by Melissa Simmerman | May 7, 2026 | Brand Strategy, Industrial Design, Innovation, Material and Finish, Melissa Simmerman, Packaging Design, Structural Design, Thought Leadership
May 12, 2026 It genuinely seems like every category is crowded these days. Even baking staples and household paper products are being reinvented and disrupted, but a few categories in particular have been exploding: condiments, water, supplements, better-for-you...
by Melissa Simmerman | Apr 3, 2026 | Brand Strategy, CPG Trends, Innovation, Inspiration, Material and Finish, Packaging Design, Prototyping, Structural Design, Thought Leadership
Your Packaging Is Saying More Than You Think Consumers create and assign meaning to many things. As a brand, some of that is out of your control. Much of it isn’t. Consider the name “Corona” during the pandemic. Not controllable. But how the brand...
by Melissa Simmerman | Mar 18, 2026 | Brand Strategy, Inspiration, Packaging Design, Prototyping, Sales and Influencer Kits, Structural Design, Thought Leadership
Launch it to Last: Brands That Win Aren’t Just Seen — They’re Experienced Belief is the hardest thing to earn in CPG. Thousands of CPG products launch every year, and after walking the ExpoWest show floor and speaking with many of the founders...
by Anna Kniesly | Mar 9, 2026 | Brand Strategy, Conference Recap, CPG Trends, Inspiration, Packaging Design, Thought Leadership
What Expo West 2026 Told Us About the Future of CPG Packaging Our team spent the week walking the floor at Expo West, and several signals stood out about where food & beverage, and the brands behind it, are heading. Beyond individual products, the Expo West...
by Kaleidoscope Chicago | Jan 24, 2026 | Brand Strategy, Kaleidoscope, Packaging Design, Thought Leadership
January 24, 2026 There’s a pattern that shows up in CPG packaging projects more often than it should. A brand begins losing momentum in the market, sales soften, shelf presence feels weaker than it once did, and internal conversations eventually arrive at the...
by Kaleidoscope Chicago | Jan 16, 2026 | Brand Strategy, Kaleidoscope, Packaging Design, Sales and Influencer Kits, Structural Design, Thought Leadership
January 16, 2026 A packaging design brief is where projects succeed or fail. Not at the design review or at the retailer presentation. After 30 years of working with CPG brands across food, beverage, wellness, pet, and beauty, we’ve seen the same patterns repeat...
