Packaging
Nespresso Packaging
Redesigning holiday
Specialty wrapping wasn’t so special.
When holiday cheer starts to set in, Nespresso puts out a limited edition packaging wrap that cloaks their popular VertuoPlus model. After years of leaving dollars on the shopping mall floor, Nespresso concluded their specialty design wasn’t capturing the spirit of the Nespresso brand after all. That’s when they invited us to the holiday party.
We have a tradition of discovery.
With a few things to figure out—like how to elevate the brand and communicate product benefits—we gathered ’round the shopper to understand their mindsets, behaviors, and holiday habits.

Seasonal sensory overload.
It’s no secret that retail dials everything up a notch during the holiday season. Every item shouts at the shopper, boldly claiming to be the perfect gift for their loved one. Nespresso has to somehow be heard (and seen) over the shiny, glittery, jingling noise.
Coffee is a gifting go-to.
On top of tasting great, coffee opens the door for consumers to share special moments with one another. It’s a recipe for the perfect gift—delicious, heartfelt, and experiential. But shoppers don’t need us to tell them that; they already have the same idea brewing.


Nespresso has a quality reputation.
Nespresso’s premium equity is widely known, their coffee widely loved, and their systems widely revered. And, of course, a premium brand means premium points with the gift recipient. So, celebrating the brand has to be top priority if we want to leverage all this common knowledge.
It’s not always about others.
Holiday shoppers can be selfish. And hey, we don’t blame them. Treating yourself to some of those seasonal deals is only human. Knowing this, we couldn’t forget about the actual shopper, because the Nespresso experience sounds exquisite to just about everyone.

Tying it all together.
After a lot of shopper understanding, positioning exploration, and design iterations, we arrived at one simple, gold ribbon. It’s elegant, it’s a non-denominational nod to gifting, it allows the product to remain hero, and it ties into Nespresso’s metallic brand accents while visually connecting packages as they sit next to each other. In short, the design solution has stopping power—and so do the 150,000 units that were executed. All units sold out for the holiday with a 30% increase over the previous year.