Have you seen the unboxing video Weird Al posted of his 2015 GRAMMY? I want to talk about it for a minute, so watch it if you haven’t already.

So, this is the pinnacle of musical achievement in America? You wouldn’t know it from that.

Sure, the foam rubber insert is nice – I’m a sucker for custom-molded cases.

But Where’s The Magic?

Where’s the experience in this? It just feels so lazy.

Here are a couple of things I think they could have done better:

• Brand the Box
  I’m not talking about putting the GRAMMY logo all over everything – that’s asking for an unscrupulous person to walk off with it. But no one know who NARAS – the group who awards GRAMMYs – is except for people winning GRAMMYS. Use some NARAS-branded packing tape or printed boxes to build a little anticipation.
• Double Box It
  The damage that box experienced is to be expected and the award was packaged well to protect from it. But there are two HUGE opportunities missed here: 1) NARAS has failed to give GRAMMY recipients a way to store the award. An award like this deserves a case for storage and it should have been included. 2) A second box would have created more sense of ceremony, making the award feel more special.
• Personalize The Experience
  I don’t know the exact number, but I’d hazard a guess that somewhere around 1,000 of the little gramophones were given out in 2015 – 108 categories x roughly 10 people per category (band members, producers, etc). Even if you multiply this number by 5 – that’s 5,000 packages. This is not at all an unreasonable number to offer some personalization beyond the equivalent of an “inspected by” number. A personalized note or even simply the recipient’s name printed on a notecard creates emotional impact.
• Printed Materials
  And while we’re at it – that’s the best printed piece NARAS could come up with….for the GRAMMYs‽ I’m just stunned that they didn’t include something foil stamped, engraved, or letterpress. Or even just something in an envelope!  This might be the easiest way to make for a more inviting experience. Such a simple way to improve the customer experience with such little effort.

In my mind, this boils down to two principles:

Create Ceremony

Personalize

Following these tenants will always make for a better experience for your customers. And it’s not an all-or nothing thing. If nothing else, take the time to personalize the experience whenever possible.

And, NARAS, if you’d like help with the packaging of the 2016 GRAMMYs, there’s still time. Contact us here!