Burgopak collaborates with Placard to unveil bank card packaging for Emerge

Burgopak, a packaging design company, has partnered with Placard, a plastic card manufacturer, to develop packaging for financial services provider Emerge’s bank card.

Burgopak aims to design a packaging solution that stands out in the market, creating a “premium, tactile experience” developed to mimic the feeling of opening a gift.

Trevor Buchanan, co-founder at Burgopak Asia Pacific, says: “Emerge’s packaging was designed to solve the issue of ‘unboxing apathy.’ Traditional credit card mailers can be boring as it is often a card glued to a Z-folded letter, in a plain envelope.”

“This packaging is the opposite — it helps Emerge make a great impression in that first moment when the customer meets the brand physically. It’s always great to work with a bold, young brand that wants to do things differently.”

Trevor Buchanan, co-founder at Burgopak Asia Pacific.Premium unboxing

The packaging is produced using 300 GSM art board, featuring spot UV, with striking colors accented by holographic foil. 

Tess Barone, general manager for sales and marketing at Placard, says: “The manufacturing of a pack like this, with a belt-driven opening mechanism, requires tolerances of less than half a millimeter to ensure that the opening and closing action is smooth. This is what Burgopak specializes in and why we partner with them. They precision-manufacture their packs so that the opening mechanism works perfectly.”

“Emerge wanted a pack that protected the card during transit and converted what would be a mundane experience into something more interesting. The dual-slide mechanism makes the reveal interactive and fun.”

Sasha Fowler, creative director at Emerge, led the creative direction and concept development for the packaging, noting that it needed to visually convey innovation.

“From the get-go, we wanted the bank card’s packaging to be an extension of Emerge’s brand. The goal was to elevate what’s typically a routine experience into something worth remembering, a design that would surprise, delight, and embody the brand’s forward-thinking personality,” says Fowler.

“The ‘feel’ was equally important — we wanted the pack to be high quality, with a satisfyingly solid way of opening. We designed everything, from our app to our physical touchpoints, to feel considered and premium. We’re delighted with the final packaging and are looking forward to the reaction from our customers.”

The Emerge bank card is now available in New Zealand.