Remember the last day of school? It was always exciting because you knew that for the next few months you weren’t going to be tested on anything. No more studying or stressing out about how you’ll perform; instead, you can focus on doing the things you love.

If you were in elementary school, those things were probably swimming and riding your bike, and if you were in high school or college, well, they were probably things better left off of this blog. We’re professionals after all.

But some people couldn’t wait for school to start and get back to testing. We called them “nerds” or “dorks” back then. Today we call them Ernest Packaging Solutions experts.

No, we’re not testing on the Pythagorean theorem or who the 21st president was. Instead we’re testing and retesting our shipping products every day. Then when we’re done, we’ll test them again.

We do this because we know that when you use one of our proprietary or customized packaging solutions, you’re getting a package that we know will perform because we’ve put it through the grinder and it’s come out shining on the other side.

We do packaging, and we do it well. And when we’re the ones doing the testing, that still frees you up to do what you love. And since we’re all a little older than when Summer Break actually meant something, that stuff we love probably involves Law and Order reruns and a glass of wine.

But who are we to judge?

If you’ve missed meteoric rise of Pinterest, the site that allows you to create photo albums of online images to share with your followers, you’re probably still waiting for your monthly 1,000 Free Hours of AOL discs in the mail. It’s the hot new site online. On Pinterest it’s the images, designs and fashion that you love that counts.

Packaging has long been important to food and beverage brands. Iconic brands, from Coca-Cola to Campbell’s Soup to M&M’s to Wonder Bread, are easily spotted by their packaging — practically all the way from the grocery store parking lot.

Now brands are realizing they can also incredibly visible online.

And the trendiest place of late to show off food and beverage products and their packaging is Pinterest.

Proponents of Pinterest — which has been called by many users “a never-ending magazine” — love the social media channel’s highly visual format, ease of use, and focus on do-it-yourself projects and recipes.

So what are some things you might want to think about when starting up your brand’s Pinterest account?

• Pin Your Brand’s Values and Your Audience’s Interests. Convey your brand’s values while also appealing to your consumer base’s lifestyle interests if you want to have a popular page.
• Conduct Contests. Contest ideas vary far and wide on Pinterest, but they all seem to do well at engaging followers. Give followers a chance to get collaborative and involved, and of course win prizes.
• Be Active. The number of Pinterest users has quickly skyrocketed to about 17.8 million, according to CNN. With that number of users, your pinboard has the potential to introduce your brand to an immense number of new consumers.

Remember, too, that if you need some good-looking packaging to feature on your Pinterest page, look no further than Ernest Packaging Solutions. We’re here to help. Contact us today to see what we can do for you.

At Ernest Packaging Solutions, we’re big proponents of environmentally friendly, sustainable packaging. And here’s why we think you should be, too.

See consumers care about sustainable packaging. They just don’t want to be responsible for the trouble, effort and bother of recycling it or the burden of paying for it.

That puts the pressure on your company to let them have their cake and not get fat from it…or however that saying goes.

Here are some things to know about making sustainable packaging  a part of your packaging solutions.

Consumers judge your book by its cover. D0 you want to be seen as the reliably best-selling, tried-and-true classic, or a flash-in-the-pan paperback with some sparkly vampires on the cover? Consumers notice your packaging right away, perhaps even before they notice your actual product.  Your packaging’s Earth-friendlymessage, in fact, can have a huge influence on turning browsers into buyers.

Practice what you preach. As more and more businesses jump on the sustainability bandwagon and resort to deceptive greenwashing, consumers have become quite skeptical of the sincerity of some companies’ “greenness,” and the last thing you want is to have 60 Minutes at your door asking why you’re company thinks “greening” means tossing green plastics into the river.

Sustainable packaging can be affordable. With Ernest Packaging Solutions, sustainable packaging can be affordable. When sustainability and savings are in the same equation, that’s a big win for both you and your customers.

Think long term. By using sustainable packaging you are conveying through your actions where your company stands in regard to caring for the planet, something that many consumers take very seriously.

Looking to implement more green practices at your company? Contact Ernest Packaging Solutions to see what we can do to help you.

Pizza and burgers — they’re both seemingly ever-present in life, from childhood summers when kids have awesome pizza- and soda-filled sleepover parties, to nights when twenty-something college students meet up for a burger or a slice and a pint, to late afternoons in full-blown grown-uphood when foodie friends wow guests at every summer barbecue with gourmet burgers featuring toppings like truffles, grilled pineapple, saffron aioli or poached eggs.

It’s doubtless that countless people over the years have dreamed of a perfect union between pizzas and cheeseburgers, combined in one great tasty package. But while clever masterminds of pizza burger recipes have tried their best in the past to “package” the two power foods together, no one has brought pizza and cheeseburgers together quite like this:

!!!

Yum! Erm … Yuck? We can’t decide whether this is ridiculously awesome or ridiculously gross. OK, to be on the safe side, we’ll just say it’s probably a little bit of both.

Either way, you have to admit that “repackaging” the pizza to include a bunch of mini burgers probably took an incredible amount of time, trial and error, creativity and arguments over a board-room table where proponents of the product shouted to detractors, “Of course people will love a burgerlicious pizza! Duh!”

Only time will tell if the Crown Crust Burger — only available in the Middle East — will flop or end up trouncing the pizza competition.

But with the Crown Crust Burger’s commercial getting more than half a million views on YouTube in just a few weeks and garnering loads of attention online, it just goes to show you that quirky, cleverly repackaged and marketed classics — whether pizza or some other product — will be sure to draw the eyes of consumers and drum up plenty of enthusiasm.

Looking to find a collaborator to help add a clever spin to the packaging of your classics? Look no further than Ernest Packaging Solutions. To find out more about our innovative packaging solutions, click here.

From the moment we learn to ride a bike until the moment that our children have to have an intervention with us because we’re getting too old to drive and we’re scaring the grandchildren, Americans are on the move.

Where are we going? Anywhere but the kitchen, it seems. According to a recent study, Americans spend, on average, about 30 minutes per day in the kitchen. The rest of the time we’re eating out, going to work, sleeping, driving kids to soccer practice and, well, reading packaging blogs. Anything but preparing food.

But we certainly haven’t stopped eating — we’re just changing our habits, and your food packaging needs to meet that need.

Food packaging needs to have all of the classic attributes: secure, conveys brand messaging, cost-effective, etc. But now we have to accommodate Mr. and Mrs. Smith who are running out the door and barely have enough time to remember their laptop, let alone cook and eat breakfast at the table.

This means ergonomically designed cups and holders, incorporating plastic forks, spoons and straws into the design and making packaging that fits in the cup holders of the car.

And heaven help you if you sell food that needs to be nuked in the microwave — the packaging better not be blistering hot when it’s snagged from the microwave with 3 seconds still left on the timer. If they can’t wait those 3 seconds, do you think they’re actually going to put it on a plate?

Designing food packaging is no longer about getting the product into the shopping cart; it’s evolved to include portability and transitioning into consumers’ daily lives, out of the kitchen and into the streets.

Looking to update your food packaging for the modern consumer? Contact Ernest today, and we can help make your packages portable.

So you’ve made the sale. Your packaging has served its purpose of moving the product to the store safely, and it conveyed your brand’s message to the customer well enough to get in the cart and through the checkout line.

Game over, right? Not necessarily. Customers are becoming increasingly angry over blister packaging. It’s call “Wrap Rage,” and it’s no laughing matter.

We talk a lot here on the Ernest blog about designing for the lifecycle of the package, and this is one main point where companies may be out of the loop on just how negatively their product is received in the home.

For many, blister packaging looks great on paper as it can reduce weight, is relatively cheap, discourages shoplifting and the hard casing provides product protection. There are also regulations for certain packaging that must remain childproof or be protected in a similar way.

But customers don’t know, or often care, about those logistical details, and once the product is home and the customer you just convinced to give you money is struggling and straining (and hopefully not cutting themselves) with the packaging … well, it just doesn’t reflect well on you.

Is your packaging solution behind the times? Does your solution only take into account what it takes to put the product to market? New packaging techniques and products are becoming available. Your packaging solutions need to be adaptable.

Ernest has the team to engineer your packaging, select the appropriate materials and get your product to market and keep your customer happy at home. If you are looking to update your packaging, contact Ernest today.

“Yo Adrian, I did it!” – Rocky Balboa

Despite over 65 years in the books as a packaging company, Ernest Packaging Solutions is still going strong and we’re still young at heart. And we’re still here because we’ve invested in our people and our culture.

That’s why we’re honored that the Ernest Edge video won Best of Show at the Addy Awards. We didn’t need the validation. We knew that we do things the right way, but it’s always nice to know that other people notice. And if it happens to be the worlds largest advertising awards competition then all the better.

We stepped in the ring with the big boys like Adobe and Intel and came out looking pretty on the other side. It’s like the movie Rocky,  (spoiler alert!) only this time Rocky won.

We won by showing who we really are and that our people matter. Take a look and see for yourself.

It takes a special kind of company to believe in their people and culture so strongly that we want to put it front and center to potential clients. It’s our people that make us, so it’s our people we show.

Oh, and Ernest Packaging Solutions ain’t no one trick pony either. We wanted to brag mention that the Edge video wasn’t our only award at the Addy’s, the Ernest Challenge Video Series also took home a bronze award. We’re not saying the vote was rigged, but come on, how can anything beat seeing our President being swept away by a hurricane?

Are you burning up profits and burning up resources too? What are you some kind of pyromaniac or do you just need a little help getting the green side of your business running?

The statistics concerning wasteful packaging in our country are staggering. As it turns out, Americans in recent years have thrown out 78.5 million tons of packaging annually.

Wow.

That’s heavier than more than 20 million average-sized elephants! Of that massive garbage pile, only about 43 percent of it is recycled, according to Mother Jones. And not surprisingly, those wasteful numbers really spike around the holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, when Americans produce in excess of 1 million tons of extra garbage per week. Um, yikes.

This leaves those in company leadership positions with a lot to think about. On the business side: “What is this doing to our bottom line?” And on the more human, environmental and altruistic side: “What is this doing to our planet?”

At Ernest Packaging Solutions, we thought long and hard about both of these questions and how we can help those business leaders who come to us considering the same thoughts.

We stick to the classic three pillars of sustainability — reduce, reuse, recycle — but with a twist.

Rather than being a hard-lined absolute, sustainable packaging works as a continuum of improvement. Thus, even the smallest progress is a worthwhile step toward success. To make those steps toward success, Ernest Packaging Solutions has formed strategic alliances with many resources that aid in even the most difficult of challenges calling for creative solutions.

We find ways to reduce virgin materials and eliminate superflous packaging. And we strive to implement usages of materials that can be reused over and over again.

Additionally, recycling is commonly thought of in fairly black-and-white terms. Stuff is recyclable, or it’s not. That means when post-production waste and other scrap come into the picture, recycling is dismissed as a possibility.

Not so fast! From the facial tissue manufacturer looking to recycle lotion-impregnated tissues to the producer of trading cards with two-sided, ultraviolet coating and foil stamping, Ernest Packaging Solutions has the connections to facilitate successful recycling of the most unusual materials.

Our client success stories, from Kings County in California to Kalco Lighting range far and wide and speak volumes about what we can do not only to help your company save money, but also to do your part in saving the environment, too. Contact Ernest Packaging Solutions today to see how we can help you avoid wasteful packaging.

It’s pretty sweet that you can just waltz up to one of the plentiful ATMs found basically on every other block in busy parts of any city and oh-so-conveniently pull money from your bank account. Just like that. But even sweeter? In some locations, you’ll soon be able to actually pull tasty, saccharine treats from a cupcake ATM. Seriously.
As it turns out, Beverly Hills-based Sprinkles cupcakes opened its first ATM in that city on March 9, and the bakery’s got plans to have ten up and running by the end of the summer. The appeal of the machine is that with just the swipe of a debit card, those seeking a sugary pick-me-up have access to cupcakes from Sprinkles 24 hours a day. Cupcake flavors will be rotated regularly, and each machine will be able to hold up to 600 at a time.

Innovative, right?

These days, companies are not only selling their products in brick-and-mortar stores — they’re also selling their wares from online shops, from pop-up stores and food trucks, and in many other creative ways. And when retailers sell their products in innovative ways, they need packaging that’s equally innovative to match.

Greg Feinberg - President, Aisle 9 Group

That’s where Ernest Packaging Solutions comes to the rescue! We know that packaging solutions aren’t One Size Fits All. This is why we approach projects for each client in an individualized, customized manner that works to meet each client’s specific needs. And, to be quite honest: The weirder, the better. We’re big ol’ packaging nerds, and we like a challenge.

So whether you’re creating your own pizza shop that features an off-hours breadstick dispenser, or you’re shipping cobra eggs, we want to work with you and all your oddball packaging needs.

Oh, and if you want us to do something normal with boxes, we can always do that, too.

Greg Feinberg - President, Aisle 9 Group

Owners of online shops have a whole lot to think about. Like traditional retail shops, online retailers have to worry about their inventory, their marketing strategies, their business plans and so forth. Unlike many traditional retail shops, though, online retailers need to sort out issues tied to having their business completely dependent on technology and having a shop that’s open for business all times of the day, anywhere in the world.

Their packaging needs differ, too.

Unlike most brick-and-mortar shops, online stores don’t have the need for traditional “shelf appeal” from packaging to draw in shoppers and turn them into buyers; the presentation of the products in their online store does the selling for them, instead. And as it turns out, most online retailers actually prefer nondescript shipping packaging as a way to deter post-delivery theft from a customer’s porch.

What their packaging does need to do, though, is get the product to the consumer. And it’s not enough anymore for packages just to make it to the buyer’s front porch in kind of decent condition, whenever it happens make it there.

Packages need to arrive with the product inside presented in surprisingly tidy condition, meaning the product is free of flaws, wrinkles or other signs of being sloppily jostled about — and it must arrive in an affordable and sustainable manner. Sounds like quite the challenge, doesn’t it?

That’s where Ernest Packaging Solutions comes in. We understand that needs are different with every client, and we want to work with you to find the absolute best solutions for your online retail shop.

And that’s exactly what we did with ChocolateBakery.com. Take a look at the video below to see how we came up with a customized solution:

If you’re looking for solutions for your online retail shop, look no further than Ernest Packaging Solutions. Contact us today, and see what we can do for you.