Traditionally the cosmetics and personal care segment has featured high in the list of winners, but this year’s award was dominated by the food and home care categories, which swept up all the remaining 16 prizes in the Gold and Silver Winners categories.
But the prizes did reflect the global nature of the competition, as well as the organizer’s renewed focus on both new trends and the continued rise in importance that innovation is playing in packaging.
Diamond Award goes to Sure Deodorant, UK
This year the awards consisted of the top prize, which was the Diamond Award, together with five gold winners and ten silver winners, with the prizes representing the efforts of teams in 11 different countries.
The Diamond Prize went to Unilever UK, for the category-changing design it introduced for its Sure deodorant range, which is said to half the size of the required can and the material used, while containing the same amount of deodorant.
Described as a compressed deodorant, the company says it is now able to offer its previous 150ml deodorant cans in a 75ml format, as well as the previous 250ml can as 125ml – all providing the same amount of protection and lasting equally as long as the larger cans.
Other advantages include the fact that retailers can stock more cans on the same shelve space, while space-savings also lead to significant savings in transportation costs, while the 75ml can meets with airline carry-on requirements for personal care products.
Printing technology for rigid packaging gets nod
One of the Gold Winners went to US-based Plastipak Packaging, for its printing technology that allows prints to be made directly on to rigid packaging – a technology that could also extend to the cosmetics and personal care category.
“The Packaging Awards continue to celebrate innovation and champion collaboration,” said William Harvey, president, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers.
“We updated the award categories this year to reflect emerging trends and amplify the consumer’s role in driving innovation.”