Letters to loved ones overseas, a box of your favorite treats, tickets to the big game—what do these all have in common?

They’re a few of the paper and packaging products that bring tangible, memorable substance to our lives. And they’re the subject of a new national public awareness campaign supporting the value of print, Paper and Packaging—How Life UnfoldsTM.

Released July 8 by the Paper and Packaging Board (P+PB), the campaign follows the model of other popular industry check-offs like “Got Milk?,” “Pork. The Other White Meat,” and “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner,” which are produced through government-sanctioned fees collected from the respective industries. Print, commercial spots, Web, and social media make up the integrated marketing mix designed by campaign creators, Cramer-Krasselt.

The How Life Unfolds campaign celebrates paper and packaging products through relatable and sometimes emotional storytelling. Messaging focuses on the lasting experiences paper and packaging help us create every day in ways we may not even realize.

But the purpose of the campaign is not just to tug at our heartstrings. It also shows, like PIA’s Value of Print campaign, that these products are a viable part our market and an environmentally friendly resource.

“We think it’s important for us to get the message out about the sustainability of paper, the importance of paper within our overall economy, and ultimately how paper can drive value for our customers,” said Vice President, Marketing Services and eComerce, Verso, Aaron Haas in a video from P+PB.

Tips and Resources from How Life Unfolds

To help you spread the value of print to your customers, we found lots of great resources on the How Life Unfolds campaign website. It includes articles, reports, videos, and other free tools. Some of our picks include:

What does It Mean for the Industry?

The $20 million ad campaign is planned to run for six months. It’s too soon to say if it will have the same effect on consumers’ pocket books as it does on their emotions—or if the fitting tagline will have the pop-culture impact that still has us saying, “Got Milk?” (Just nod if you’ve ever said that line with milk on our upper lip.)

But we can say that this campaign is a long-awaited step in the right direction, printing a relatable face on the print and packaging industry that has come under fire in recent years for being environmentally damaging and obsolete.

Matthew Van Vleet, Vice President, Public Affairs and Government Relations, Clearwater Paper Organization said, “[The campaign] is about sharing with the general public what we do and how we supply the products that everyone in the country uses every day.”

Results cannot yet be measured, as Mary Anne Hansan, executive director of P&PB, told WhatTheyThink.com, but they are confident in the campaign’s success. “Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds” is launching with the same depth of research, rigor of testing, and clarity of purpose as any of those projects, it has as much “insurance” for success as it’s possible to give a campaign of this kind.”

Tell us your opinion. What effects, if any, do you predict the Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds campaign will have on the industry?