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Night of Packaging: Brilliant Ideas

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Night of Packaging: Brilliant Ideas

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On the occasion of this year’s international Pro Carton Congress the gala “Night of Packaging” was held in Düsseldorf on 25 November 2009. Here the Pro Carton/ECMA Awards for the best folding box packaging units of the year were presented. Brilliant design ideas paired with functionality and sustainable concepts enthused not only the jury.

Every year the Pro Carton/ECMA Awards are presented and have been for 13 years now. Centrestage are unmistakeably sustainable packaging solutions because their importance has grown enormously – all the more against the background of the current worldwide economic and ecological crisis. This year 122 entries from 12 countries in total were submitted. For the first time there was a “Volume Market” category for production runs of one million and more.

Perfect tool for brand communication

“Since our jury meeting in 2008 we have seen major turmoil in the global economy. In the brand universe this turmoil has prompted shoppers to look for lower-priced products and branded product manufacturers to look for ways to reduce their packaging costs – or to generate value added through innovative packaging.” With these words Satkar Gidda, Sales and Marketing Director at the agency SiebertHead and chairman of the jury, introduced the award-presentation ceremony. In his opinion folding boxes are particularly environment-friendly while serving as a perfect means to communicate brand messages. “It is really remarkable what can be done with different carton types, printing techniques, finishes, embossings and the like. Designers and branded product manufacturers can convey any given brand personality, every brand image and every price pitch through carton packaging.”

Brilliant packaging ideas

The jury was confronted with a wide variety of concepts designed to perform a multitude of packaging tasks. As always – this line-up featured members representing the complete value chain: designers, folding box producers, representatives from branded-products manufacturers, retail and, last but not least, consumers:

• Satkar Gidda, Chairman, Sales and Marketing Director at the London branding agency SiebertHead,
• Pascal van Beek, Global Supply Management Director – Packaging at the Unilever Supply Chain Company,
• Guido Brosius, Packaging Manager at Carrefour Belgium, the world’s second largest retailer and No. 1 in Europe, Carrefour Group,
• Burgunde Uhlig, Journalist, Head of the Food Department of Germany’s biggest women’s magazine, Brigitte,
• Peter Klein Sprokkelhorst, Special Advisor for the jury, independent consultant for the packaging industry.

Eleven awards for eleven categories

Altogether eleven awards were presented in the following eleven categories: “Carton of the Year”, “Most Innovative (Design or New Application in Carton)”, “Beverages”, “Confectionary”, “Beauty & Cosmetics”, “Pharmaceuticals”, “Shelf Ready & Display”, “All Other Food”, “All Other Non-Food”, “Sustainability” and “Volume Market Cartons”.

Carton of the Year

The “Carton of the Year” award went to the “Toque du chef” box for chocolate candies. Cartotecnica Chierese – Groupe Fincarta and its customer Goldkenn developed a surprising solution designed to convey a sense of ultimate quality and avoid the impression of a mass product. The “centre-piece” of the concept is its chef’s hat shape that virtually “crowns” the packaging. Nonetheless, “Toque du chef” is round and can be stored and transported lying flat. The jury was so intrigued with the quality and the shelf impact that it declared this folding box the winner. Furthermore, the jury said, it was practical in use, easy to open and close, and the sophisticated folding showed the outstanding performance that can be achieved in carton packaging design.

Highly innovative design

The prize for the most innovative design was awarded to “ChurchSound” for the folding box for its audio and workshop music CD. Here, the offset print shop Schwarzach was involved from the outset and put the suggestions of producers, musicians, recording studio experts and distribution partners into practice. The main brief here was for the packaging to be easy to handle: inserting the CDs was to be quick and easy. Also in focus were a high level of product protection, easy stacking and space-saving storage. The product was to promote itself and primarily prompt the creative target group of musicians to buy. With this in mind the packaging was to convey the comprehensive software package at a glance. The jury’s verdict: great thought and ingenuity went into the design of the packaging and it was truly innovative in the number of elements it brought together.

Information and jury comments on all Pro Carton/ECMA Awards as well as information brochures are available for download in five European languages at www.procarton.com and at www.cartonawards.com. Printed brochures in English are available from Pro Carton; contact Suzanne E. McEwen at mcewen@procarton.com