PRODUCT BOX 

(game)

Brief description

Ask your customers to imagine that they are selling your product at a trade show, retail outlet, or public market. Give them a few cardboard boxes and ask them to design the product box that they would buy. The box can contain anything they want – marketing slogans that they find interesting, pictures, price points. They can build elaborate boxes through the materials you will provide or just write down the phrase and slogan they find most interesting. When finished, ask your customer to use their box to sell your product to you and the other customers in the room. The box represents the product they want to buy. The advantage of selling the box is that, even if the customer has written a feature on their box, chances are good that they will sell it by promoting the benefits.

Preparing

  • Protect all the tables that customers will be using.
  • Bring paper to allow customers to sketch their ideas.
  • Bring medium-large boxes; constraining the space that people have to create in their boxes is part of the magic.
  • Bring enough boxes so everyone can work on their own box, during the game small groups may be form spontaneously.
  • Bring four to six sample boxes to illustrate what you are looking for (cereal boxes, software boxes, cartons of yogurt).
  • List the design elements that you should review with your customers to help them get started: the name of the manufacturer, name of the product, “data sheet” detailing nutritional information, characters to promote the product that appear on the box, slogans, coupons or points to encourage repeat purchase, offers for “free stuff”, promotions.  
  • Create a prize or game for the “best” box.
  • Try to include cross-functional teams to create the boxes.

Playing

  • Use the sample boxes to explain the game.
  • Encourage people to create their own boxes.
  • Allow about 30 to 45 minutes to create boxes.
  • Ask customers to sell you their boxes (try to have them stand up for this).
  • Allow between 5 to 10 minutes for each box selling.
  • Have observers watch the person selling their box; focus on audience´s reactions; focus on the benefits expressed by the “seller”.

Processing Results

  • Transcribe and categorize the type of content (textual and graphic) on the box, along with any selling argument used while selling the product. Some categories are features, benefits, slogans.
  • Then categorize how each statement, pitch, or graphic is related to the product. Some secondary categories are product adoption, community, user experience, support, technology, price, value.
  • Assess the degree to which your current product matches the idealized product your customer has described.

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