Top Design Contest--Promotional Products

Platinum Award: Promotional Products.

Thinking Inside the Box.

It seems like everywhere you go these days there are more and more billboards and banners imploring you to "think outside the box." Yet, for Keith Beck, sometimes it's best to just stay inside.

For instance, thinking inside the box helped Beck, president of ProForma Pacific Systems in Pleasanton, Calif., put together an award-winning gift box package.

And it was thinking inside the box that led Beck to use a design abandoned by a failed dot-com instead of paying to design a new one. A design, in hindsight, that seems to have been destined for this particular customer.

Of course, it must be conceded that the customer in question is, in fact, a box manufacturer. Or to be more precise, Mark Container, a San Leandro, California-based corrugated carton manufacturer.

"It's what I call a gift appreciation box," said Beck by way of explanation. "It contains a cube of writing paper that has a little palette on the bottom, a coffee cup and a pen, and that kind of goes with what they do."

Though the outer gift box did originally enjoy life as a prototype for another company's use, Beck says it still took about three weeks to finalize the project's concept and decide on the contents of the box.

This part was especially important because Mark Container wanted to provide its customers with something that would stand out from the swag other companies give away, and at the same time remind customers of what it does—plus it had to be useful. The solution: desktop accouterments.

After a brief huddle with the customers regarding creative strategy, the pieces began to fall into place and it was downhill from there. In fact, the customer became so enthused, Beck said, he could hardly wait to see the finished product—and that got Beck excited.