PopSockets Brand Transformation

PopSockets were invented to solve a problem most of us didn’t even realize we had: smartphones are not designed with hands in mind. Stick a PopSockets grip on the back, however, and you’ve suddenly got something that a human hand can grasp. That’s why we’ve sold more than 240 million of them.

PopSockets viral success soon far outpaced it’s existing identity system, and I got called in to help set things right.

We created a highly rational, modular identity system, based on the type family Gotham and a rainbow of fruit flavors. The horizontal mark was used for packaging and most digital branding, while the round logotype was reserved for product, social and advertising applications.

We also developed native language versions of the mark, with accompanying type families for communications in Japan, China and Korea.

Global Packaging System

As the brand grew, the need for a more robust packaging system became apparent.

The requirements were stringent: it needed to be a dual language system; it needed to allow people to pop the product up and down in the package; at the same time, it needed to deter shoplifters from pilfering them from packages; it needed to deter counterfeiters; it needed to accommodate a whole ecosystem of accessory products as well as countless line extensions of the PopSockets grip, wallet and mount system; it needed to be ecologically friendly and easy to recycle; AND it needed to remain cost neutral or better.

Our packaging solution utilized holographic foil board as a substrate not only for maximum visual impact at Target (our largest retailer), but also to make counterfeiting difficult and expensive.

We engineered an interlocking sleeve system that secured the grip product in the package, but still allowed you to pop the grip up and down (playing with the product allowed people to see how it worked). We used color and printing finishes like reticulation to differentiate tiers of product.

A repeating circular pattern ran across the packaging suite creating a dynamic presence on retail shelves, and helped make disparate accessories feel like part of the family. Moreover, the packaging system was printed on high post-consumer recycled stock, was easy to recycle, and over time became far less expensive to produce than the crappy, plastic-laden original packages.

PopSockets HQ

The front foyer showing our Target retail display unit and a selection of new product.

Unauthorized 1:1 replica of Ellsworth Kelly’s 1967 “Spectrum II” using approx 3,000 color matched Popsockets grips.

PopSockets brush with royalty.

Agency: PopSockets in-house; CMO: Becky Gebhardt; CCO: John Kieselhorst; VP, Brand Design: Justin Fuller; CD: Sonya Ghori, Jess Voight; CW: Brett Shea, Jeff Schuller; AD: Erika Liberato, George Bangs, Swapnil Joshi; Packaging Engineers: Mary LaMacchia, Christina Holmes; Studio: Charlyn Erickson, German Murillo, Ahn Truong; Photography: Jenna Gang, Colors Collective, Angela Kohler, Jimmy Marbles, Joe Friend, Brooks Freehill, Sonya Ghori, Swapnil Joshi; Illustrators: Mike Perry, Craig&Karl, Dan Lehman; Executive Producer: Molly Schaaf, Julie Vosburgh; Producer: Alex Sheridan