With a turnover of £35 million and employing over 300 people worldwide, Causeway is the largest specialist software provider to the UK construction market.
In 2019 Causeway Technologies acquired Donseed, a state-of-the-art biometric fingerprint recognition tablet – developed to supply labour/project management data in real-time.
The tablet was the first physical item to join Causeway’s cloud-based product range; packaging and distribution were new to Causeway.
Bringing this asset in line with the brand required some serious consideration so they reached out to BISON for help.
Following The BISON BLUEPRINT methodology, we kicked off with a discovery workshop. It was important for BISON to define Causeway’s core objectives, identify the challenges early on and determine what the final outcome needed to achieve.
Core objectives:
We widened the lens to get a sense of the entire customer journey and experience. BISON became “the client” and an order was simulated; we received a Donseed tablet just as a Causeway client would.
Upon receipt of the consignment, we analysed every single aspect against the core objectives.
Our observations demonstrated that the existing packaging did not reflect the usual high standards of Causeway or compliment the value of the Donseed tablet purchased.
The packaging was extremely wasteful, with over 14 metres of plastic parcel tape and bubble wrap for just one order! The branding was inconsistent throughout and demanded mental exertion from the client to work through all assets and instructions.
Causeway’s aspiration for their devices to be ‘plug and play’ means that the tablet must be shipped pre-assembled on an angled metal stand with the cable and plug attached, making the tablet a very challenging shape to package securely and neatly.
Through careful consideration and manufacturing, BISON were able to craft a tray that the tablet nestles in perfectly.
Super-imposed ‘imagine-it’ design concepts were presented, which helped Causeway get a real sense of how the packaging would look. At the final stage we also produced a series of prototypes for final sign off, this included passing them through the courier network to make sure they performed well with the tablet and all assets in situ.
Having also gone ‘wide’ on the journey we got a real understanding on how orders are distributed. To maintain the high standard, BISON came up with a ‘how to user guide,’ a series of illustrations to show each team member how to correctly pick and pack the order – to make sure over a period of time, upscaling standards are continuously consistent.
The final design is a self-assembly box with a series of carefully crafted layers to hold the Donseed tablet, merchandise, and the client marketing literature securely in position.
Not only does everything need to piece together well from a durability point of view but it also needs to have a logical flow, from a welcome message in a branded envelope as you first open the box, to all secondary assets being tucked away neatly in the base.
The material for the packaging is recycled, recyclable and biodegradable, with 90% printed one colour on brown kraft. This certainly meets the core objective for sustainability, being environmentally friendly as well as on-brand.
Producing a fully branded full-colour outer sleeve in Causeway’s colour palette, creates a visually engaging first impression which exudes quality. This is also printed on recycled stock with a special biodegradable matt laminate film added for durability and a higher quality feel.
The final touch to protect the inner branded packaging, was to create a ‘transit pack,’ an outer box to protect the inner box whilst being delivered – this ensures that the tablet is even safer during distribution (brown kraft scuffed/marked are also deemed more acceptable than the coloured sleeve impacted, and the muted outer packaging tones down the fact there is an expensive product inside). The transit pack has also been produced in two formats 1:1 and 3:1, the latter of the two meaning delivery charges are reduced when sending multiple units.
The solution has met all of Causeway’s core objectives and has provided a professional packaging solution for the high value Donseed tablet for their clients. It is environmentally and socially responsible and realigns their prestigious marketplace position.
We selected BISON as our partner of choice on this project because we felt that their work stood out from other agencies in terms of creativity and impact. We had used them before on other office decor and exhibition projects and we were keen to work with an agency that we were familiar with.
Our brief to BISON was to create a visually impactful, commercially effective, and environmentally friendly packaging design for our Causeway Donseed biometric tablets. It was a challenge to do everything over Zoom through the pandemic, particularly when you’re talking about a physical product, but the use of super-imposed visuals rather than static drawings really helped bring the project to life.
BISON completely led the concept side and gave us ideas we wouldn’t have even thought about. For example, the sleeve looks really professional and is something we wouldn’t have even considered.
At every stage of the process – from initial concept design through to production – the team at BISON were a pleasure to work with and continually exceeded our expectations. The final product delivers on all of the objectives in our brief.
