g1immer's Super Duper Analysis on "Is it Worth it?" Collection series

Part 2: Crate Crash - Packaging Strip

Today's discussion is on a piece of paper. A long piece of paper. This is going to get exciting! What is important about this piece of paper is that it is the heart of marketing. A team of people at numbskull had to design this strip and probably get permission every step of the way from Activision about, mind me, their vision for the eye-catcher of their product. This strip that wraps around the Crash Crate (see my analysis on the box here) loot box may be more important than the products inside. Without the advertisement right on the box, some passerby customers might have no idea what they are glancing at. The packaging strip should be called the marketing strip, as it also gives customers a taste of what is inside and how much the items are worth.

Alright, let's get right to it. The strip's first image is of the iconic Crash Bandicoot Jungle backdrop, Crash Bandicoot's fun font as the logo, white, bold text of the "Crash Crate" and Crash Bandicoot himself! But, wait, there is also a little sunspot that reads "WORTH $40". These little circles appear on almost every section of the packaging strip, informing the customer their money is valued correctly with each product inside. I also enjoy Crash Bandicoot's image as he looks happy with his wink, smile and two thumbs up. Fun fact: companies need to be careful with the thumbs-up sign as n Australia it means a middle-finger like here in America. So, I wonder what Crash is doing on the Australia Crash Crate's packaging Strip? Something to look up.

One part of this image that makes me a little confused is the orange triangle behind Crash's image. I assume that the Jungle image was a little too dark and Crash wouldn't be able to be seen clear enough without the bright color behind him. However, there is no other bright orange colors on the strip and it looks a little odd. The sunspots use the same orange color, which makes up for the randomness of its use. Consistency is key!

Next up is the first image of the products. Remember the image above shows the packaging strip removed from the box, so the customer would have to move it to view this section as well as the rest of the strip's. This image would be on your right. If you look close enough, the jungle background can be seen again, reused, but with a focus on the Tiki-like pillar. It also appears to be mirrored. The background image also contains large leaves of a brownish plant. As the background is faded, it does a good job as a backdrop for the more colorful product images. I attempted to Google search the image, as it must be an Actvision-created photo as it is also used on the backdrop image that comes with the magnetic bottle opener, but I ad no luck finding anything. If you can find this image throw a link down in the comments!

The two items shown on this side are of the Sticker Set and the Steel Mug. Obviously, the front of both of these products are shown as their most detail is right there. I find it interesting that there is no reference to scale on these images, as well as the other ones included on this entire paper. The Sticker Set's price is set at $5, while the Steel Mug's is at $15. To find out if I think these are accurate, as well as the other products in the box, see my later posts. I will be discussing it in great detail (of course)!

The second image of the product is on the left side of the box. The placement of this image makes sense as it is parallel with the other part containing images of the products included inside. A very dark image of the same jungle seen is here, and it actually fades to black around the magnetic bottle opener's sunspot. The image appears to be a continuation of the very first image with the Crash Bandicot logo, which is fascinating because the other side does not do this with its background image. Its probable that the fade to black was intended, due to the bright colors of the coasters. Both of these products are priced at $10, which is probably why they were grouped together on this page for consistency.

The image for the magnetic bottle opener does appear to be metallic, like the product itself, but the image does not give the customer any insight as to where the bottle-opening mechanic is actually located. It would be implied it is on the back of Crash, but no other information is given. Again, and this is a larger issue this time, there is no reference to scale. The three coasters are obviously not that small. Note that they also separated them instead of having a group shot of them sprawled out together so the customer can easily see them in full detail. There is no mention as to what these coasters are made out of. Also, and this is just my crazy eye for detail, the text for the magnetic bottle opener is a bit too close to the bottom of the paper and does not appear even with the other text.

Last but not least is the company's pride and joy, their name and labels. To start off with this image, we see another mirrored version of the first image we viewed together as you can see the tree underneath numbskull's logo is flipped. The rest of the image looks new to me though, just like how the brown leaves did in the image with the first products seen. I find it interesting that numbskull has their slogon and website on the packaging strip, while Activision does not. Maybe they are bigger than that? After the trademark comes where it is manufactured, which I will of course look up to see if they use proper recycling and materials (no child labor either, please) at another time.

Now, here's the interesting part. Let's see if we can unmask these images at the bottom of this image as a few of them have me stumped! Obviously, on the right we have the barcode. Without this retailers would have a bit more difficulty scanning this product to charge the customer! Pretty sure the lady at Best Buy used this same bar code, so you see where the magic happened. On the very left we have a box that reads "14+" on the inside. This is rather confusing. Can't 8-year-olds use a magnetic bottle opener? What is inside that warrants the customer must be fourteen or older to use it?

The next image is of your typical caution sign. These caution signs imply danger, but again, I am perplexed. What is dangerous inside the box? The icon leads to the next one, with a frowning baby canceled by a red circle with a line down it that says "0-3". It is implied that this product could be a danger to an infant or child up to 3-years-old and perhaps that is why the caution sign is on the strip.

The final three, I believe, have to do with each other. We have a circle with an arrow pointing one way, the classic recycling symbol and a person pointing at some arrows. I'm going to be honest ad say I have no idea what the first of these means. The other two have to do with recycling, informing the customer that the products can be recycled and that you should do so. The first one - is this just a British thing I'm missing? Please tell me if you know!

Here's a few concerns that were not addressed on this part of the packaging strip:

1. A Questions or Concerns section - Don't most companies include this on their products? Eh, maybe I'm just crazy. They do include their website and it could get a little wordy with more text...

2. Websites for Activision, RubberRoad.co.uk - I mentioned this before, but it is a bit inconsistent, at least when comparing Activision's logo placement with numbskull's, as numbskull includes their slogan and website while Activision does not.

3. A Not Actual Size note - Again, I mentioned this before. The products are obviously not accurate sizes, but a note should have been added for stupid people (or crazy people like me).

You may be thinking this is a lot of paragraphs for something as simple as a piece of paper with pictures on it, but remember that people were paid to do this. People sat at a computer like you or me (darn, are you on your phone?) and they did a little research, had to contact a few others and copy and paste on Adobe Photoshop...okay, maybe this part of the Crash Crate wasn't super tough, but they still used up precious time in their day so you could view this! I doubt anyone else in the world (external to the project) has looked at this piece of paper more than we have today.  feel that it is important to live and learn from any sort of marketing designs and tactics. Honestly, the design is very well done, colorful and attention-grabbing, perfect for a packaging strip. Okay, that;s enough cheesiness for today. Thanks for reading!

Love,

glimmer