A nicely rolled out advent
"We'd need round boxes, can you?" We usually answer questions like this with a slightly evasive response. (But "stay tuned", that's about to change!) However, the tobacco company Swedish Match insisted. "We want a big round box for 24 boxes of ZYN nicotine sachets, can you do it?" Of course we couldn't say no to such a question. And so a unique Advent Calendar was created that had everyone in our production scratching their heads.
When it comes to promotion, tobacco companies' hands are rather tied. That is why they put energy and money into marketing projects that appeal to customers with originality. Very often, therefore, the key element for them is packaging, which turns an ordinary product into an experience and can turn a consumer product into something special. At Hässlers, we have extensive experience with packaging for chewing tobacco jars or nicotine sachets. In Sweden, such products are part of the local culture and precise packaging is essential.
The brief for Swedish Match didn't look easy on paper: 24 boxes arranged in a circle, all in a giant round box with an extreme diameter of 40 cm. The solution was further complicated by the requirement to make everything nicely out of cardboard, paper and cardboard. No foam interior, which occasionally subtly hides small flaws in the construction. So that's when it was time for our brilliant designer Robert. Like a true pro, he came up with an original solution - instead of the standard tubes that usually form the basis of such structures (there was no time or space for them), he created a system out of die-cut paper parts and a unique build.
What is the uniqueness of the solution? Robert devised a design in which the base walls of the box curl into a circle using a support in the form of a double circle of coated cardboard - which also keeps the whole composition in 3D shape. The box is in two parts - the lid and the base - while the production of the interior, with twenty-four internal boxes measuring 7 centimetres in diameter in height, was a real puzzle. Robert constructed the spoke-like structure from cardboard pieces that fit together precisely and needed no gluing. Each piece, however, had to fit exactly to the millimeter to create a solid and elegant composition. A top cover sheet with tear-off windows completed the whole construction and added a playful element to the calendar. In other words, my production colleagues must have loved this Advent box (and Robert) from the moment the solution arrived on their desks.
None of us could have imagined how difficult this complete manual production of thousands of complex boxes would be. To make matters worse, the deadline was really tight. On the other hand, it was a challenge that taught us a lot of new things and pushed our capabilities forward again. Each completed calendar was proof that when you combine creativity, craftsmanship and teamwork, we can do the seemingly impossible. The honest feedback warmed our hearts all the more afterwards. When a colleague of ours visited the Swedish Match boutique in Gothenburg last month and asked the sales lady if she already knew about the Advent calendar that would be coming to the store before Christmas, she spontaneously replied, "Wow, of course! We've already seen the presentations, it's going to be a blast!
We look forward to seeing what you come up with next. Square wrappers, round wrappers, we're no strangers to anything. What matters is if you have a product with a story you want to creatively craft with unique packaging. At Hässlers, we definitely dare to do that - how about you?
