ScanIAm wrote:
It's only the pretentious, black-turtle-necked Apple drones who care about the style of a cardboard box.
There is an absolutely
brilliant column from 2003 that answers your very question:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2003/10/01/notes100103.DTLThe column, in praise of Apple's packaging, starts off with the phrase, "Oh right like you even care."
The whole column is just sheer genius, because it makes your very argument, it starts off from your point of view --
who cares about the style of a cardboard box? -- and, slowly, inexorably, it draws you...
No screaming colors and no garish cartoon graphics and no massive corporate logo and no bullet-point exclamation points listing the outrageous features you'll never use and you're like, wait a minute, what they hell does Apple think they're hawking here, art? ...to the
opposite point of view.
These are the things that are nearly dead in our mass-consumer culture, things normally reserved for elitist niche markets and swanky boutiques and upscale yuppie Euro spas and maybe cool insider mags like I-D and Metropolis and dwell. They are most definitely not to be expected of mass-market gadget makers. This is why it matters. This is why it's important.
I don't want to quote the whole column here. Go read it. The columnist nailed it dead-on in 2003 and Microsoft still hasn't figured it out. If you've ever opened an Apple product, you'll probably think,
Yeah, I know exactly what this guy is talking about.It says something, doesn't it, that they put that much thought into their packaging? The stuff you're going to throw away? I mean, if they carefully thought about where the cables should be placed, how they should be folded, where the manual should go -- doesn't it imply that they also put at least as much care and thought into the device itself?
The old iPod packaging (the "cube") was much nicer than the packaging introduced for the iPod nano and 5G iPod.
My first iPod was a third-generation unit. I have to say, the packaging impressed me. At first, it was a little puzzle: how does it open? Ok, not too hard to figure out: You slide the cube out of its sleeve. The black cube then unfolds in half -- it's hinged -- and inside it's all white. Except for some subtle gray text: Designed by Apple in California. Then you unfold two flaps -- the whole box is an origami trick -- and on the right is your iPod, and on the left, a white package holding the manuals & software. The package has a single word on it:
Enjoy.
Just opening the box puts a smile on your face.
That's sheer genius. It's the best kind of advertising. It associates the emotion of feeling good, feeling like you are doing something special, with
seeing a product for the first time. The "OOBE" that everyone talks about and almost no one gets right. People remember that good feeling -- that's all the associative cortex in the brain
does -- and they become repeat customers. Repeat customers are always your best customers. Some of your repeat customers turn into rabid fanboys. Or your best evangelists.
Most companies think, once you've made the sale, you've got a customer, therefore who cares about packaging?
Full Disclosure: Yes, I own a black cashmere mock turtleneck.
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