Meet Think Tanks Dean Rose, The Happy Hero of High-End Packaging

by Deborah Corn
Creative, Design, Featured, Interview, Marketing, Packaging, Print Services, Tools, Training
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I meet some of the most amazing people through my LinkedIn Group, and Dean Rose is certainly one of them. What immediately drew me to him was his passion for Print – this is a guy who LOVES his job and could easily make a living as a motivational speaker for the industry! On top of that, his company Think Tank Media produces some amazing, EXPENSIVE and creative packaging.

We skyped and I can tell you that Dean is the real deal. But why trust me, here is a little video Think Tank created about a project they worked on… a little teaser before you read all about Dean, and the amazing packaging they created for the album Amuck by Atoms For Peace – a side project of Thom Yorke from Radiohead.

DC: Who is Dean Rose and what does he do?

DR: Dean Rose is a Sales Director come packaging geek who loves nothing more than making creative individuals ideas a physical reality through partnerships. Being involved embryonically in projects and having an input into the processes and approach to a project brief is where I excel. I love pushing boundaries and making people/companies do things they say are not possible. Too many people in this world have a “ that can’t be done” attitude and it infuriates me, as nine times out of ten I know it’s possible if we use a little imagination. The world of technology enable us to do things and use processes we couldn’t of 10 years ago and I always ask questions of what is new and what has changed within our chosen print & packaging partners. I spend a fair amount of time in factories talking to people on machines and working out the best way to produce products whilst getting ideas for other forthcoming packaging projects.

The Sales Director side to me enables me to build relationships and I really enjoy sales. Lots of people don’t and you need thick skin with people telling you to go away, or just ignore you, but hey, I know we are brilliant at what we do and over the years so many people I eventually pin down say, “Wow! why haven’t we met before” because “you didn’t let me come and see you” I think to myself!!

The Sales side runs hand in hand with my personality and I love life, am one of those annoying people who are happy every day. I’m never unhappy… weird but true! I dance around the office, drive people mad, am completely random but absolutely love what I do and life. My job is perfect for me and I feel immense passion and satisfaction when I pull things off. There’s a lot of pain in what Think Tank does as a company but most of the time it’s worth it when you hold a piece of beauty in your hands!! We are also lucky that we work with amazing people who are partners in our projects and we live and breathe other people’s projects like they are our own. Perhaps that’s where we excel.

DC: Why Packaging?

DR: Like most people in life, I kind of fell into it. Starting at a really small print factory selling and account managing, but when we were busy and needed to get jobs out I went down into the factory and helped on the folder or washing up the ducts on the press from time to time and found it an amazing process and anything I could take in from old people or young running machines, I did. I just wanted to learn and understand what I was selling. I suppose that has led to my print knowledge as I’ve always been interested in what I do and how things are made and that led to packaging. Our Packaging remit takes on many guises now not just cardboard, which with each material is a new test.

DC: Which is more important when it comes to package design: form or function?

DR: I think both are equally important. If the form is great but the function isn’t great then it defeats the objective. Form is hopefully the best way to engage people and make them feel intrigued by a particular product and make them want to touch and feel. Humans still love to touch, feel, smell and engage with products. I smell things a lot. Weird!!

DC: How did you get involved with Thom Yorke’s Atoms For Peace, and can you please give us every glorious detail about the project from concept to execution!

DR: Think Tank have worked with XL Recordings for over 10 years now. Phil Lee the creative Director – and also a good friend – came to us as he does on any complex brief, with Atoms for Peace as we worked together on the Eraser record – released in 2006 which had very similar artwork but none of the extra finishes – and with the intricacy of the artwork, debossing and foiling he knew that we’d need several months to develop the packaging to get the right result. We are used to spending 6 months developing a project before it hits GO! Hopefully with all this preparation when you get to GO it makes the manufacture process much smoother. Hopefully. But there is always something that comes up you hadn’t thought of but that’s the beauty of pushing boundaries and making unique products. The learning is in the physical making.. We don’t always have time but we try and make time!

Stanley Donwood, the 6^th member of the band, goes into the studio and draws/paints when the band/ Thom is recording to get a feel for the creative. The original Atoms For Peace artwork is a huge lino cut one off created by Donwood and then adapted for printing for mass market CD/LP release. The next stage of the Hollywood doom project was the meteorites and they, and the debossing, created one of the most beautiful pieces of packaging I have had the pleasure to work on. Anyone who see it gets blown away by the deluxe vinyl. It truly is a masterpiece of which we are very proud.

DC: Did you get to hangout with Thom Yorke, and was he a Creep?

DR: No, unfortunately I don’t get to hang out with Thom. I mainly work with the label and Phil gets to work closely with Stanley to realize the creative for manufacture. Sadly I have never met Thom but I’ve met Stanley. Great guy!

DC: Besides your own work, can you share three examples of packing design that have inspired you?

DR: I think everything Apple really inspires me. Not only that the beautiful nature of their products are so cool, but the package as a whole from the product to delivery in the lovely packaging makes you think they have thought of everything! That is very pleasing to not only me but millions of others globally. They changed the game. It must be that Jonny Ive is head of creative and he’s British ha ha!! Makes us Brits proud. The world and Apple certainly miss Steve Jobs for all his faults!

Music and in particular vinyl inspire me. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon had a profound affect on me many years ago as did Wish You Were Here. Very striking seminal pieces. Much like Radiohead, I see Pink Floyd as not really music but more a collaboration of the best artists that ever lived. It isn’t just music; it’s pure ecstasy on your ears and whole being and takes you out of the normal world you live in – which is always a bonus sometimes!!

DC: What role will marketing technology such as Near Field Communication (NFC) and Augmented Reality (AR) play inpackage design moving forward?

DR: I think this will play a huge role, but people aren’t quite ready for it yet. We propose stuff like this a lot and it never seems to get off the ground in any pioneering projects. We will keep pushing though as this is what Think Tank have always done and will continue to do!

DC: Lastly, your company successfully provides “Deluxe High-End Packaging and Bespoke Premiums” in a world filled of shrinking marketing budgets. Do you have any advice to offer on how to stay competitive when everyone around you is lowering their pricing?

DR: Stay true to your market. If you are high-end then do as much as possible to stay in that market. Obviously, you need to mix it up with more affordable, quicker campaigns that flow through the company for cash flow reasons but the real R&D, in depth beautiful projects are what we live for but cannot survive on them alone. The buzz of getting a project done to an amazing standard, pushing boundaries and working with creative minds is where we position ourselves and luckily we manage to partner (Partner is a very important word to us, we are an extension of our clients team all working together, this is vital in what we achieve as it’s painful enough without any, us and them stuff going on!) such wonderful people and get fantastic results. Long may it continue!