Burgopak – The value of remaining tangible in a digital world

In many ways Fintechs have redefined perceptions of what a bank is and what it means to its customers. Right from the start, their razor-sharp marketeers realised that the answer wasn’t in offering better interest rates or other fiscal incentives, it was about putting people at the centre of their brand. Not customers and demographics but individuals and communities. It was about building brands and services that focussed on lifestyle, convenience and positive aspirational values.

Today, customer experience has become perhaps the single most important focus for digital banks. Huge amounts of time, energy and investment have been poured into optimising digital apps, activation, support services and card distribution. But in the world of digital banking where so many aspects have become less tangible, the physical card and its packaging have also become important vehicles not only for physical engagement but for cementing brand values and welcoming people into the fold. In this industry, the plastic card isn’t just a bank card, it’s a membership card and in the absence of a handshake the way it is presented through it’s packaging fundamentally defines the first, ‘hello, welcome to the club’.

Packaging with opening mechanisms that delight, inform and elicit a true ‘wow factor’ have become very popular in this space. They offer a great brand experience and also act as a powerful marketing tool for social media marketing. We all seem driven to share the things we find most beautiful and packaging has become a personal billboard for the influencer in us all and it gives brands the potential to reach far beyond their own sphere of influence. In a world where advertising is almost inescapable, the result is mass-exposure but in a way that feels more subtle and based on choice (we choose who we follow and what we search for) and this helps consumers to retain a sense of control.

Most recently the design team at Burgopak have been working hard on a new ‘Optimised’ range of products that combines the ‘wow factor’ of their most popular formats (and some new additions) with a carefully researched and sympathetically embedded focus on optimising each part of the supply-chain including production, shipping, fulfilment and postage.

Each format has been painstakingly stripped-back to reduce materials, water and energy consumption, and assembly time. A number of the formats also have the option for an integrated seal-and-tear strip negating the requirement for an additional envelope and speeding up the fulfilment process. Designed specifically for plastic card products, tickets, invites and other flat media, the range can be adapted and resized to suit specific requirements.

With up to 25% less material, 70% less glue, 300ml less water and 150Watts less energy required to produce each pack, the net result is not only an obvious reduction in cost but also a considerable reduction in the environmental footprint. It is a body of work that whole-heartedly subscribes to the philosophy of perhaps the greatest industrial design of our age, Dieter Rams, ‘Less, but better’.

By Dane Whitehurst, Creative Director, Burgopak.

www.burgopak.com

Instagram: @dane.whitehurst, @burgopak