Thelma’s Cookie Box Makes Me Hungry
Your packaging—for a product, proposal or information packet—says a lot about your brand and your purpose. 
For Tiffany & Co., the robin-egg blue box is more recognizable that any piece of jewelry. The brand memory is the way the blue box made you feel.
Packaging tells people whether what is inside is important, worth spending the time and relevant to your needs. Note how Apple’s packaging is simple and sleek. It undeniably says, “this brand is important.”
Thelma’s in East Des Moines sells their cookies in several unique boxes. However, the “oven box” is credited with doubling sales. Even though the cookies are delicious, the box is moving the product just as fast.
We already know the label of a bottle of wine has a real impact on the taste. So we should also know that strong packaging can offer the same advantages to your information and products.
You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you are more likely to buy a book based on its cover
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.