To learn more, we spoke with Todd Kirby, Director of Operations at Chatbooks, about how we worked together to bring their packaging vision to reality.

Here is what he shared with us.

When Chatbooks enlisted the support of Blake Envelopes, what was the brand hoping to achieve?

Todd Kirby: The impetus for Chatbooks reaching out to Blake was that we had revamped our packaging in 2018 and made some improvements in 2019, but it had remained unchanged since then.

In 2023, we decided we wanted to rethink our packing in a multitude of ways.

Criteria #1: Eco-Friendly Packaging

As a business that ships high volumes of products to customers all over the world, it’s our duty to be sustainability-minded.

We wanted our packaging to be a reflection of this commitment by ensuring it was totally recyclable and plastic-free.

Criteria #2: Stronger Packaging

Our packaging needed to properly protect our photo books during shipping so that we could reduce the potential for damage and ensure our customers received their products in perfect condition.

Criteria #3: Enhanced Customer Experience

For Chatbooks, our packaging is a direct reflection of our brand, and it’s also tied to our customer experience.

When our customers receive our products, our packaging is the first thing they see, and it needs to make a good impression.

When we set out to innovate our packaging, we wanted it to be more modern and visually appealing in order to help elevate our entire brand.

Criteria #4: Improved Efficiency for Fulfillment Partners

At Chatbooks, we work with a number of fulfillment partners. It takes time to fulfill and ship orders, so efficiency is incredibly important to them. Our packaging process had to align with these needs.

Criteria #5: Reduce Packaging Costs

As we set out to reimagine our packaging, we began to realize that we were overpaying with our current vendor and we wanted to find ways to reduce our costs.

With these goals in mind, we started seeking new vendor options, and that’s when we were referred to Blake.

How would you describe the process of working with Blake and what was the outcome of your collaboration? 

Todd Kirby: The first time we met with the Blake team, Michael Barter, CEO, and Wes Carpani, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Blake USA, flew out to see us.

Our collaboration began with a full discovery session. Their team learned about our business, dived into our goals, and explored our full product offering.

From the very onset, they understood the importance of innovation, customer experience, and navigating manufacturing restraints.

With our goals in mind, Blake set out to create an innovative new packaging solution for Chatbooks.

Collaboratively Devising a Brand-New Packaging Design

Blake was able to offer us a number of potential packaging solutions.

The first option was to tailor off-the-shelf packaging that they had already been producing in mass. These options were 80% ready to ship and could be modified to our needs.

The second option was to collaboratively create something much more custom.

We opted for the latter.

The Blake team would provide us with ideas, and we would throw curveballs back at them, sharing our wishlist of what we wanted to see and challenging them to create something that would fit the bill.

They eagerly accepted every challenge we offered them, proactively innovating and sharing new ideas, then implementing our feedback and changes until we found the solution we were looking for.

Blake was able to develop a design that we never could have achieved before, both in terms of functionality as well as aesthetics.

The end result was a beautifully designed, foldable cardboard package with crisp, multi-color printing, variable-depth scoring, and an integrated peel-and-seal adhesive.

This new Chatbooks packaging offered several important improvements.

Elevated Aesthetics

Our revised packaging was drastically enhanced in terms of the fidelity and accuracy of the ink. Boasting fine print and multiple colors, the ink stands out incredibly well, especially for being printed on cardboard.

Our team noticed an immediate boost in terms of the resolution of the printing on the packaging and the alignment of the overall design with our brand.

Enhanced Functionality

Within the Chatbooks business model, we ship products to many of our customers every single month. With that in mind, it was essential that our packaging be functional and elevated but not bespoke or complex.

Blake devised a single packaging design that could be utilized for various product volumes. With its variable-depth scoring, this package design can be utilized to ship one photo book or multiple at a time.

They also designed packaging to fit the varying range of product sizes that Chatbooks offers.

Improved Eco-Efficiency

Blake was able to create an ultra-sustainable packaging design that didn’t require plastic of any kind. Since it’s made entirely of cardboard, our updated packaging is one hundred percent recyclable—a fact that we can state in writing on each one.

Better Protection for Products

During the design process, Blake sent us numerous different packaging options, and our team would test its durability by tossing it around the office and beating it up.

Eventually, we were able to find a design that we were confident would adequately protect our products during the shipping process, ensuring they arrived to our customers as we intended them to.

Cost and Production Efficiency

Beyond the physical packaging, the Blake team also supported Chatbooks in reducing our packaging costs and supporting a more efficient fulfillment process.

They were able to provide us with more competitive pricing than we’d been receiving from our previous packaging partner, and they also tapped into our sales forecasts to build out a packaging budget for us.

Since the majority of our warehouse space is filled with printers, Blake was able to handle our packaging warehousing as well. They provide us with weekly reports of our inventory levels, we order what we need, and they ship the packaging to our fulfillment partners across the country.

Blake has been super accommodating in discovering and aligning with what’s best for our supply chain.

How has Chatbooks’ new packaging impacted your business and the customer experience?

With our new packaging, we’re receiving far fewer damage complaints and a lot more positive feedback of the delivery and unboxing experience. Our customer feedback has been very positive.

In our work with the Blame team, they’ve hit or exceeded virtually every goal or expectation we’ve had for them. While we’re still not at critical mass yet, they have solved in nine months something that we hadn’t been able to solve with our previous packaging partner.

But the success of our collaboration with Blake isn’t just outcomes-based.

As a company with a start-up spirit, we often need to launch new products on short notice—sometimes as little as three to six months. This is typically very difficult for any supply company, but Blake has assured us they will be able to meet these needs. Based on what we’ve experienced so far, we’re confident that they will be able to help facilitate our innovations.

We realized very quickly that Blake is the right team for us moving forward. I’ve enjoyed working with every member of the team. Rather than shooting down our ideas, they constantly try to bring our vision to life. I have nothing but positive things to say about my experience with them.

They promised a lot of big things and they delivered all of them. That’s the foundation of a long-term partnership.