Our idea drew on two ancient cultural traditions:

1) The elaborately carved latticework, used as screens on doors and windows, and seen as emblematic of China’s rich history of design and craftsmanship. Originally functional they became a signifier of status (more intricate designs and use of gold leaf indicated higher status) and are increasingly appreciated as works of art by people today.

2) The even older tradition of lantern making and, in particular, palace lanterns – larger, usually rectangular and made of wood – are particularly popular at CNY.

Combining these two traditions we redesigned the standard Nespresso ‘9 box’ sleeve to bring an extra touch of Nespresso creativity and refinement to CNY. The sleeve used the intricate design of the traditional lattice together with Chinese characters that represent 'family reunion'. When removed, the sleeve was free standing reflecting the style and tradition of palace lanterns.

A five sided, laser-cut sleeve that fits over the standard Nespresso ‘9 box’ multipack.

Each of the long sides of the sleeve is identical, with the Nespresso ‘N’ logo in the centre of a lattice design that is symmetrical in two axes. The lattice itself has four-fold rotational symmetry and the rectilinear shapes echo the shape of individual Nespresso packs.

The top of the pack is not covered by the sleeve leaving the standard packaging with Nespresso’s varietal colour coding visible.

On the opposite end of the pack are the Chinese characters, that signify ‘family reunion’. When the sleeve is removed this becomes the top of the design clearly displaying the characters, while the overall shape and style references traditional palace lanterns.

The sleeve uses a strong muted red - a quietly confident, modern use of a traditionally auspicious colour - that contrasts with the black of the Nespresso packaging.

As corporate policy, Nespresso does not release any sales data. However, anecdotal feedback from Nespresso flagship boutique store managers, sales staff, regional and global clients and most importantly, consumers, was universally positive. All state significant uplift in sales over the CNY period as well as marketplace buzz with many customers’ visiting stores specifically to purchase the CNY special edition box set.

Testament to this, the agency has been awarded the next CNY campaign without the need to pitch, as well as being asked to ensure the next packaging design is an evolution of 2016.

The one criticism of the execution that filtered back from one sales locations, was that the work only targeted people of Chinese origin and not foreigners in the market. An insight and comment that indicated that we had answered the brief precisely.