Design contest for packaging and printing held at PACK EXPO

ARLINGTON, Va.—PMMI, sponsor and producer of PACK EXPO International 2010 (Oct. 31–Nov. 3; McCormick Place, Chicago), announced 10 package designers and developers have been named finalists in the “Package of the Future” competition, a key component of Project 2020: The Consumer Experience, sponsored by DuPont.

The competition challenged the package design community to come up with a vision of what consumers can expect to see on retail shelves in 2020, and prototypes of the finalists’ concepts will be on display as part of the Project 2020: The Consumer Experience area of The Brand Zone, located on the lower level of the Lakeside building.

The finalists are listed alphabetically below:

• SoapStix—Submitted By: Bailey Brand Consulting
Dissolving SoapStix (patent pending) overcome many of the challenges associated with liquid soap refills. Gone are the heavy, bulky containers, spillage and excess waste. Instead, solid gel cylinders are simply added to water in any soap dispenser consumers choose to use, with little to no mess. The package’s molded clamshell is made from recycled fibers, printed with soy inks and is recyclable. Transportation carbon footprint and man-power is reduced thanks to the nestability of empty clamshells during the trip from manufacturer to fulfillment and the ability to fit 32 times more clamshells than corresponding bottles with pumps on a standard tractor trailer.

• Interactive Packaging—Submitted By: Blue Spark Technologies
This design focuses on creating a fun, interactive consumer experience while using the latest advancements in printed circuit, battery and electronics design. In this case, the intent was to create a box of cookies that transforms into an interactive toy fire truck after the cookies are consumed. A film-based flexible circuit consists of a programmable microchip, an eco-friendly flexible printed carbon-zinc battery, a piezoelectric speaker and conductive ink-based printed graphics and connectors. In the end, the design is functional, and more importantly, is compatible with high-speed automated packaging lines.

• Minibar Package—Submitted By: CL&D Graphics
This “portion right” detachable multi-unit flex pack is designed to be an alternative to other multi-unit, multi-portion containers. The single-piece or two-piece fused construction can contain liquid, liquid concentrates or dry concentrates and could be designed to provide multiple, similar or non-similar (variety-based) pre-portioned products in an easy-to-use container. Compostable films and water-based inks are the intended materials for producing this package.

• MLK Dairy Packaging and Branding—Submitted By: Depot WPF Brand & Identity, Russia
These packages differentiate dairy brands by tapping into visual identity elements from real farms to create a warm and inviting future brand positioning. Elements include black and white graphic patterns and soft pencil drawings to echo the natural profile of dairy products.

•Molded Fiber Cardboard Shell—Submitted By: Ecologic Brands
Created as an alternative to rigid plastic bottles and laminated cartons, this design features a biodegradable and compostable shell made from recycled cardboard and a lightweight recyclable liner with 70 percent less plastic than a rigid container. Consumers gain the functionality they expect with a re-sealable cap, a rigid outer container and easy-to-grip profile. Disposal is simple; consumers split open the shell’s side to separate and recycle components.

•Customizable Flavor Beverage Bottle—Submitted By: Goodwin Design Group
Dissolvable pellet capsules molded into the neck of bio-plastic bottles with a liquid base (i.e. water, soda, iced tea, milk) allow consumers to customize and control flavor variety, flavor intensity and vitamin additives. Consumers simply snap the pellet they want through the film on the inside of the bottle, where the pellet begins to dissolve. A simple shake of the beverage thoroughly mixes flavor. With this approach, the potential exists for multiple flavors under a single SKU and a single bottle could be used for multiple servings before it is recycled.

• SmartPack—Submitted By: Landor
Electronic, luminescent paper and organic light-emitting diodes are gaining momentum in the marketplace and decreasing in physical scale and price. Shoppers will be tantalized in the aisles by packages customized according to their needs and wants and reacting to their presence. The operating prototype shows the engaging potential of a dynamic and interactive animated package.

• Synthesized Branding of Red Bull—Submitted By: Wallace Church
This package reimagines the future of the Red Bull brand. Designed to broaden appeal to women, the new package is more slender and sleek. A sustainable, rigid PLA material used for the package is biodegradable and offers a metallic micro-video on the top of the container that blends to become transparent at the bottom. The micro-video technology allows the wings of the package’s new full motion icon to flap. These heat-sensitive wings will react to the consumer’s touch by flapping faster.

• Simple Servings™ for Cereal—Submitted By: William Fox Munroe
Simple Servings incorporates pull-back tabs that open just one serving chamber, eliminating the need for an inner bag and keeping the remaining product fresh. In addition to aiding portion control, the package is intended to leverage environmentally responsible, recyclable materials. This version of the package is made with Ad-air™ enhanced recyclable PET from MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc. The material itself is made with 20-50 percent post-consumer recycled PET and is 100 percent recyclable.

• Paper Packaging for the Beauty Industry—Submitted By: Alex Silva (Independent designer)
Using paper packaging in the beauty industry is one way to make packages more sustainable, space-friendly and recyclable. This collapsible packaging design eases recycling, maximizes shipping efficiency and reduces storage space requirements. Integrating bio-plastic made from plants as a laminate, the package offers large areas for decoration and is over 95 percent biodegradable.

One grand prize winner, chosen from this field of finalists, will receive the Complete Studio Bundle from software partner EskoArtwork. The other finalists will receive copies of Studio Designer, EskoArtwork’s 3D visualization plug-in for Adobe Illustrator.

Judges include representatives from PMMI; John Lyons and Ron Romanik from media partner Package Design magazine; Yasmin Siddiqi, Global Packaging Director, DuPont; Marianne Klimchuk, Associate Chairperson, Packaging Design Department, Fashion Institute of Technology; and ABI, PMMI’s marketing public relations partner.

Project 2020: The Consumer Experience will also give attendees a hands-on experience with next-generation augmented reality and mobile marketing applications for packaging and help explain how these emerging technologies create deeper consumer connections and extend engagement beyond the retail shelf. This special area, also in The Brand Zone, is being developed and produced by PACK EXPO’s exclusive consumer and packaging insights partner, Iconoculture.

For more information about PACK EXPO International 2010, visit www.packexpo.com or contact PMMI’s Show Department at 703-243-8555 or expo@pmmi.org.