We reported last week Apple has introduced a new plant-based gift card made from Ingeo bio-plastic for its popular iTunes music service. The company has also patented a new design for gift card packaging.
The design is referred to simply as gift card "carrier" under patent application number 20080116088. According to Apple's patent application their vision for the new packaging covers three areas.
The first aspect pertains to a gift card carrier that also operates as a greeting card. In a first folded configuration, the gift card carrier presents the gift card for purchase.
In a second folded configuration, the gift card carrier acts like a greeting card that encloses the gift card, and possibly supplies a greeting or message.
A second aspect pertains to a gift card carrier with a depression for receiving a gift card therein. The depression may make the gift card appear as if its flush mounted within a panel of the gift card carrier.
A third aspect pertains to a gift card carrier with an image of hardware device that includes a display, and a gift card that includes an image associated with the hardware device. The gift card is positioned over the display region of the hardware device image making it appear as if the gift card is the display, and the image thereon is being displayed. In one particular embodiment, content that can be purchased and played on the hardware device as for example media items such as audio and video is disposed on the gift card.
The patent application is worth a look - like most its complex and extremely detailed. Clearly Apple hopes to develop its gift card "carrier" into a key aspect of their integrated marketing.
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Great post. I posted about this topic on our company's blog on savvywallet.com. I think it's a great idea. I work for a company that manages and tracks gift cards, and this is going to increase the sale of their gift cards. It's a great way to combine the use and limit waste as well.
Posted by: Austin Chu | May 27, 2008 at 02:30 PM
This website i’ve found shows some great information about gift card packaging. It contains great data about gift cards and its packaging.
http://www.giftcardpackaging.eu/en/facts-figures/
Posted by: Dennis Ballamore | June 09, 2009 at 05:35 AM