Creative Packaging

Pliny the Elder is one of the best beers currently made and I seek incessantly to find it at a local Whole Foods Market since they are the only folks in town who get it from time to time. The shipment comes in every Wednesday, so I go and beg the beer guy to save me some next time, but there is too much competition (from friends of mine no less). Besides an occasional gift, my last score was at the brewery itself where I convinced them to sell me 2 cases. It’s that good.

So today was different. There was no Pliny in the back and none on the shelf, but the cheese clerk pointed me to a gift basket containing a sole bottle of Pliny. So behind this shiny plastic wrapped small gift basket of goods containing some cheese and salami, was the green label of awesome beer. One bottle. $53 for the basket of goods. I was actually close to buying the thing, but $53 bucks!? And then it occurred to me. These guys could sell a boat load of additional “stuff” by simply bundling their very sought after product. Had the price been closer to $20, I just might have bought the thing for the beer and justified it with some lousy salami. Those folks at Whole Foods may be on to something, or perhaps it was a fluke, but my guess is someone bought that basket 2 seconds after I left with my Racer 5.

Well, happy holidays – cheers to your favorite food and beverage and I’d like to hear about creative ‘packaging and marketing’ opportunities anyone has had, developed, thought of or been ripped off by. Comment here or drop me an email>>