We were lucky to catch up with Kary Radestock recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

“Come back when you have better packaging.”
Those are not the words you want to hear from one of the biggest domestic merchandise retail chains in the country. And yet, that’s what Bed, Bath and Beyond told Canna Bath after the manufacturer presented its line of natural bath and body products.

Love the product, hate the packaging.

While the truth behind a problem can be painful, it is how you approach finding the solution that tests your mettle. So, when Canna Bath came to us and asked for help redesigning the entire scope of its brand and packaging, we stepped up. We are problem solvers. Hippo Premium Packaging was created for moments like this—to take a client’s problem and turn it into a success story.

When we finished developing an entire new look for Canna Bath, they went back to the Bed, Bath and Beyond buyers to show off their new packaging. Not only were the products immediately accepted and put into the Bed, Bath and Beyond store network, but nearly one year to the day after they were rejected, Canna Bath reported that its sales had doubled.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Kary Radestock is founder and CEO of Hippo Premium Packaging, a rapidly growing company focusing on the unique needs of the cannabis and hemp markets.

Kary has more than 30 years of award-winning print and packaging experience, and has worked with some of the top brands in the world. With this background, she looked at the packaging in the emerging legal cannabis market and saw that it lacked professional level design. At the time, the packaging in the cannabis industry simply did not match the quality in other mainstream sectors. So she launched Hippo to bring a higher level of craftsmanship along with professional-level brand-building solutions to the nascent industry.

Fast forward several years, and Kary has emerged as a leader in the cannabis industry, and has helped transform the sector into one that now boasts some of the best packaging and brands in the world. In fact, Kary won the first ever highly prestigious PAC Global Packaging Award given to a cannabis product.

Now an in-demand speaker at industry events and frequently published author, Radestock is considered a thought leader on cannabis branding and packaging, and was named Chair of the NCIA Marketing & Advertising Committee. She also was and selected as a juror for both the PAC Global Awards and Clio Cannabis Awards.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

When I entered the cannabis industry, I already had over 25 years of experience in mainstream printing and packaging, so I was really an expert at my craft. However, I found that most people in the cannabis industry really didn’t know a lot about sophisticated printing and high-level packaging. I realized that I needed to educate my clients (and prospects) about what could be done, and how great packaging can build great brands.

So, I did a lot of speaking at industry events, wrote articles in trade publications, and got deeply involved in cannabis trade associations.

I was also featured in an article in High Times Magazine, which gave us instant credibility and visibility. And I’ve built Hippo to be thought of as a resource. In addition to our deep expertise in packaging and printing, we are the only packaging company I know of that has an in-house compliance department.

In short, we have built a reputation as packaging experts, and we enjoy sharing our knowledge with our clients and with the industry as a whole.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Great question! When I was working for one of the nation’s leading printing companies, we had many large Fortune 500 clients. These clients had entire teams dedicated to each project. From marketing to design, to production experts, and scheduling – it was common to have many people working on a single item… and that was just on the client side! Then in our company, we also had teams of people ushering each project through its many phases – right up to delivery.

In the cannabis industry, I had to “unlearn” this process, because on the client side, the team dedicated to printing was often just one person! And when we were just starting out, we also had a very small team, essentially doing the jobs of many.

You know that old saying about the owner of a company also being the “chief cook and bottle washer?” Well that was me…. Staying up late most nights, doing the work of an entire team from my front office/kitchen table!

Contact Info:

• Website: Hippopackaging.com
• Instagram: @hippopackaging
• Facebook: @hippopackaging
• Linkedin: @hippo-premium-packaging
• Twitter: @HippoPackaging
• Other: https://hippopackaging.com/video