 1Roof, worked with Structural Graphics, based in Essex, Conn., to create a special box that did more than ship the phone--it included a built-in presentation system that promoted the phone's features.
Samsung and its advertising agency, 1Roof, worked with Structural Graphics, based in Essex, Conn., to promote SamsungÕs e316 cell phone to the electronics companyÕs carrier network. The promotion was in conjunction with the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. When recipients pulled a tab at the side of the box, two shutters opened in opposite directions to reveal the phone resting in a custom well built into the box.
Cell Phone Promotion is Olympic Feat
Keep communication open and detailed. Avoid costly mistakes by keeping your company, printer and end user on the same page. Consider writing an order that includes a manual or computer-rendered drawing of the layout and specific written instructions for the manufacturer. Include dimensions, and show where the logo and desired colors should be placed. Indicate where variable information such as product numbers and descriptions should go.
Use visual tools. Because they work with eye-catching projects daily, packaging clients are more likely to respond to distributors who use dynamic visual tools. Send post cards with photographs of your best work to prospects. During sales calls, show samples of your most unusual jobs.
Expect longer sales cycles. Packaging projects can require 6 to 12 months of planning, revising, producing and shipping.
