Business Beat
A New Club Improves Communication in Packaging Circles
A club has been created to facilitate communication between package designers, suppliers, and manufacturers. The club’s ultimate goal is to encourage future innovation.
The creation of the BeautyFull Club was announced during a press conference at the Cosmoprof show in Bologna on March 29, which was opening day of the trade show’s packaging pavilion, Cosmopack. The club’s founding members hope the club will soon be filled with members of the beauty industry from all around the world.
“There is often miscommunication among designers, suppliers, and brands. This is a way for us all to come together, and a place for us to think out of the box,” says Vera Strubi, the club’s honorary chairman, who is the recently retired founder of Thierry Mugler Parfums.
Philippe de Bryguere of L’Occitane is the club’s chairman, and Thierry Lucereau of Ileos Group is its vice chairman. The first board of directors meeting was held in Paris on March 19.
Dieter Bakic, president of DieterBakicEnterprises, is a member of the club’s board of directors. He is very passionate about the club’s purpose. “It will be a great learning experience. It is a way to meet new people and [to make] international connections. We want people from everywhere to participate, including [those from] Japan, Russia, and South America. We want to find out their views and what they think about the industry.”
The board of directors also includes Charles-Emmanuel Gounod of Rexam, Charles Pileur of YSL Beauté, and Renato Ancorotti of Gamma Croma. The club’s founding members are Gerald Martines of RPC Beauté, Thierry de Baschmakoff of Aesthete, and Francois Camilli of C Group. Jean-Yves Bourgeois is its secretary general, and Claudia Bonfiglioli is the treasurer.
Sustainable Packages Win Paperboard Packaging Competition
Nearly 85% of entries in the 64th National Paperboard Packaging Competition featured elements of environment-friendly packaging, reports the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC; Alexandria, VA). According to PPC, which hosts the competition, these elements included the following:
• Paperboard made from recycled materials.
• Corn-based polylactic acid (PLA) carton windows.
• Papers certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).
• Tamperproof locks and tabs that reduce the need for protective secondary shrink-wrapping.
• Use of wind power and hydroelectric energy during production.
• Biodegradable inks.
• Reduced usage of packaging materials.
Several winning packages in the beauty category incorporated these features. Curtis Packaging (Sandy Hook, CT) supplied two eco-friendly cartons that each won an excellence award.
AGI/Klearfold received a gold award for gift set boxes created for Parlux’s Ocean Pacific fragrances.
For a Britney Spears In Control gift set, Curtis used its CurtChrome flexographic silver ink—which simulates the look of foil—rather than traditional foil laminate.
Substituting this ink for foil cut costs by 30% and was environment friendly. As Donald Droppo Jr., the firm’s vice president of marketing explains, foil-laminated board will never biodegrade in a landfill, and it cannot be recycled. However, metallic ink such as CurtChrome will decompose and can be recycled.
Zia Natural Skincare cartons
Curtis Packaging also supplied sustainable cartons for Zia Natural Skincare. The cartons feature Mohawk Paper Mill paperboard that comprises 50% postconsumer recyclate (PCR) and is made using wind power.
CardPak’s ClubPak blister package, as used by Borghese, is an environment-friendly clamshell that offers strength and security comparable to standard clamshells.
Supplier CardPak Inc. (Solon, OH) took a different approach to sustainability. For the excellence award-winning Kirkland Borghese packages, CardPak used its ClubPak blister package, which uses a reduced amount of plastic. David Himmelein, CardPak’s marketing manager, says that the ClubPak eliminates up to 85% of plastic from the waste stream.
Originally, Utah Paper Box had used its laser-cutting technique to decorate cartons for a Starbucks coffee product. The same technique was used on these outer carton sleeves for fragrance brand Lavanila Laboratories.
Gold award winner Utah Paper Box Co. (Salt Lake City) used sustainable paperboard for Lavanila Laboratories’ fragrance cartons. The cartons also merited attention because they feature sleeves that were laser-cut in intricate patterns. “The greatest challenge was die-cutting the sleeve after it had been laser cut, without ripping the substrate,” says Steve Keyser, vice president of sales.
Zia Natural Skincare cartons
Other award winners in the beauty category focused on innovative structures that reduced costs. Two awards, a gold award and an innovation award, went to AGI/ Klearfold (Melrose Park, IL) for its patented Evolution Box. It was used for a Mary Kay Affection fragrance gift set. The Evolution Box provides the look and feel of a rigid setup box, but at a reduced cost. The front of the box was cut with a slit to hold a gift card.
AGI/Klearfold also received an excellence award for folding cartons for L’Oréal Paris RevitaLift. The supplier used its Duofold assembly system to form the carton, including its plastic window, in one piece—ultimately saving costs.
Other beauty winners in-cluded excellence award recipient Color-Box (Harrington, DE), whose DKNY Be Delicious for Men carton features dust flaps that hold two bottles, one on top of the other; and Diamond Packaging (Rochester, NY), which won an excellence award for a Redken Bulk Up Counter Display. For a complete list of winners in the beauty category, please visit www.ppcnet.org.
Cosmoprof North America Helps Small Companies Attend Show
Organizers of the Cosmoprof North America trade show will offer a travel stipend to 300 small U.S. companies. The experimental program is an effort to increase the attendance of small beauty stores, or OTCs, for whom travel costs are sometimes prohibitive.
To apply for the stipend, candidates must contact one of these three companies: The Kirschner Group, Greg Dawson & Associates Inc., or Spilo Worldwide Cosmetics. These companies will select the stipend recipients.
Cosmoprof North America will take place in Las Vegas July 15–17.
Both small and large companies can also benefit from a conference at the show organized by CPC Packaging magazine. Called What Brands Need to Know, the conference will discuss how to impress retailers and avoid packaging pitfalls, as well as the latest labeling regulations.
Beyond Beauty Gears Up
Preparations are under way for Creative, the packaging pavilion of the Beyond Beauty trade show. Almost half of Beyond Beauty’s exhibitors will be located in this Pavilion.
Creative will be divided into five specialized areas: packaging (Creative’s largest area), design, point-of-service, machinery, and subcontracting. Creative and Beyond Beauty will take place October 1–4 in Paris.
Redefining HBA Global Expo
HBA Global Expo has reorganized the trade show into Marketing, Technical, and Naturals divisions to distinguish the show’s three key areas. “Attendees will be able to spend their time at the event more efficiently,” says Jay Gorga, event director.
Exhibitors in the Marketing section will include packaging suppliers. The Marketing conference program will discuss strategic brand development, packaging, design, and displays.
To highlight the changes, organizers have redesigned the Web site, www.hbaexpo.com. HBA Global Expo takes place in New York City September 18–20.
Cosmoprof Bologna Breaks Records
A record number of attendees were reported for Cosmoprof, the trade show held March 29–April 2 in Bologna, Italy. More than 145,000 visitors attended the show—a 5% increase over the previous year.
The number of international visitors was also up, totaling 36,359, or a 6% rise from 2006. Cosmoprof organizers also report that more than half of the show’s 2176 exhibitors were international companies located outside of Italy.
Industry Members Contribute to Beauty Book
In celebration of Cosmoprof’s 40th anniversary, leading members of the beauty industry were asked by SoGeCos, Cosmoprof’s organizer, to contribute to a book titled Bellezza, 40 Years of Beauty Through the Eyes of Cosmoprof. For the book, a range of beauty products were artistically photographed, many of which came from the International Perfume Museum in Grasse, France. Industry experts contributed quotes about how they define beauty. A different quote is used on each page, paired with an image.
Among the quotes in the book is this one on the need to innovate packaging by Michel Limongi, makeup artist and designer at Alcan Packaging Beauty: “What a pity to hide an original formula or shade in a compact that you’ve seen before.”
Estée Lauder Creates a Package Development Training Program for Its Employees
The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) has added packaging training to its internal training program, called Estée Lauder Companies University. The new packaging program prepares qualified current employees to be successful candidates for positions on ELC’s package development team.
This program ensures that every employee in the graduating class will have the knowledge necessary to be considered for a future position in package development at ELC. There is no guarantee that the eight employees chosen for the class will all be selected for future openings in ELC’s packaging development team, but they will certainly have an advantage over other applicants. “We would always rather promote from within,” says Henry Renella, senior vice president of global package development, The Estée Lauder Companies.
The Estée Lauder Companies’ Harry Bennett, vice president of quality assurance, and Mark Polson, executive director of innovation and business development, were involved in initial discussions last spring when the idea for the program first came about.
“Recently, recruiting people to fill positions in our package development team had become increasingly difficult,” says Renella. “When interviewing, sometimes we would realize that even a person with as many as 20 years of experience working somewhere else didn’t necessarily have even the minimum requirements to work here.”
“Fifteen years ago, all you needed was a Rolodex to work in packaging. We relied more on our suppliers,” adds Bennett. “Now, the industry has evolved, and so have we. Our standards of quality are much higher. We provide the technical direction before a package goes to a supplier, so a technical background is a necessity.”
Bennett was excited about developing the curriculum and recruiting instructors. “It took much longer to organize than anticipated. We had to get a lot of people onboard with the idea,” he says. Department heads needed to agree to let students attend class. Instructors were recruited. All instructors are senior executives at ELC.
“Every class has been an amazing experience for both the students and teachers,” says Polson. “The most fantastic part, and what was really surprising to me, was seeing how much this program is engaging all of the teachers. They are really enjoying being mentors and sharing their knowledge.”
Admission requirements were tough. Many employees were interested in applying, but only a small group met the admission requirements. Employees need an engineering or science degree and at least three years of experience working at ELC.
School is in session every other Thursday for approximately eight hours. “It’s a very long day,” says Bennett. “It’s not easy.” Classes include The Package Development Process, Component Development, Interfacing with Marketing and Design, and Package Testing and Package Engineering. Students use a textbook, Fundamentals of Packaging Technology, by Walter Soroka. This book is endorsed by the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP). After the course, students are also one step closer to being certified by the IoPP, which is something ELC executives encourage all packaging employees to attain.