Product packaging telling a story

Here a small little story for all those marketers who believes that only spending millions on advertising does all the trick, which also helps them to rest their right side of the brain.

"...about a year ago, when Jamie Leventhal was trying to convince big chain stores to stock his new line of shaving gels for young men, a buyer from Target asked a crucial question: How much would he spend on advertising?

“I told him we would not spend a single dollar,” Mr. Leventhal said.

The buyer was stunned until Mr. Leventhal pulled a prototype out of his briefcase. The product, called NXT (pronounced NEXT), is sold in an arresting triangular container that lights up from the bottom, illuminating air bubbles suspended in the clear gel. The plastic is tinted blue, and when the AAA batteries in its base are lighted, the whole thing looks like a miniature lava lamp or a tiny fishless aquarium." (Courtesy NYT)

I don't know about you, but surely it would have caught my attention; if not making me buy it. The story I will be telling myself will both be contextual (in terms of it's social appeal) as well as object desirability. Now did a traditional advertising miss both? I believe it does most of the times. When brands get creative with packaging, the work of the marketer becomes much more easier as customers do the rest by passing or spreading the story which we told to ourselves. Now that's what I call putting the thinking hats on.