This year, concurrent competitions were held in Sweden, Germany and France. First out of the box was the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart. This year’s PIDA coincides with Korsnäs’ introduction of the new cartonboard Frövi White, and the contest assignment was to choose a luxury product in the beauty, beverage, confectionery, fashion, media or health & medical segment and design packaging for it using Frövi White These are the market segments for which Korsnäs introduced the new board, developed with focus on whiteness, smoothness and formability.
Engaging themes in a jam-packed room
Prizes were awarded at a customer event at the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart at the end of April, and the well known packaging profiles in attendance were quick to note that there wasn’t an empty seat in the room. Hans-Georg Böcher, director of the Deutsches Verpackungsmuseum, gave an entertaining lecture on branding strategy entitled "Why do products want to be loved?” Lars Wallentin, a packaging guru with 40 years’ experience as a packaging designer at Nestlé, provided 10 pieces of sound packaging advice that served as the basis for a subsequent panel debate which he led. Wallentin emphasised the importance of design, discussing not only the growing role of packaging as a communicator at the expense of advertising, but how to achieve synergies between media.
The panel debate looked at the issues from various perspectives, and the audience was invited to contribute their opinions using mentometer buttons. There’s no doubt about it: packaging is a topic that engages an audience.
Yippee!
The highpoint of the day was the award ceremony. All the entries came with thorough documentation describing their packaging concepts and proposed target groups. Jury chairman Roman Klis underscored the high quality of the entries, and when he announced the first prize winner, the winners broke the tension with a spontaneous yelp of joy. “Though this packaging is not luxurious in any traditional sense, it must seem like the height of luxury to the intended target group,” said Roman Klis.
Everybody’s a winner
“PIDA may be a competition with a jury awarding prizes, but there are many winners,” says Annica Alexanderson of Korsnäs. “The students have a chance to show their creativity to a larger audience and make a good impression on future employers. We at Korsnäs and our customers have a chance to see the students’ fresh ideas. PIDA is a great source of new ideas and new contacts.”