Business Beat
Star Packages Shine in IoPP Awards
The spotlight shone on the 2005 winners of The Institute of Packaging Professionals’ (IoPP; Naperville, IL) AmeriStar packaging awards. Four packages were honored in the health and beauty aids category.
AmeriStar winners: Cool Mint Listerine bottle (above), the Coppertone Sport sunscreen aerosol can and Affirm bottle/jar combo (below).
One winner was the 2.1-L Listerine mouthwash bottle, which retails in club stores such as Costco. For the bottle, the designers sought to avoid the pitfall of many club-sized bottles, which are often difficult for consumers to handle because of their large size and because they lack sufficient handles for gripping.
The Listerine bottle was designed by Metaphase Design Group in conjunction with Pfizer Inc. Most notably, it features indentions on its sides that allow customers to grip it comfortably.
“Because this bottle is heavy, we wanted to make sure you could get a good grip on it—and that the bottle would fit both small and large hands,” says Bryce Rutter, PhD, founder and CEO of Metaphase Design Group. “Pfizer’s in-house designers came to us, and working with them, we made sure the new design would work well along the supply chain, including in stores.”
Another winner was a unique package for an Affirm hair-relaxing product by Avlon. The package features a 4-oz stock bottle that snaps into a slot located on the side of a 4-lb custom-designed tub. The patent-pending package was nicknamed the Kangaroo Tub by its designer and distributor TricorBraun.
Terri Sheppard, a packaging consultant for TricorBraun, describes how she came up with the package’s concept. “The company came to us and said it was currently taping a 4-oz bottle onto a 4-lb tub, and that was presenting a lot of problems. The bottle would become detached from the tube in salons, and salon staff wouldn’t always know which products to use together. So we decided to find a way of combining the two products in one package.”
Both containers are made from high-density polyethylene. The bottle features a dispenser. The biggest challenge was perfecting the friction fit of the bottle to the side of the tub. “In order to get the bottle to snap into the tub’s side, we had to go through quite a few steps of tooling,” says Sheppard.
The third winner was aerosol cans housing Coppertone Continuous-Spray sunscreens. One sunscreen is housed in a white Trimline model aerosol can supplied by CCL Container, while the Coppertone Sport sunscreen is housed in the supplier’s Trimwave can.
Both the Trimline and Trimwave cans feature an advanced barrier system. A foil laminate pouch houses the product inside the can, keeping the product separate from the can’s compressed-air propellant. “The product maintains its integrity because it isn’t mixed with the propellant,” says Mark Goda, director of research and development for CCL Container.
Another benefit of the cans is that they can be held at any angle when dispensing product. “Our system can dispense 360 degrees, meaning it can dispense product if it is held upright, at an angle, or upside down,” says Goda. “This means you really don’t have to worry about the orientation of the container as you’re dispensing.”
Goda says these are the first sunscreens he’s aware of to be packaged in an aerosol can, although he says that some artificial tanning products are in aerosol packaging.
An innovative aerosol can makes Gillette’s Xtreme Cool Spray deodorant easy to use.
The final personal care award went to the packaging for Gillette’s Right Guard Xtreme Cool Spray deodorant for men. The aerosol can features a unique cap that allows users to dispense product by pressing a handle on the side of the cap.
The packaging was fashioned by design firm Herbst Lazar Bell. “Gillette wanted the ‘Wow’ factor for the package,” says Mark Dziersk, senior vice president of Herbst Lazar Bell. “It’s the reinvention of a time-tested classic—the aerosol antiperspirant can. Every other manufacturer has the same offering: an aluminum can that requires users to remove an overcap and press an actuator at the top. No other can looks like the Xtreme Cool Spray can.”
In addition to being eye catching, the package was designed to be ergonomic. “If you watch a man use the typical underarm deodorant spray, it’s a complicated process,” says Dziersk. “He has to pick up the can, pop off the cap, position the can under his arm, and lift one arm over his head before spraying. It seems like it should be a simple thing to do, but it really isn’t. With our can, it’s a simple, one-step application.”
One challenge the designers faced was that Gillette wanted the redesigned can to fit the brand’s existing display shelves and shipping cartons. “They didn’t want to change any of their shelf space or palette loads,” says Dziersk. “So the new can is no taller than the original can, and the diameter is no bigger. If you saw a top view of the cans in a carton, you’d see that the handle fits nicely in the spaces between the cans.”
The packages were judged on June 24 at IoPP’s headquarters. The awards were based on package innovation, protection, economics, performance, marketing, and environmental impact. The awards were presented to the winners at the Pack Expo Las Vegas trade show on September 27 at IoPP’s booth.
Fragrance Foundation Honors Vogue’s Florio
Thomas A. Florio, vice president and publisher of Vogue, will be honored at this year’s Circle of Champions awards, sponsored by The Fragrance Foundation. The event will be held October 18 at the St. Regis in New York City.
The Circle of Champions award is presented to an individual who has made a notable and newsworthy impact on the fragrance industry in the past year. According to The Fragrance Foundation, Florio has played a large part in showcasing the foundation’s FiFi Awards. He is also credited with presenting special fragrance features to the public through the television program “TrendWatch,” which reaches more than 78 million households.
“Tom has been a champion of fragrance for years,” says Rochelle Bloom, president of The Fragrance Foundation. “He has walked the talk in support of the industry and is truly deserving of this honor.”
Past recipients of the Circle of Champions award have included Leonard Lauder, chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.; Guy Peyrelongue, former president and CEO of L’Oréal USA; Annette Green, president emeritus of The Fragrance Foundation; Dale Cameron, executive vice president, corporate merchandise manager, cosmetics and fragrance, for Nordstrom; and Pete Born, vice president and associate publisher of Women’s Wear Daily.
Attendees get a global experience at the show’s international pavilions.
Cosmoprof North America Hits Big In Vegas
Trade show organizers reported a strong international showing at Cosmoprof North America, held July 24–26 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
The event saw more than 25,000 attendees, as well as 672 exhibitors from 34 countries. Among the countries represented were Argentina, Brazil, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and Taiwan, as well as the United States and the UK.
“More and more, companies are realizing that they can’t afford to do business simply in one country,” said Laura Zaccagnini, director of internal affairs and strategies for Cosmoprof.
NJPEC Holds Annual Scholarship Awards
The New Jersey Packaging Executives Club (NJPEC) held its annual scholarship awards dinner on September 15 at the Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange, NJ.
The association awarded scholarship money to college students enrolled in certified packaging engineering programs. To be eligible, entrants also had to be residents of New Jersey or attend school in New Jersey, as well as have a high GPA.
The event’s guest speaker was Francis L. Lawrence, president emeritus professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
DuPont Awards Innovation
O’Keeffe’s custom jar received a gold award.
DuPont celebrated the winners of its 18th annual packaging competition. The winners were announced on August 5 at an awards ceremony held at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts in Wilmington, DE.
Of the 111 entries, 22 packages received awards. The awards reconize innovative usage of plastic packaging in the food and nonfood categories, including cosmetics. The entries were evaluated based on the following criteria: degree of innovation, breadth of application, significance/impact on the industry or consumers, marketing innovation of the packaged product, and the impact of the packaging on consumer or industry buying decisions. Entries did not need to feature a DuPont product to be eligible.
A silver award went to jars for Maria Galland.
Three cosmetic products received awards. A gold award went to the functional jars for O’Keeffe’s Working Hands and Working Feet skin creams. The custom-designed low-profile polypropylene jar features a rubber grip that rims the jar lid, making the lid easier for customers to grip and remove. The package was designed by O’Keeffe’s founder Tara O’Keeffe and was produced by Container & Packaging Supply Inc. Other features of the jar include its ergonomic shape and a holographic foil insert under the lid that gives the package a high-impact sheen.
Unlike other beauty creams, the O’Keeffe’s creams specifically target working professionals—such as plumbers, electricians, and farmers—whose jobs can take a toll on their skin.
The unique dispenser on Dove’s bottles earned a silver award.
A silver award went to the redesigned jars in the Maria Galland cosmetic line. While the original jars were made from glass, the new jars were molded using DuPont’s Surlyn. Developed and produced by Ileos GmbH, the jars were hot stamped and printed in different colors.
A silver award was also presented to a package for a Dove hair care product by Unilever Home & Personal Care. The aerosol package features a dispenser with a curved shape similar to a snout. The ‘snout’ was designed to help customers target the product to the roots of their hair.