Tekwych Talks Toys

What Is Packaging For Any More?

I picked up more cases of toys this week and, after opening my new bounty I looked at the pile of empty blisters, bubbles, clamshells, trays, and liners that were going to be thrown out. I keep the boxes and backer cards but still have a full trash bag that needs to go to the landfill. Now I'm not a hard core 'save the planet' freak but it got me thinking, how much of what I just paid for my new action figures did I just throw out? How much do companies spend on packaging that most of us toss away?

So what is packaging? or the better question what is packaging for? Before we look at what packaging is, let alone where packaging might go, we first need to look at where packaging came from.

Back in the early 1970's Mego Corp and several retailers got together in an attempt to come up with a way to display the 'Worlds Greatest Super Heros' line that maximizes a shoppers ability to see what is available as well as the stores ability to as much stock in the smallest space and still be able to easily restock. The J-Hook card and blister came out of these discussions. The card could be printed conventionally and the blister allows customers to see the actual figure. These card and blisters have continued, almost unchanged, ever since. In the 90's the Clamshell was introduced which stands up better to the wear and tear of shipping and shelf life but still we have the same basic size and shape, designed to be placed on a peg hook, that Mego came up with all those years ago.

Over time companies have found it easier to catch the consumers eye with a flashy package than with their product. While most young boys can tell the difference between Lando Calrissian and Geordi La Forge or between Duke and Cpl. Dwayne Hicks but parents have the pocketbooks. A special die cut card or a fancy blister design created a difference between male figure A and male figure B. These days the packaging has become so important to some that are willing to buy a second version of the exact same figure just because the backer card has a new border design.

But what do we need packaging to accomplish for us now? For me the most import job that packaging can do is protect the figure from damage during shipping and retail. It needs to keep the figure from moving around in the package, make sure different types of plastic don't stick together while still tacky (you know, like soft vinyl capes) and to ensure that small accessories are not lost.

A second job for packaging is display. There are those people out there that keep their collections Mint On Card (MOCers). I don't get philosophy ( their toys people, open them up and play with them for crying out loud!) but it is a large part of the collecting community so being able to display a figure in its packaging is a something that must be considered.

The third job of packaging, and one I feel has lost much of its former importance, is marketing. As I said above package design help one product stand out from all the others in an isle of peg hooks but most collectible figures never make it to a peg hook these days.

I feel a need to pause here and explain some of my terms. When I say collector figures I am referring to products similar to SOTA, NECA, Sideshow, Southern Island, or eve the late, and much missed Palisades. Even most of McFarlane's figures except for thier sports lines. The McFarlane sports lines, along with Star Wars, Transformers and GI Joe from Hasbro are mass market toys. Yes people collect those lines but they are, first and foremost, a line of toys for Kids. You can not convince me that the latest Freddy or Jason figure from NECA or SOTA's Now Playing line were ever meant for kids.

OK, with that said, most collectible figures never see a store shelf. Wall Mart, Target, and TRU won't look at this kind of product because, depending on who you want to believe, their is not a big enough market or the manufactures can't produce enough quantity for these stores to be interested. Either way that leaves smaller retailers who probably wont take the risk on many of these lines or comic book retailers who usually purchase figures only when they have a pre order. Sure they'll put a few Marvel Legends or DC Direct figures out but that's a direct tie in to their main clientele. With the state of todays B&M retail market collectors figures just don't have a place on peg hooks. The vast majority of sales of collectors figures sales are made through online retailers or as pre orders through speciality stores. either way it was the figure, not the packaging, that brought about the sale. Sales are, for the most part, site unseen and packaging no longer holds sway as a way to market these figures.

With these three issues in mind let's look at what, in today's packaging, is really needed. Most figures are placed into a plastic try to keep them in place within the blister. the are held into this tray with twist ties or rubber bands punched through the back of the tray. Someone at the factory must take the time to insert and tie these by hand, it can not be automated. The package itself probably has some kind of header card with a J-Hook slot that does nothing to protect the figure and forces MOCers to use that much more space to display the figure and if, as pointed out above, the figure had little chance of ever making it onto a peg hook, was not needed for any marketing purpose. If you look at clamshells you find a weld seam around the edge of the backer. A seam that makes it difficult to display the figure MOC on a shelf.

The currant design for packaging puts marketing and B&M retail as the main job of packaging even though these jobs are, in todays market, the least important. A few companies have seen this need to evolve packaging design and are trying new things. Twist-ties and rubber bands have become fewer and Sideshow has really pushed the envelope with their new Anakin Skywalker 12" figure. No ties, no box closures that could tear, the figure slides out in a tray and the entire package remains closed using a magnetic clasp.

Packaging design needs to evolve. We need to move away from a marketing based design and towards a display based design. The package should become a frame or shadow box that highlights the figure. Designers need to consider how the package looks on a collectors shelf rather than a retailers peg hook. All of this though needs to take a back seat to being able to get the product to collectors without any damage.

And to the graphic designers out there, look around the web and see how people display their figures. Come up with a design that works well in a display but can be opened and close with little, if any damage to the package. Get rid of ties and bands! Do not consider these any more, we have several other, most better, ways of keeping the product in place. For marketing consider print adds, banner adds, even a stock image for online shopping carts to market figures. When your PR department sends out the press release for a product, include images or a link to images so that they can be run with the story.

With all these suggestions what then do I think this new packaging design look like? I would love to see a package that protects the figure during shipping but can be reconfigured as a background and base so as to display the figure. I would love to see as little waste as possible once the package is opened. If an insert tray is used I would like to see a pre formed top tray instead of ties and bands. I would like to see a basic shipping sleeve offered by manufactures. A plain white sleeve that retailers could use as a shipping container on one off purchases and as packing material on large shipments (any one who bought from Palisades Direct has seen these).

If we as a community speak up and discuss what we would like to see the manufactures are listening. Many have on line message boards and representatives can be found (openly or lurking) on many of the independent boards. Are you one of those MOCers or do you open your figures? Do you preorder your figures? Do you shop on line or at a B&M? Do you buy a figure because of the line? The Manufacture? The sculpt? Please make your feelings known, if not here on the Go! Figure boards than at the boards of your favorite manufacture or news site.