The Unboxed show is a space for conversation about brand experiences, the challenges and wins across industries and product types, and the impactful additional brand experiences and affinity created through custom-branded packaging and beyond. Whether you are a startup founder looking to expand your brand's reach, a marketing professional looking for some tips, or an enterprise executive looking for inspiration from industry leaders, we have an episode for you.

Vicki Strull brings over 25 years of experience as a brand strategist, creative director, and packaging designer. She’s worked with brands like Sappi, HP, Bayer, Coppertone, Pizza Hut, and Wildfare to harness the power of design and packaging to boost sales, create new revenue streams, and build brand loyalty. Vicki has delivered keynotes, webinars, and master classes to CMOs, marketers, and agencies at national and international conferences. She writes a branding and design column for Labels & Labeling Magazine and is an adjunct professor at Tulane University.

Connect with Vicki on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickistrull/

Within each episode, we ask industry experts the following 5 questions:

- What inspired you to get into the custom packaging industry, and how did you get your start in the field?
- How does custom packaging contribute to creating a unique brand experience, and what are some of the most effective strategies you've seen for achieving this?
- Can you share any success stories or case studies of businesses that have transformed their brand through custom packaging and design?
- What are some of the biggest challenges or roadblocks that businesses face when it comes to custom packaging, and how can they overcome them?
- How do you see the future of custom packaging evolving in the next 5-10 years, and what should businesses be doing now to stay ahead of the curve?

This show is sponsored by Merchant Boxes.
Merchant Boxes is the award-winning custom packaging and sourcing agency leading the charge in extended brand experiences. Having worked with some of the biggest brands on the planet all the way to small batch innovative custom projects for small businesses, Merchant Boxes are the standard in custom packaging.

Check them out here: www.merchantboxes.com

The Unboxed show is a space for conversation about brand experiences, the challenges and wins across industries and product types, and the impactful additional brand experiences and affinity created through custom-branded packaging and beyond. Whether you are a startup founder looking to expand your brand's reach, a marketing professional looking for some tips, or an enterprise executive looking for inspiration from industry leaders, we have an episode for you.

This week we are joined by David Paleschuck. With over 20 years of brand and marketing experience serving American Express, MasterCard, PepsiCo, and Microsoft, David specializes in brand strategy, development, management, and integrated marketing. In 2012, David entered the legal cannabis industry as the VP of Licensing & Brand Partnerships at DOPE Magazine and then as Chief Brand Officer at Evergreen Herbal, where he created successful partnerships and award-winning cannabis-infused products. A leading voice in cannabis branding and marketing, David's writings have appeared in various publications, including Forbes, High Times, and Dope Magazine, among others. His book, "Branding Bud: The Commercialization of Cannabis," released in April 2021, became an Amazon bestseller in the branding and green business categories. His second book titled, “Cannabis vs Marijuana: Landscape, Language and Context”, released in April of 2024, continues to shed light on the changing lexicon of cannabis. David is finishing his third book, “The Cannabis Brand Licensing Bible: The Ultimate Guide To Protecting and Scaling Your Cannabis Brand,” releasing in April of 2025. As founder and CEO of the Branding Bud Consulting Group, David consults on many aspects of legal cannabis for those currently in the industry and those wanting to enter it.

Connect with David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpaleschuck/

Check out Branding Bud online: https://brandingbud.com/

Check out Branding Bud on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/branding-bud-consulting-group/

Check out David's book Branding Bud: https://brandingbud.com/home

Within each episode, we ask industry experts the following 5 questions:

- What inspired you to get into the custom packaging industry, and how did you get your start in the field?
- How does custom packaging contribute to creating a unique brand experience, and what are some of the most effective strategies you've seen for achieving this?
- Can you share any success stories or case studies of businesses that have transformed their brand through custom packaging and design?
- What are some of the biggest challenges or roadblocks that businesses face when it comes to custom packaging, and how can they overcome them?
- How do you see the future of custom packaging evolving in the next 5-10 years, and what should businesses be doing now to stay ahead of the curve?

This show is sponsored by Merchant Boxes.
Merchant Boxes is the award-winning custom packaging and sourcing agency leading the charge in extended brand experiences. Having worked with some of the biggest brands on the planet all the way to small batch innovative custom projects for small businesses, Merchant Boxes are the standard in custom packaging.

Check them out here: www.merchantboxes.com

The Unboxed show is a space for conversation about brand experiences, the challenges and wins across industries and product types, and the impactful additional brand experiences and affinity created through custom-branded packaging and beyond. Whether you are a startup founder looking to expand your brand's reach, a marketing professional looking for some tips, or an enterprise executive looking for inspiration from industry leaders, we have an episode for you.

This week we are joined by Raphael Farasat. Raphael Farasat (Raph) is an award-winning creative director and strategist based in Laurel Canyon, California. He has branded over 80 startup consumer brands, now collectively valued over $500 million, and led campaigns for globally recognized companies, including Tesla, Sonos, Fox, Catch Restaurants, rag & bone, and sbe hotels. Raph is a founding partner of numerous consumer lifestyle brands, including Last Crumb, BetterBrand, Sweet Nothings, and Barcode. He is a Guest Lecturer on branding at Stanford University and has been featured in various publications such as Creative Boom, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc., Fast Company, and The Dieline.

Connect with Raphael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelfarasat/

Check out Truffl on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truffl/

Check out Truffl on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truffl/

Within each episode, we ask industry experts the following 5 questions:

- What inspired you to get into the custom packaging industry, and how did you get your start in the field?
- How does custom packaging contribute to creating a unique brand experience, and what are some of the most effective strategies you've seen for achieving this?
- Can you share any success stories or case studies of businesses that have transformed their brand through custom packaging and design?
- What are some of the biggest challenges or roadblocks that businesses face when it comes to custom packaging, and how can they overcome them?
- How do you see the future of custom packaging evolving in the next 5-10 years, and what should businesses be doing now to stay ahead of the curve?

This show is sponsored by Merchant Boxes.
Merchant Boxes is the award-winning custom packaging and sourcing agency leading the charge in extended brand experiences. Having worked with some of the biggest brands on the planet all the way to small batch innovative custom projects for small businesses, Merchant Boxes are the standard in custom packaging.

Check them out here: www.merchantboxes.com