Krystal is asking its customers to flex their creative muscles by submitting designs for one of the brand’s signature packaging materials—the Krystal box that carries its burgers.
The Design-A-Box challenge, which runs through the end of January, will reward one artist with $10,000 and the opportunity to have their design splashed across Krystal boxes system-wide.
“Packaging is one of those unique parts of our brand that continues to make us a nothing-like-it brand with a lot of our products, and we’ve got really creative customers out there,” says Brad Wahl, vice president of marketing for Krystal.
“We like to keep things new and fresh and exciting, and we thought this would be a fun way to engage them.”
Customers can visit Krystal’s website to make their own design, using tools provided by the company online. All designs are posted on the website, and fans can vote on their favorite and share with friends via social media.
Wahl says box promotions in the past, like the Krystal Hall of Fame designs, have proved popular.
“It’s not just the burger; it’s the burger in the box that resonates with people when they think of the brand,” he says. “We do know that when we do things creatively with the box … people engage and look and read while they’re in the store.”
Though the Design-A-Box promotion will change Krystal’s iconic branding on its packaging, Wahl says he doesn’t expect it to confuse customers who are used to the traditional design.
“We’re not going to create new customers,” he says. “We’re focused on increasing the frequency of our current customers, and one of the best ways to do that is keeping them engaged with the brand on the eating occasions they’re giving us right now, in hopes that they remember us later and give us another visit in the near future.”
Wahl says there’s no timeframe for how long the Krystal boxes will sport the winning designer’s art. He says if there are several good designs, the company may use several throughout next year.
And while there aren’t plans to do this campaign again in the future, Wahl says that if it’s successful, it would open a door to more packaging promotions.
“If it goes as well as we’d like it to, it opens it up for designing the Chik box, the drink cups, and all of those elements,” he says. “If we can get the engagement with the brand that we’re looking for on the Krystal box, definitely it would be a part of the future.”
By Sam Oches
