Product Packaging - Does Yours Have a Hook? [Apocalypse Board Games]

All-New Millennium Game Box

When it comes to product packaging, products are no different than a movie poster, a novel, or a short story; the secret to designing a killer package is to give it an irresistible hook.

Right, you thought hooks were just for movies and novels, well think again because everything needs a hook. Even your hooks need a hook because without a hook, it's just another cog in the big machine. This brings to mind a cliche, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Think about that. So based on this analogy, your product should be squeaking for oil or a damn good hook because without it . . . you get the idea.

And a good hook, of course, is a design element that attracts prospects out of sheer curiosity. Hooks speak to people instantly by engaging them with visual cues that tell a story.

With the Millennium box, the marketing hook is relevant and immediate. This box, this product, this game is not of this world. How do I show that visually? The game box washes up on shore, but notice that it's beaming from above. Not exactly a Star-Trek beam-me-up, Scotty effect, but something similar.

More to the point, this image brings to mind the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey. None of these design cues were intentional but given the nature of the game, a futuristic setting, these design elements tend to come naturally as an extension of the genre.

Another hook is the sepia-tone and the juxtaposition of a futuristic woman set in the 1930s past. That's the real product hook. The rest is marketing.

This is the new box I'll be printing shortly. The seal says: Earth's Brightest Journey - Starts Here.

That little zinger keeps the main theme of the game, that all is not lost, front and center. That there is hope for humanity, after all. In other words, this is not a shoot em up, end of the world, the winner takes all game. Yes, the stakes are high and the danger is real ( a potential apocalypse) but there is a silver lining at the end.

The reason for this sort of thinking is that if I had designed the game like all the rest of the apocalypse games known to humankind, then it's just like all those other games. And frankly, I'm not sure how other games play in detail because I don't want to be influenced by their mechanics.

So Millennium, for better or for worse, is as original but as familiar as it gets because it's in a realm of its own. That's what makes it unique and what sets it apart from other apocalyptic games. I think that's a good thing and it remains to be seen if consumers agree with that or not.

Either way, I believe it's a good move and I'm sticking to it and will continue to develop the game along those lines. Right, sometimes you have to take chances because playing it safe is not an option.

If you're struggling with a product and searching for a meaningful hook, leave your comments below so we can figure it out right here. If you can disclose your idea, I'd love to post it to see what we can come up with.

Meanwhile, I'm committing myself to work on the Extension game ( The Fall of Berlin - And Beyond) and hopefully finish it for September release as well. A tall order but not impossible so it's all in the works and I've got to get back to it, folks.

See you back here soon!