Roaming the aisles aimlessly, staring at brightly colored toys in shiny packages, I plead for inspiration from the Gods. It seems the only thing harder than surviving an eight-year-old’s birthday is buying a gift for an eight-year-olds birthday. It’s been a long time since the second grade, and I (rarely) find myself playing with Barbie’s or coloring with chalk on a Friday night. So knowing what toy to buy can be a bit of a daunting task. Apparently Cabbage Patch Kids are out, and Bratz dolls are in. Who knew?

But, just as I’m about to hang my head and end this futile search, I spot it. A toy, nestled at the end of the aisle and covered in lime green packaging with cheetah print accents. The font makes an impression in jet black, and the typeface is girly, but not too girly. It’s quirky, innovative and unique. In a word: perfect. I greedily grab the product and march to the nearest checkout counter, proud of my detective work. I’m practically Carmen San Diego.

I carefully wrap the gift, adding a sparkly silver bow as the finishing touch and add it to the mountain of presents as I enter the party. Twenty minutes later, the room is covered in shreds of paper and pink ribbon. It looks like a festive bomb went off. Kylie is ecstatic with her gift and her Mom comes over to thank me. I ask her what exactly I bought. She explains the product to me, and while I’m still not sure what the thing does, I do know the marketers behind it are geniuses.

Shopping for presents is hard enough but the people behind the lime green packaging certainly knew what they were doing. By capturing the vibe and essence of their target market the company was able to convince me that Kylie would love it, even if I didn’t know what it was.

For companies, selecting the right packaging is key. Not only does it help attract a target audience, but it also gives a product identity and personality, something that can be easily associated with a group. When I saw the colors, patterns and overall “vibe” of the product I knew it had Kylie’s name written all over it, even though I didn’t know what it was. Dummies like me can use all the help we can get, and proper packaging is one way to really help us out!

Learn more at www.pearsonpkg.com.