Bluewater Organic Distilling Gets New, Eye-Catching Boxes onto Shelves in Record Time
When Bluewater Organic Distilling’s distributer recommended changing their 12-pack box to a 6-pack, that meant a new box structure and design. It also meant they had just two weeks to get the new boxes ready for the next round of bottling and distribution. With the help of its HP PageWide C500 Digital Press, The BoxMaker got it all done in time – and even managed a last-minute design change.
Founded in the Pacific Northwest in 2008, Bluewater Organic Distilling is a community-focused, independent distillery dedicated to crafting brilliantly smooth vodka, gin and aquavit. With a focus on sustainability and artisan techniques, Bluewater has evolved to be the industry leader in quality and integrity.
Bluewater recently partnered with a large spirits distributor in Washington State to grow its wholesale business. The distributor recommended that Bluewater convert its current 12-pack shippers into a 6-pack format to boost sales. This update would allow them to offer more competitive volume pricing to their accounts and also provide retailers with packs that are easier to use as floor stack displays in the grocery aisle.
Bluewater partnered with The BoxMaker to design, print, and ship its new boxes in time to meet the distillery’s tight deadline. Once a structural file was created, Bluewater was able to take advantage of The BoxMaker’s full-color digital print capabilities when designing the graphics for its box. Previously, Bluewater had used the same generic box for all six of its product SKUs, the contents of each box only identified by a checkbox on the exterior print. For this new design, Bluewater was able to develop unique graphics for each SKU, making each product more attractive and capturing consumer attention.
Because Bluewater needed to print six different graphic versions of its box and the full-color design required high-quality print, the project was a perfect fit for The BoxMaker’s HP PageWide C500 Press. It offers all the benefits of digital print, including volume and version control, at a print quality that is comparable to litho-lam. Additionally, the true water-based Inks used by this press delivered a food-safe and sustainable print option for Bluewater’s boxes.
“With the C500 this job was easy,” recalls Derek Cornwell, Sales Representative at The BoxMaker. “It was less stressful, and it was much more efficient. We had to get to market in two weeks realistically from the beginning to the end, and I was able to go to my team with six versions and turn that around in 5-7 days.”
Charged with a new packaging directive, Bluewater needed to update its box structure and packaging graphics in time to ship new boxes to their glass manufacturer for the next round of product bottling and distribution. This created an extremely tight schedule of just a few weeks.
The BoxMaker printed a total of 8,000 boxes for the initial order. Within that total order volume, Bluewater was able to leverage digital print-on-demand to order each of its six SKUs in different volumes. This gave the brand the flexibility to adjust its order based on SKU demand, rather than having to order a high minimum volume of each package version.
“We are so excited about our new six-pack cartons,” says John Lundin, Owner of Bluewater Organic Distilling. “The digital print process that BoxMaker provides allowed us to run a very technical run of six different designs all at once. We didn’t have to deal with individual plate fees for each carton, and it let us split the quantities of each product run without any extra fees.” He adds: “It’s nice to have a simpler process and pricing structure.”
The agile nature of HP digital printing even allowed for Bluewater’s recently earned USDA Organic certification to be added to the box designs at the last-minute before the print run.
Early feedback from retailers and wholesale accounts has been very positive. The new six-pack structure is easy to use and display, and the bright and colorful graphics are attracting the attention of spirits shoppers.
Bluewater anticipates easy reordering with digital print. And, with the help of its new packaging, the distiller is looking forward to a bright future with greater sales and increased market share.
