Holiday season is upon us and we’re about to enter the biggest “unboxing” day of the year. Millions of hours will be spent this season packaging, wrapping and decorating that special gift for that special someone. The way you wrap a gift says a lot about you. Are you the perfectionist, making sure that the corners are tight, the gift wrap design lining up perfectly at the seams and the ribbon curled just so? Are you a procrastinator, tossing the gifts into a Happy Birthday themed gift bag as you hastily transport the goods from the trunk of the car to Grandma’s house? While most of us probably won’t spend too much time analyzing how the gift opening experience will unfold, for others, the unboxing experience is their entire business model, and one of their biggest potential marketing tools.
We’re talking about subscription services, companies such as Loot Crate, Nature Box, BarkBox, Blue Apron and Birchbox. Often, the experience these companies provide is so incredible that customers film themselves unboxing the products. In this post, we’re featuring five companies creating the best unboxing experiences for their customers.
Loot Crate
Loot Crate was formed in 2012 at a Startup Weekend in LA. What was a fun idea has turned into a mega success. Loot Crate is a subscription service that sends its subscribers themed boxes of goodies. It’s sold as the “epic geek and gamer subscription.”
What is Loot Crate’s key to success? They reached out to influential gamers and geeks and asked them what they thought about Loot Crate. These people filmed videos of the great boxes they received in the mail. It wasn’t long before people were filming videos of their own boxes. With over 100,000 subscribers reported in May 2014, it’s a winning solution for that hard-to-reach group of gamers and geeks.
Video: May Loot Crate unboxing by iHasCupcake
NatureBox
NatureBox is a snack box subscription service that delivers healthy snacks to your home or office. The company entered the market quietly promoting their products to targeted popular podcasts and blogs such as Aisha Tyler’s Girl on Guy podcast and Dan Savage. They’ve been growing immensely. They project they’ll ship over 1,000,000 boxes in 2014.
Video: Nature Box Haul and Review by saaamage
BarkBox
BarkBox is a subscription service for your dog. Treats, toys, and other natural health products specifically designed for your dog’s size are delivered to your door.
BarkBox fans take unboxing videos to a new level. Not only do customers film unboxing videos, they include their dogs in them. Watching the dogs sniff the boxes and steal toys from their box is the perfect unofficial advertising for this young company.
Don’t believe us? Business Insider reported that the company retains 90-95% of its subscribers month over month.
Video: BarkBox With My Crazy Shiba Inu, Kissu!
Blue Apron
Blue Apron is a food subscription targeted to busy professionals, busy parents, and those who simply dislike cooking. Blue Apron is a weekly delivery service that sends customers all the recipes, ingredients (fresh and dry) measured and ready for delicious healthy meals.
Blue Apron fans film unboxing videos but they also film themselves cooking their meals. These videos become promotional and instructional at the same time. Perfection.
Video: Unboxing and cooking Lemon Thyme Cutlets from Blue Apron
Birchbox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_WvrA5h-0s
Birchbox was started by Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna in September 2010. The co-founders started the company because they were tired of not knowing which new products to buy. Birchbox is their solution. Each month, subscribers receive five products shipped to your door. Try them all then go out and buy the ones you love. It’s a simple concept that works for consumers and for the participating companies too. It appears that small samples can be a very big business, Birchbox is currently valued at $485 million.
Video: April 2014 Birchbox Unboxing ‣ Rainy Days by AndreaMarieYT
Is your product presented in such a unique way that people will film themselves opening it and share the video with their friends? If not, you may be missing out on a powerful way to have your customers help with your marketing. Now, I guess I should get back to wrapping my own gifts, I’ve got a lot to live up to.
Rosie Sidle
Pressboard contributor, Vancouver
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Hope you enjoyed the read.
Stay tuned for upcoming posts featuring Unbox Therapy and Social Nature, two of our favorite companies that are changing the way products are presented and shared with consumers.
