Pugly Sweater Gift Box

Client: Target

Year: Holiday 2023

Work: Art Direction, Design, Tech Pack, Mood Boards, Color Palettes, Renderings

Objective:

Wanted to provide the “Barkbox” experience to the major retailer, Target, without having the customer subscribe to a subscription plan as a giftable for the upcoming holiday.

Pugly Sweater Color Palette

Analysis:

Limited budget (it had to be less than $3.18 to produce)
How do we translate a Barkbox for a retail space? How do we give the experience without adding food or overstepping the boundaries of just putting another Barkbox on the shelves?
First time providing a multipart package like this to Target (Referencing the Costco “party pack”)
Having the collection tie back in with the Pugly Sweater Assortment?
Last minute rush before the holidays for the factories to produce.

First Round Sketches

Solution:

Use the same color palette to tie it back to the assortment.
For cost reducing, use simple constructions but make it a giftable multipart to add value to the customer.
Make a toy treat bag that mimics what is provided in the Bark Box.
Making a open window packaging that the customer can see what is inside.
TO: and FROM: on the box that makes it a cute gift idea for any dog parent.

Issues while sampling:

Total assortment was still over our target cost of $3.18.
Copyright, parody lawsuit issue of Jack Daniels VS Bad Spaniels Dog toy

Selections

Pugly Sweater Gift Box

Solutions:

Removed the mug and kept the candy cane because it still added play value. There was still a good story with a Sweater Cookie, Candy Cane and Baileys pack up.
Working with copyright and the legal team together to make sure the “Taileys”/Baileys parody toy gave a funny spin to the iconic, recognizable alcohol brand while still being legally safe to produce. (This took longer than expected but was able to expedite the process with the help of the team and factories)
Removed some embroidery features to save on cost.
Reduced the scale of the Taileys bottle to save on labor costs.