I was breaking down the box that my new Pumas came in, and I found this –
…which I’d thought was a fun little message to find just before you threw a box away – a second chance to consider whether or not you need more storage for useless stuff you really should have chucked away by now.
Something about it really clarified, though, when Nick Richards commented on my photo of it –
Same came on my rugby boots. I was somewhat amused to think of rugby playing dolls.
What’s really good about it is that it totally ignores the context of the product, and looks entirely at the context of the customer. By the time you’re breaking down the box for recycling, you’re more likely to be thinking about domestic tasks than your new trainers – so the message doesn’t relate to the trainers at all.
It’s obviously important to have a good product, but also to remember that your customers do not care, exclusively, about that product. Being in touch with customers – interacting with them in a way that feels more human – is about far more than copy, and admitting that everything has a separate life after it’s been bought and opened is a big part of that.