This year I am proud to once again partner with the Pentawards to not only publicize the international package design competition but to bring My Private Brand readers an exclusive first look at the Private Brand winners. This post will appear minutes after Jean Jacques Evrard presents the winners with their award at the awards ceremony in Paris.
The Pentawards are the first and largest international package design awards devoted to packaging design in all its forms. The winners receive bronze, silver, gold, platinum or diamond Pentawards according to the creative quality of their work.
Packaging design from the world over created or introduced that year are judged by a prestigious international jury including:
By participating in Pentawards, packaging designers, brand owners and packaging suppliers have the opportunity of comparing their creations with others from all over the world, and have the possibility of winning a prestigious award which will allow them to demonstrate their creativity and expertise.
The purpose of the Pentawards is to reward designs originating from all markets, from mass market to luxury. This is why there are 5 large categories (Beverages – Food – Body – Other markets – Luxury) encompassing over 40 sub-categories. Thus, shampoo packaging will not compete against perfume, and a soft drink bottle will not be compared with a mineral water. Consumer products will not be compared to luxury products. Private Brands are represented in each of the 5 main categories.
To see all the winners visit the Pentawards.
I am proud to present this exclusive first look at the Private Brand winners:
GOLD AWARD
Private Brand: 365
Retailer: Delhaize
Agency: Lavernia & Cienfuegos
Country: Spain
Category: Beverages
Design of labels for wines from various countries.
WINES OF THE WORLD
This is a range of wines that Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize offers within its own brand “365”, which includes simple, everyday products at affordable prices. The cork is a sign of humility, an object of little value, often used as craft material, as a simple and easily manipulated element with which to play and create. The use of cork gives it the air of something simple, typical of an everyday product. The cap is the element that unifies and personalizes the whole range. The motif designed for each label refers to the country of origin.
GOLD AWARD
Private Brand: Morrisons Savers
Retailer: Morrisons Supermarket
Agency: Coley Porter Bell
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Food
Morrisons, one of the UK’s big 4 retailers, asked us to redesign their value range as part of our strategic overhaul of their entire own brand offer.
The objective across the brand was to move away from the tired good, better, best system to one that better answered consumer needs and better reflected their brand ambition of delivering quality and humanity; bringing the people behind the brand to the fore. In creating the new design, we had to take into consideration the following challenges and objectives:
The existing value design was cold and faceless. We needed to bring the brand values of “quality and humanity to life.”
GOLD AWARD
Private Brand: Solcare
Retailer: Mercadona
Agency: Lavernia & Cienfuegos
Country: Spain
Category: Body
Bottles and graphic design of sun-care range, sold in Mercadona supermarkets
Bottles and graphic design of sun-care range, sold in Mercadona supermarkets. The project had a very demanding brief to optimize processes and costs, without sacrificing that the product communicates quality, is attractive and has a strong presence on the shelf. For the 36 references we designed two blow-molded bottles. These two packs support different lids and different standard dosing mechanisms: pumps, sprays, disc-top… and also the design gives an effective response to the two basic objectives of the project: on one hand, solve problems of logistics, production and packaging; on the other, with only two packages, obtain a highly differentiated range of products, with its own personality. The colors of the containers provide the necessary differentiation between the sub-ranges of products: sunscreen, tanning, aftersun… The graphics serve as a rapid and clear identification of each one of them. This is achieved by the prominent and powerful presence of a numeral that indicates the protection factor, a key element in the purchase decision, and that at the same time strengthens the personality of the range.
GOLD AWARD
Private Brand: A Little Bird Told Me
Retailer: Pets at Home
Agency: Stocks Taylor Benson
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Other Markets
‘A Little Bird Told Me’ is a Venture Brand packaging design for a range of wild bird foods, for UK retailer Pets at Home.
Background: Pets at Home is the UK’s largest pet shop with a massive range of pet supplies in over 280 stores. Following the success of their natural pseudo brands in other categories, they decided that the wild bird category is crying out for its own natural brand.
Brief: Create the brand name, identity and packaging for a range of wild bird products that will initially be launched in the food category but will also span treats and accessories at a later date. The venture brand needs to be stand-alone and ooze natural.
Proposition: To be known as the best wild bird range in the market and great value for money. This brand will take wild birds back to nature, by providing great food with natural look and feel packaging. The tone of voice should be informative but conversational, rather than serious and somber.
Creative Solution: The brand “a little bird told me” suggests this is a well-kept secret that the customer is now privy to. By using the birds themselves to do the talking we were able to convey that this is ideally what the birds would choose if left to their own devices it therefore comes across as a very natural product.
Quirky phrases and descriptions help explain the differences between the foods while natural textures and earthy colors were used to further enhance the harmony of birds and nature.
SILVER AWARD
Private Brand: Delhaize Hop Beers
Retailer: Delhaize
Agency: Quatre Mains
Country: Belgium
Category: Beverages
This range of three limited edition hop beers are brewed in three different countries: Belgium, USA and New Zealand. They have been made according to the exact same recipe with only one difference: the origin of the hop, which was taken from the region the beers were brewed in. These three hop beers have been produced in a traditional way and this can be clearly felt in the design, which breathes craftsmanship and tradition. The sturdy look of the product is created through a combination of elements: the roughly looking label, completed by the shape of the bottle and finished off with the nonchalance of the little cord and the neck hanger. The origin of the hop is communicated with title and graphic elements (the flag of the originating country). The design as a whole reflects tradition of the product combined with the origin and craftsmanship from the brewers.
SILVER AWARD
Private Brand: Tesco Spanish Juices
Retailer: Tesco
Agency: Pemberton & Whitefoord
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Beverages
A range of 2 products of Spanish Orange juice reflecting the origin of the oranges whilst keeping it light hearted and distinctive from the array of other orange juices in the fixture – the idea of the Matador was used to create an iconic symbol – integrating the photographic orange within the illustrations for a sense of fun and still differentiating between the smooth and with bits orange juice.
SILVER AWARD
Private Brand: Chokablok
Retailer: Tesco – Venture Brand
Agency: Mayday
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Food
Premium ice cream with inclusions
We were given a completely open brief for a new premium ice cream range set to roll out globally as part of Tesco’s “Venture Brand” initiative. We developed both the name and proposition – ice cream chock full of the best ingredients, clearly supported through name, graphics and structure for a distinctive brand look. The success of the of the initial launch along with the strength of the brand proposition has allowed Chokablok to develop and launch products into many complimentary categories – Choc bars, Easter Eggs and gifting.
SILVER AWARD
Private Brand: Waitrose Love Life
Retailer: Waitrose
Agency: Pearlfisher
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Food
Waitrose has been the fastest growing supermarket in the UK for the last 2 years. With a consumer shift in attitudes towards heath, Waitrose wanted to refocus their core food offer to express a more meaningful health and wellness proposition, creating a mid tier food range that provides customers with a world of varied new food choices to help them live a healthier, happier life. The brief was to create a Health & Wellness food offer that naturally fell out of the Waitrose brand, sitting comfortably alongside the other Waitrose offers.
The health and wellness brand offer had to reflect and build on Waitrose’s uniqueness, but be explicit with the freshness, naturalness and positivity it represents. Until now, healthy food brands have been prescriptive and, or restrictive. Also, food commercialization has distanced us from our natural instincts of what is good to eat. We needed to capture the pleasure of food and essence of health, coming together to create the ideal good life. To view health and wellbeing as taking us from restricted living to a liberating lifestyle. We wanted to celebrate health and wellbeing, turning it from a negative to a positive. Our universal brand essence was “coming to life” and the design essence was “Natural Vibrancy”. The identity, name and packaging celebrates positivity and the benefits of healthy eating. The identity multiplies and uses a vibrant color palette associated with positivity and naturalness. Food photography was created to show how the variety of ingredients comes together to create appetizing, tasty and healthy choices. This powerful design aesthetic and identity translated powerfully into all brand communication. In the 52 weeks since launch, Waitrose LOVE life has achieved astronomical success. The brand design is stated as being at the heart of this and the key factor that customers liked.
SILVER AWARD
Private Brand: ia
Retailer: Interapothek
Agency: Eduardo del Fraile
Country: Spain
Category: Body
Several years ago, Interapothek was the second most sold bath gel in Spanish Pharmacies. Sales were slowly decreasing and the brand needed a change. Containers were obsolete and the brand was not easy to remember. At the same time, Interapothek had a large range of products, which meant that any change on its graphic identity had to take into account its functionality for a possible adaptation to the other products within the family, mainly in body hygiene products. The design work was based on two key points.
First, its legibility and the brand name. Although Interapothek is an elegant name and well known within pharmacy products, it was hard for customers to memorize. The first step in the design was to shorten the name with an acronym formed with the initials of the words – I stands for Inter and A for Apothek resulting in “ia”, an easy way of consolidating a name. The typographic family applied for all the range of products was Helvetica, thanks to its wide variety of typography variants. The second step was to update the container, which was inspired by a common test tube. A long investigation process was carried out in order to synthesize shapes and to see it as an easy and basic design. Interapothek product philosophy consists in offering what the customer needs in an honest and functional way. In terms of sales the results were very positive; some products increased a 30% of their sales. Moreover, customers began to identify ia easily as Interapothek’s brand. Nowadays is a brand with a clear identification and with a great ability to expand. This powerful design aesthetic and identity translated powerfully into all brand communication. In the 52 weeks since launch, Waitrose LOVE life has achieved astronomical success. The brand design is stated as being at the heart of this and the key factor that customers liked.
SILVER AWARD
Private Brand: Blend Collective
Agency: R Design
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Body
Blend Collective was born out of a unique collaboration of leading essential oil experts who have created a simple range of truly natural bodycare. The range currently features: The Enlivening Collection – The Balancing Collection – The Unwinding Collection. Every product is between 99% and 100% natural, designed to nourish and nurture body and mind. The brand is aimed at consumers, aged between 25 and 45 years and seeking natural quality products to pamper themselves and naturally assist with their everyday skincare regime, nurturing body & mind. Price range: from £8.95 to £25.00. The objective of the design was to capture the uniqueness of the brand concept and it’s origin in a clearly differentiated brand identity and packaging that works hard at point of sale to stand out and appeal to a discerning and sophisticated audience. The name ‘Blend Collective’ and the brand identity was created to convey the unique origin and essence of the brand, as well as the range’s unique selling point: a collection blenders brought together to create a unique collection. Blowing up the logo and then using different crops of the logo across the various pack formats to convey the idea of different blends created the pack design. It contributes to a more random and “one off” image. The concept steers clear from any conventional and obvious presentation, avoiding the use of photography and illustration, setting Blend Collective firmly apart from competitors. The packaging provides a luxurious, delicate and tactile finish, which pleases the senses, whilst opening the pack is also, a rewarding experience. Finally, the packaging features a “no look “ label design, which required pushing the print area to the edge to achieve the look of direct printing. Point of sale performance In the absence of “above the line” communications, the pack has to work hard at point of purchase to capture consumers’ attention and be remembered.
SILVER AWARD
Private Brand: Expert Catfood
Retailer: Albert Heijn
Agency: Brandnew
Country: The Netherlands
Category: Other Markets
Albert Heijn is the largest retailer in the Netherlands. It has several private label sub-brands covering all the categories within the store (from food, non-food to beverages). This range of expert pet food (for cats) consists out of 4 variants. Each targeted on a specific category (food specific for junior cats, Senior cats, Indoor etc.)
With the repositioning of the premium sub-brand ALBERT HEIJN EXCELLENT; the pet food assortment didn’t fit the positioning anymore. We were asked to restyle the AH excellent pet food range to the more accessible main private label sub-brand, without loosing too much quality, since the pet food has a premium quality. We combined Expertise with Emotion in the design. The main image on each pack shows the intimate delight of a healthy cat. You can almost hear them purring. Small illustrations and functional texts amplify the expert quality of the pet food. Due to the materialized foil, with a pearl matte finish, and the black and white photography, there is a kind of 3d effect in the images of the cats. It is not just a picture of a cat, it is almost a real cat you want to caress. We used fresh and lucid colors to emphasize the different variants and to create a playful look and feel on shelve.
BRONZE AWARD
Private Brand: Llamas
Retailer: Tesco Venture Brands
Agency: Parker Williams Design Limited
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Foods
Our brief was very simple: Shake up the savory snack aisle in Tesco with a new brand idea that’s BIG on personality to take on the might of crisps. No more boring same-y snacks. These are nibbles that have some kahunas! Big flavors, big crunch, big attitude. We needed an iconic brand champion that was quirky and completely unique, a strong character that was central to the brand story. From our early sketches we all fell in love with the Llama. His comically dismissive, slightly mad arrogant look made us laugh out loud. He would be the ultimate product perfectionist. Our snacking guru. A Llama of extraordinary good taste bringing us snacking bites with a big kick of flavor. Strong, punchy colors and characterful typography help to frame our charismatic champion as he continues his “rant” through all communication around the pack: from the individual flavor descriptions “Hasta la vista ready salted, adios dry roasted” to the BAAAaaah code information and the more mundane “Bestmunched before”. Llamas are a brand to be
reckoned with and although our Llama (real name Nicholas) is really from Ashdown Forest Park in Kent, his posturing and bristling passion make him a noisy new player in the snack aisle.
BRONZE AWARD
Private Brand: The Food Doctor
Agency: Pearlfisher
Country: United Kingdom
Category: Food
The Food Doctor had established itself as a visible brand in the field of healthier eating. However, the old design was very prescriptive and clinical looking, like a typical “Doctor Brand”. The new identity needed to embrace the “Eat better forever” strapline and move the brand focus from a functional product to more of a lifestyle proposition. The new identity is a memorable symbol which bonds food & health together in a wholesome, tasty icon – the apple. The apple reflects the brand journey from seed to life & provides an inspirational identity for future celebration & growth to communicate the core truth of The Food Doctor philosophy – that this is a way of life & not a fad, nor a diet. The use of color across the range builds this message by injecting the brand with a sense of continuous energy and positivity.
BRONZE AWARD
Private Brand: ICA Ice Cream
Retailer: ICA
Agency: ICA Sverige AB
Country: Sweden
Category: Food
A range of 5 different ice creams
The Brief: The design has to have a lot more impact. The product name and the flavors must be clearly communicated and visible. The Target group : family with children, so a playful design is preferred. Communicate quality without looking like a premium product.
Analysis: First thing we did was to research the major grocery stores in Sweden and made a competitive analysis from that. The conclusion we made was that the competition was quite tough, with old established brands. However we found their designs to be a bit conventional and somewhat complex. So the challenge we set for ourselves was to aim for a simple design with impact without losing the appetite appeal and sense of quality.
Solution: We limited ourselves to using only the ice cream itself and the flavoring ingredients, then built everything from that. We managed to get the letters out with ginger bread cutters. On the service side we went for a bit of nostalgia: A touch of the American 50’s ice cream parlor, complete with milk-shake recipes and other fun stuff to do with ice cream.
BRONZE AWARD
Private Brand: WOMEN’SECRET
Agency: Garrofe Brand&Pack
Country: Spain
Category: Body
Welcome pack for a new fragrance divided in three new aromas (Sunset, Garden and Sea); that’s why we designed a packaging in zig-zag capable of containing the three bottles.
BRONZE AWARD
Private Brand: Mademoiselle Chic
Retailer: Balea Young
Agency: Wincommunication Werbeagentur
Country: Germany
Category: Body
For the design of the new product range, the agency was only briefed about the fragrance: chocolate and orange. However, demands for the new Limited Edition were very high. The past Balea YOUNG care lines were extremely successful: the products were very often sold out within a short time triggering to some extend a real collector’s hysteria among the young girls.
The agency developed an approach born in the dream world of “Alice in Wonderland”: escape from the drab monotony of everyday life into a different, fantastic and carefree world. The concept plays with elements of graphics, illustration and typography. The feminine and nostalgic motifs are gracefully composed on products and shopping bag. In accordance with the product launch in spring, Mademoiselle Chic already promises on the packaging a spring-like touch of French laissez-faire. We resume this jauntily lightness and joy of life in only a few simple words: “take some time off.”
BRONZE AWARD
Private Brand: Japanese Cherry Blossom
Retailer: Bath & Body Works
Agency: Established
Country: Germany
Category: Body
Japanese Cherry Blossom EDT Redesign
A stunning design that challenges luxury brands: the agency has redesigned America’s number 1 selling fragrance – Japanese Cherry Blossom by Bath and Body Works. This new sophisticated and luxurious package belies the product’s retail price which is half of what its competitors cost.”
BRONZE AWARD
Private Brand: Baronesse
Retailer: Baronesse
Agency: Tangram Design
Country: Norway
Category: Other Markets
Baronesse’s competitors have a largely technical focus. Baronesse is thus moving in an entirely different and new direction to all its competitors. The visual body language of Baronesse is to reflect her capacity for emotion and innovation. While the product packaging is intended to inspire experimentation with new colors, the drive behind the communication concept for Baronesse is to inspire people to see color and shades of color in new ways. Baronesse creates new worlds of color and shade, and she does so with precision, leaving nothing to chance. An important task is to create desire. Desire is the engine for spontaneous purchases. Impulses prompt action. The purchase of decorative products is almost never on a shopping list. We therefore have to shine on the shelves. Baronesse is made by connoisseurs for connoisseurs. We refresh our homes for our own well-being. When we require new stimuli, changing an interior can act as a kind of tonic. Baronesse is a tonic.
Christopher Durham
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