Incada’s intangible and tangible benefits

The Incada family of folding box board offers customers value that goes beyond the physical qualities of the paperboard itself. This essence of the product has been captured in a new sales toolkit which showcases the range’s inspiring story.

Produced at Holmen Board and Paper’s Workington Mill in the UK, Incada is used primarily for pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food applications. ‘Incada has built a phenomenal reputation for its runnability and performance at full speed with hardly any waste,’ said Laura Marshalsea, sales director packaging. ‘It has a fully coated printing surface that creates all kinds of design possibilities, and meets the highest hygiene standards necessary for food packaging.’

As well as its technical properties, Incada also has an inspiring back story, particularly when it comes to sustainability. ‘Sustainability is at the top of the agenda for many of our customers,’ said Laura. ‘So, the Workington Mill, with its biomass boiler and provision of excess green energy to the UK national grid, is a very important part of the Incada story.’

‘Incada offers customers value that goes beyond the paperboard itself,’ she added. ‘This includes our sustainable production and the trust customers have in their relationships with us. It is about the extra services we provide, the openness we provide to our facilities, the fibres from our forests and the lifecycle and circularity of our materials. These are the things that make up the essence of the product. It is the total picture.’

To showcase these non physical elements of Incada, the Holmen team collaborated with KDV Design Studio and GBGT Box to develop an interactive sales toolkit. ‘Holmen wanted something inspirational to drive discussions with brand owners around the holistic offering behind Incada,’ said Kristina De Verdier, design director at KDV. ‘They wanted to make the intangible tangible.’

A crucial element of the design process was a series of interviews with Incada sales teams. ‘These teams actually meet the brand owners, and through these interviews, we better understood the nuances of what end customers want,’ Kristina said.

 The final design consists of a box which opens like a booklet, revealing compartments inside. One side contains two fans with technical samples of different Incada grammages and specifications. Kristina describes the other side as the ‘inspirational compartment’ with a holistic story. This consists of bundles of cards centred on four key themes: responsibility, trust, passion and consistency. 

‘Each theme represents an aspect of Incada that brings tangible and non tangible value to customers,’ said Kristina. ‘Responsibility is about delivering on sustainability goals. Trust is about the functional aspects, such as the foldability of the material and the technical support from Holmen. Passion represents emotional benefits, such as the tactile experience with material effects and the personal service you get from Holmen. And consistency is about runnability, colour consistency, and always delivering on quality.’

The structural design of the sales kits was made by GBGT Box, who also produced it. ‘This was a comprehensive project,’ said Amanda Bertilsson, packaging designer at GBGT Box. ‘The toolkit consists of many different parts, effects, and techniques, which involve many areas of production. We had to find solutions to ensure it all worked in production, and which ultimately provided a really nice unboxing experience for the end user too.’

The effects included foils, embosses, debosses, and cut outs to show the material's capability. Incorporating material effects allowed the kit to emphasise the key elements of Incada. For instance, embossing created a tactile and emotional connection, while the use of the reverse side of Incada, with its uncoated surface, provided a natural look and feel. The kit also has a minimal design overall to accentuate the sustainability aspect, which is central to Holmen’s DNA.

Laura Marshalsea hopes the new Incada sales toolkit will inspire customers. ‘It shows what is behind the product and the brand, and hopefully, it will open minds about the benefits that can be gained from using Incada and inspire new projects and applications.’

‘It captures the essence of the product, the journey and the story into one toolkit. But it is also like a piece of art,’ she added. ‘It is both functional and attractive. So, when we give it to customers, I hope they think of it as a lasting gift and keep it on the shelf to remind them of Holmen and Incada.’