Stop writing self-absorbed packaging copy and use the space as a platform for interesting creative writing instead.

This is a thought I’ve had for a while – not an original one, but something that I don’t see any brands pursuing in a big way. I’ve always hoped to build a relationship with a suitable client who might be interested. But I’ve recently decided the best thing is to blog about it, throw it out into the world, and see if anyone else thinks the same and/or wants to follow it up.

The premise doesn’t need much explaining. Packaging copy annoys a lot of people. It’s frequently overly familiar, infantilising and navel-gazing. I’ve written before about the rise of ‘wackaging’ and plenty more people have noticed and documented the same trend.

The problem is, from the point of view of the client, packaging copy is hard to get right. The safest approach is to give straightforward, concise information about your product, but it feels like an opportunity missed. But try injecting any form of personality, and it can quickly ring false, or fall into the same over-familiarity trap as every other brand. In the end, you're trying to give personality to something that is by its nature impersonal and mass-produced. There are a few exceptions, but generally it’s a losing battle.

This is frustrating, because packaging ought to be a great platform for writing. You have a blank canvas on which to write in a more relaxed, discursive way than conventional advertising allows. You often have a captive audience in a receptive state of mind, idly reading the cornflakes packet over breakfast, or the crisp packet over lunch, or glancing at the copy on the toothpaste tube while brushing their teeth. With such a great chance to engage and entertain audiences, why do brands end up annoying them so much?

The argument of this post is that brands are missing a trick by thinking too narrowly about the possibilities. Packaging is indeed a great platform for writing, but there’s no rule that says the writing has to be about the product that the packaging contains. Rather than writing at length about the simplicity of your ingredients or the lovely folk who work for your company, why not use the space as a platform for writing that people really want to read? A short story, a poem, or a thought piece by a great writer? It may not relate directly to your brand, but if people enjoy it, they’ll make the emotional connection.

In 1986, the American writer Judith Chernaik approached Transport for London with the idea of putting poetry on spare advertising space on tube trains, and Poems on the Underground was born. It’s been massively successful and introduced millions of people to great poetry. What’s to stop a Kraft Foods or Unilever from launching a Poems on Your Packaging range, spanning everything from breakfast cereals to shampoo? What about a specially commissioned Carol Ann Duffy poem with your cornflakes, or Michael Rosen with your Cheerios? A thought for the day from Alain de Botton on your loaf of bread, a traditional haiku on your toothpaste tube, or a leisurely Clive James essay on your smoothie? It could be a great way to introduce people to interesting writing, and would spare us all the chummy copy about how simple-and-not-at-all-mass-produced your product is.

This isn’t a new idea. Plenty of children’s brands feature jokes and puzzles to turn the packaging into entertainment, albeit of the heavily branded kind. The original and best example is the jokes you used to get on ice lolly sticks: no overt brand message, just a nice joke because there was space on the stick to write one.

But as far as I’m aware, the principle has never been applied on a bigger scale, or for a more grown-up audience. I’d love to see the big brands commissioning new work from our best poets, novelists, journalists, philosophers and comedians – and it feels like an open goal in the current climate. There are obvious upsides – you’ll be seen to support the arts; you can encourage literacy in kids and families; you can pitch it at a populist or higher brow level; you can turn the packaging into collectable items; you can run serialised stories to encourage brand loyalty; and you’ll be able to claim this whole territory as your own, before anyone else does.

So there you go. Stop writing self-absorbed packaging copy and use the space as a platform for interesting creative writing instead. It’s easier to have these ideas than to make them happen, but it would be nice to see some version of it one day.

PS: If anyone knows of brands that have done this, I’d be interested to hear about them. Another example that comes to mind are the missing persons ads you get on milk cartons in some countries, which aren’t an example of creative writing, but do use the canvas for a socially useful purpose. I’m sure I’ve seen a project that involved printing news stories onto milk cartons as well, but can’t remember where.

PPS: Some readers may know I run a project called WrapperRhymes, which features poems handwritten onto food packaging. This is a different idea, but maybe there’s a connection in spirit – the idea of packaging as a vehicle for unexpected creativity.

Image by kashley with thanks to @huntaround

Comments

[Freddie B.]

I'd love to see more brands thinking along these lines. It will probably take a brave client in today's climate to support this as it seems easier to sell whimsy or chumminess than 'art'.

I had a crack at this some years back when working with WHSmith on repackaging their arts and crafts range. My concept was simply to use one single line of copy on each product that might spark a creative line of thinking. Where we ended up after the inevitable push back on the more poetic ideas was semi-descriptive / exhortatory copy, eg. 'Make a rainbow of your own' on a pack of coloured pastels. Not quite what I had in mind.

If I were to do this again, I'd push harder on being more genuinely surprising, less obvious. For you look at some pieces of packaging many, many times. One possibly fruitful line to take would be that embraced by Jack Daniels in its ATL - to take a single product detail and tell a beautifully re-readable story about it.

Certainly when you think about products like cereal or beer which you tend to buy over and over again, there's no requirement to tell 'the whole story' at one go. You have months or years even of times spent idly gazing at the package you describe... it could be made a much more rewarding experience (as Innocent rightly surmised years ago).

As a footnote of sorts, I have to say I don't understand why more music packaging doesn't do this. As someone who still buys records and CDs, I repeatedly find myself listening to them, turning the packaging over and over in my hands, looking for something to read... and having to settle with fourteen lines of 'a big shout out to...' in 10-point type.

[Daniel]

I'm certain there was some product from my childhood that did exactly what you talk about … but I can't quite place it. Damn.

It would be amazing if big brands did this sort of thing, but there's also a lot to be said for small – very small – brands doing it too. Not exactly what you're talking about, but Jack White springs to mind: back when he was an upholsterer, he used to write poems and even insert limited edition records into the furniture he was working on. They'd only be discovered once the upholstering was removed or had fallen apart.

[Daniel]

MATCHBOXES! Don't most brands of matches have facts and pictures and things on their boxes, simply because they have some spare space?

That isn't the thing from my childhood, I should point out.

[Nick Asbury]

Thanks for the comments - good points. The matchbox thing also reminds me of Curious mints, which reveal a curious fact when you open the tin.

But I think that kind of lateral, creative packaging copy is probably reasonably common. I guess I'm getting at something different - actually stepping back as a brand and giving the stage to other voices.

What's great about Poems on the Underground is that TfL didn't demand that all the poems reflect their core brand values. You can imagine some jobsworth marketing manager asking for all the poems to be about speed and efficient customer service. But they didn't – they just gave over the space to create something interesting for its own sake.

Kellogg's packaging must be in every kitchen in the land and it would be a great gesture to remove their chatty self-promotional guff and give the space to interesting writing instead.

[Designer]

A product that give over its packaging to something irrelevant to the product could get some much coveted attention. And poems on packaging would make for a far more cultured read over breakfast than most newspapers.

[Martin]

A case in point is Stila Cosmetics when it was launched. The packaging was kraft board stock- a first in the industry- and each product had a terse quotation from a famous person on the lid. It helped them carve out a niche and get noticed. As they grew, they cut out the kraft containers and the quotations. Got bought out by Estee Lauder, sold, and have been owned by more private equity firms than I can count. A case of bravery walked way back.

[Neil]

There was a US coffee company that used to commission/accept submissions of flash stories to appear on its packaging, Nick, but I can't remember its name and I think it was a pretty small endeavour.

[ScribblerNE]

I particularly like the idea of 'cereal'isation.
The Rude Health brand put some interesting story type stuff on their packaging, but it does always relate back to the product:
http://www.rudehealth.com/our-food/organic-porridge/

A couple of years ago Tyne and Wear Metro did a similar thing to TfL poems on the underground with 100 word stories on posters around the stations.

Maybe something for 26 to get involved with?