Logo: To Refresh Or To Not?

A customer wasn't sure if they should keep the same label they started with 10 years ago. I recommended a refresh. Ten year old kitchen appliances are rust and avocado colored. If I was wearing the same clothes I had from 20 years ago, I'd be wearing acid-washed jeans with pegged cuffs, high-top sneakers, a baggy fluorescent orange t-shirt with my sleeves rolled up, and poofy hair. I'd look like Screech from Saved By the Bell. It is good to update. It is imperative to update.

A company should always look for ways to improve the customer experience and polish its image. A company that does not always seek improvement becomes stagnant, sluggish and irrelevant. Some brands are "classic" because they have withstood the test of time: Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Chevron, Walmart, etc. They have withstood that test of time by walking the razor's edge: adapting to remain relevant to their consumers without compromising their fundamental identity.

Things trend: clothing, counter tops, hairstyles, music, news, light bulbs, and more. There is huge value to updating your label and logo ... It needs to be relevant and current. Yet, this too is a razor's edge because if you're too trendy, you risk having to refine more often. If you go too far, you risk alienating your existing base of customers. The goal is to find an image for your product or company that is relatable, current, yet transcends trendy and can become "classic."

The same kinds of trends happen in packaging.

Container & Packaging Supply has updated. Look at our new website, envelopes, calendars, logo layout, logotype, colors, business cards, flyers, signs, brochures, on hold messaging system, dress code, and more. All of these things contribute to creating an image.

Maybe it's time for you to update?

Defining "Green"

As the sustainability, organic, and natural products movements continue to grow, so does the list of vocabulary terms. Read below for definitions on related terminology.

Biodegradable: The ability of a material to be broken down by natural processes and then absorbed by the ecosystem.

Downcycled: Refers to materials that lose viability or value after they've been recycled.

Energy efficient: Products and systems that use less energy than their conventional counterparts to perform the same tasks.

Greenwashing: The practice of making misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Organic: Refers to foods and fibers that are grown and processed without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Organic livestock is reared without the use of antibiotics or hormones.

Pre-consumer: Refers to a material that is being reused or recycled before it goes to market, such as waste left over from manufacturing.

Post-consumer: Refers to an end product generated by a consumer that is being diverted from the solid waste stream for recycling.

Recycling: The process of converting materials that are no longer useful in their current condition and turning them into a brand-new product.

Sustainable: The use of natural resources to meet present needs, without compromising those of future generations.

Upcycled: Refers to waste materials that are recycled into something of greater value or use.

Source:
The Language of Going Green
By Jasmine Malik Chua, Special to LiveScience
http://www.livescience.com/environment/080714-green-terms.html

CPS+RSS equals a smart match

You've probably seen this little icon around. This is the RSS icon. What is RSS? RSS stands for "really simple syndication." Here's how it works. I know you probably won't admit it ... but you've probably listened to Delilah. Every night on over 236 radio stations (about 7 million listeners) you can hear Delilah taking requests, playing songs, and telling you to "Love Someone." Delilah actually lives in Washington, yet her "content" is "syndicated" or "distributed" across the entire United States. RSS works very similarly to this.

Think of how you get your newspaper, the TV Guide, and your copy of People magazine (I've seen it on your counter Ben!). You "subscribe" to these services by sending in a postcard that says, "I give you money, you mail me magazine." The publisher or "syndicator" receives your request and begins to "feed" you your magazines via your mailbox, and making withdrawals from your credit card.

RSS works very similarly (except that it's usually free): You click on the RSS icon and "subscribe." The "syndicator" or website then "feeds" the content to your aggregator. An agre-what?! An aggregator is a mailbox for all of your feeds; often called a news reader or feed reader. Many of you use an aggregator without even knowing it: iGoogle, Google Reader, Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo and more can be configured to "aggregate" or collect your RSS feeds.

Bear with me ... I know that explanation is far from really simple, but compared to micrbiological astrophysics, it is. Let's talk about the benefits of what an RSS feed can do for containerandpackaging.com.

Everyone has a default homepage when they open their web browser. Some people have set their default to be Yahoo, iGoogle, MSNBC, Facebook, etc. The number of people that have set containerandpackaging.com to be their homepage are VERY few (and those that have probably all work here). If we can get a presence on their homepage, then they'll get to see us EVERY time they open a new browser. As I've heard Sandy say ... "This is huge."

Here's my iGoogle homepage (click image to enlarge). This is an aggregator. Rather than going to the boring Google search engine page, I can go to a search engine page that has content that I need and want. Each one of these boxes is a feed that I've "subscribed" to.

I've set up a countdown to my 5 year anniversary (I'm registered at Target), I've got Japanese flash cards (today's word is most apropos, don't you think?), I've got news articles from Website Magazine and WebPro News "fed" directly into my homepage. And the best of all ... I have all of the CPS NEW ITEMS fed to this page too. Throughout my day/week/month I can keep tabs on new happenings on sites and topics that I'm interested in. Not a bad service to offer to our customers. Right?

Currently we have created three RSS feeds: Closeout Items, New Items, and Overstock Items. In the future we will also provide an RSS feed for our articles. This will help us gain better rankings and position us as an industry expert.

Anyone can subscribe to one or all of our feeds by doing clicking on any of the RSS icons located on our website (click image to enlarge).