Potpourri: News, market information, and current industry events.
Mobius Awards Praise Packages for Market Appeal
Package designers from around the world were honored at the 30th annual Mobius Advertising Awards, held on February 8 at the Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago, IL). The event, which recognized creativity in package design, print advertising, and television and radio commercials for the year 2000, attracted 6,000 entries, 21 of which received awards in the package design category. Four of the 21 entries won in the category's personal products division.
NiCE Ltd., Nicosia Creative Expresso Ltd. (New York City), received the first-place statuette for its package design for Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Exhilaration product line, which is based on mandarin and green tea and includes soap, moisturizing body cream, massage oil, body mist, shower gel, and bath oil. Because the products are marketed to women in their mid-twenties to early thirties, the packages, which feature frosted bottles and silver caps, were designed to be natural- and sophisticated-looking, with colors and graphics more subtle than usually seen on Bath & Body Works products. According to NiCE Ltd. art director Alexandra Klein, "Bath & Body Works usually has packaging that is flavor-oriented and colorful. We tried to take it down a notch with more-natural-looking icons and [muted] colors that wouldn't scream flavor as much as performance."
NiCE Ltd. also earned a Certificate of Outstanding Creativity for its package design for Bath & Body Works Art Stuff, a product line geared toward children eight to ten years of age. "The packaging is the absolute opposite of the Exhilaration line; the concept is supposed to be fun and get the attention of kids, with sparkles and flavors," Klein says. The product line includes glitter-enhanced shower gel, lotion, hair gel, and roll-on body-decoration. Because the line features five flavors, different-colored caps were designed for each one. The chubby-shaped bottles are made of translucent plastic and feature easy-to-hold finger indentations based on an ergonomic study of a child's hand grasp. The bottle bottom stands on three "legs" to give the bottle a toy-like appearance.
Diamond Packaging (Rochester, NY) was also awarded a Certificate of Outstanding Creativity for its Amplify volumizing system family of cartons produced for Matrix Essentials Inc. (Solon, OH). The packaging features a double-carton design that emphasizes a free-product promotion on the right side while displaying the products being sold on the left. Depending on how the cartons are folded, the graphics and products can be alternately displayed.
To achieve high-quality graphic reproductions on the carton, Diamond Packaging chose a solid-bleached sulfate paperboard (SBS) substrate. A four-color process was used for printing. Two custom colors created specifically for the Amplify product line were set against each other to highlight the free product. The colors, contents, and print on the bottles can be viewed easily by consumers through die-cut windows.
Another Certificate of Outstanding Creativity went to Source/Inc. (Chicago, IL) for its package design for the automated Waterpik Flosser from Waterpik Technologies. The package features green colors juxtaposed against a rich, variegated blue background, a design intended to make the product stand out on mass and department store shelves.
Each year, the Mobius Awards provide an international forum for the recognition of innovative, creative package designs. According to founder, chairman, and host J.W. Anderson, "The competition is market oriented. We are looking for [packages with] consumer appeal that come from concept and execution." Entries are submitted by individuals and freelancers, as well as by agencies and design studios of all sizes, local and international.
Awards are merit-based, so the number of awards per category may vary. The Mobius Statuette is given to first-prize winners only. Other entries judged to be supreme receive the Certificate of Outstanding Creativity. The certificate is a significant honor; each year less than 10% of the total entries receive the tribute.
The awards program has been successful in garnering media attention from programs including CNN Headline News, CNN Live, ABC Worldwide News, and USA Today.
he deadline to enter the 2001 awards is October 1. For more information, contact The Mobius Advertising Awards, 841 North Addison Ave., Elmhurst, IL 60126-1291; phone: 630/834-7773; fax: 630/834-5565. For a complete list of the year 2000 award categories and winners, visit the Mobius Advertising Awards on the Web at http://www.mobiusawards.com.
Bijan Launches Fragrance
Bijan With A Twist, the latest fragrance creation for women from the house of Bijan (Beverly Hills, CA), made its debut at Nordstrom, South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa, CA) February 8. Bijan, joined by fragrance model Alina, autographed fragrance cartons and greeted guests, who dined on light hors d'oeuvres. Also at the event was Daniela Pakzad, vice president of creative services for Bijan Fragrances and designer of the fragrance packaging.
The fragrance bottle is wrapped in a movable spiral of 14-kt-gold-dipped rings, thus the "Twist." A clear Surlyn stopper tops the bottle. For more information on the packaging, see the "The File: Cosmetic - Bijan With A Twist," in the November/December issue of CPC Packaging, page 94.
The men's version of Bijan With A Twist is expected to launch this September.
Ex-Tracts to Feature Luxury Packaging
The ninth semiannual Ex-Tracts trade show for the aromatherapy, fragrance, and personal care markets will take place March 30 to April 2 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (New York City). Approximately 265 companies are expected to exhibit at the eventÑa 9% increase from the in exhibitors from the show last spring. The Luxury Packaging division of the show will feature such products as boxes, bags, bottles, labels, tins, tubes, and blister packs. The Best Product Display, which will include a category for the most creative packaging, will highlight exhibitor products deemed by retailers to be the latest in product innovation and creativity. For more information, contact George Little Management (White Plains, NY) at 914/421-3200.
Waddington Jaycare Becomes Paradigm Packaging
The management team of Waddington Jaycare (Carlstadt, NJ) has acquired the equity of the company, with financing for the transaction provided by Linsalata Capital Partners. Waddington Jaycare, which will be renamed Paradigm Packaging, manufactures rigid plastic packaging for the personal care industry, including stock and custom blow-molded bottles and injection-molded specialty closures.
Captive Plastics to Acquire Stull Technologies
echnologies Captive Plastics Inc. (Piscataway, NJ) has signed a letter of intent to purchase Stull Technologies (Somerset, NJ). Stull Technologies produces container closures for the cosmetic and personal care industries. A designer and manufacturer of plastic packaging for the personal care market, Captive Plastics will use Stull Technologies' assets to expand its production of bottles and closures. According to John Raymonds, chairman and CEO of Captive Plastics, "The acquisition of Stull Technologies fits perfectly with [Captive's] strategy of producing packaging solutions, allowing customers one-stop shopping for all of their product packaging requirements." The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of March.
eDesigner Studio Is Now An Independent Company
Tech Industries (Woonsocket, RI) sold eDesigner Studio LLC (Providence, RI) to Tennyson Investment Group (Boston, MA), a venture capital company. Tech Industries, a manufacturer of custom and stock closures for the cosmetic, fragrance, and toiletry (CFT) industry, originally used eDesigner Studios to demonstrate how its closures would appear on containers. Now, eDesigner Studio is a Web-based package developer for the CFT industry, supporting the packaging process from conception to filling.