The Jury

Left - Right: Satkar Gidda, Allan Boyle, Katrin Werth and Pascal van Beek

Comments from Allan Boyle - Chairman of the Jury

There were two topics that I found personally important in the 2005 Competition. Neither involved the record number of entries, although this could easily be a whole subject in itself!

The first is that board, amply demonstrated by the huge variety of entries in the Competition, has truly become a medium for competitive differentiation par excellence. My personal view is that, relative to other pack materials, board is the most creative and versatile of all. Secondly, and I'll come back to this at the end of this report, were two words used by a jury member - "Judgement day" - which made me reflect on the implications of having to choose one winner out of many top quality entries.

Brand owners, and a number of major retailers have to be included in that broad definition, are in difficulty over media and channel fragmentation reducing the frequency of guaranteed contact points needed to maintain quality consumer communication. Worryingly, the trend seems to be carrying on. The great god TV is in global decline. New media channels are sprouting up like Spring grass - big growth in Internet, consumer relationship marketing, sponsorship, events, to mention a few. With all this, how are we going to reach mass audiences efficiently and cost effectively? More importantly, will marketers now finally accept that packaging, because it is a mass medium, with both richness and depth, is the answer to some of their prayers? The Competition is ample proof of this. And every year I can say it is getting even better. My fellow judges will agree with me 100% here!

As examples of what I mean, take the best-practice features of the winners. Starting with printing, a process that is the mainstay of all consumer packaging, we are seeing new techniques of all kinds - inks, coatings, laminations and so on - a veritable orchestra of instruments to persuade consumers to buy.

The 2005 Carton of the Year is a really astonishing piece of art and craft. The surface is a complex and compelling series of effects, well designed and equally well executed. These effects contributed at least half of its prize winning qualities. But then look at the other aspects of the winners (and, by the way, the runners-up were often excellent too):

Beautiful selection of board type across the entries
Wonderfully interesting shapes, with surprising transitions from the simple form to the functional (Innovative Design Award and Confectionery category winner)
This same magical transition was the power of the Beverages winner, showing two materials working in symbiosis. A really elegant solution
The ingenuity of the board designer never ceases to amaze the judges. The Swatch "stadium" pack is a little masterpiece of clever design and fabrication. For kids and Dads alike, a gift where the pack is just as much the point as the watch!
With mass-volume centralized production for Euro-brands, the effect of even simple changes to pack structure can be wide ranging, making a nightmare of project planning and management, and implying serious new investment. There has to be a conviction that the changes will bring certain ROI to justify them. The Unilever round-cornered multipack is a well thought-through, modern, differentiated pack in a world of "square" competition
Richard Dalgleish has already talked about the widely varied judging criteria in the pharmaceutical category, where the ethical and OTC packs require specific recognition of the job they have to do, and the users they're designed for. That we have now separated them into two sections is a good step forward for fair play: The winners merited their awards differently but absolutely correctly
Countertop dispensing is a vital part in triggering sales. The Cosmetique Active unit worked absolutely every time and made it easy for consumers to select their product
Staying with point-of-purchase material, as a complementary medium it is too important to treat as "incidental". The jury's view is that we are not doing justice to those well-integrated displays where pack and support make one plus one equal three. We recommend a separate award category in the next competition.

I'd like to come back to my opening point on "Judgement Day". It is an intimidating responsibility to undertake, particularly with growing entry numbers. Your creativity makes our job more difficult every year. High quality entries across the board means detail is often the only difference between an award or not. But that's what the judging panel is there to do. We're sorry not to be able to reward all of your efforts, but we're equally delighted to celebrate outstanding board packaging! Brand owners, and a number of major retailers have to be included in that broad definition, are in difficulty over media and channel fragmentation reducing the frequency of guaranteed contact points needed to maintain quality consumer communication. Worryingly, the trend seems to be carrying on. The great god TV is in global decline. New media channels are sprouting up like Spring grass - big growth in Internet, consumer relationship marketing, sponsorship, events, to mention a few. With all this, how are we going to reach mass audiences efficiently and cost effectively? More importantly, will marketers now finally accept that packaging, because it is a mass medium, with both richness and depth, is the answer to some of their prayers? The Competition is ample proof of this. And every year I can say it is getting even better. My fellow judges will agree with me 100% here!

Could 2006 bring even more, better packs? What an exciting prospect! Brand owners, and a number of major retailers have to be included in that broad definition, are in difficulty over media and channel fragmentation reducing the frequency of guaranteed contact points needed to maintain quality consumer communication. Worryingly, the trend seems to be carrying on. The great god TV is in global decline. New media channels are sprouting up like Spring grass - big growth in Internet, consumer relationship marketing, sponsorship, events, to mention a few. With all this, how are we going to reach mass audiences efficiently and cost effectively? More importantly, will marketers now finally accept that packaging, because it is a mass medium, with both richness and depth, is the answer to some of their prayers? The Competition is ample proof of this. And every year I can say it is getting even better. My fellow judges will agree with me 100% here!

My personal thanks to the jury members for their time, their expertise, and their scrupulous objectivity. And my appreciation to all of those submitting entries. For the sake of your industry, keep up the support for the Competition. It's a great way to make a difference. Next time, it could be your turn to be a star!

Left - Right: Katrin Werth, Allan Boyle, Satkar Gidda, Pascal van Beek and Richard Dalgleish (MD, Pro Carton)

Allan Boyle - Chairman of the Jury
Allan Boyle has spent 35 years in packaging, starting on the supplier side, where he was Product Development manager for a large UK packaging company.Since 1983, he has held various positions within the Nestlé Marketing Communications Group in the International Headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, and spent two years in Canada as Design Director.

Until January 1st he was Head of Creative Services, responsible for packaging and branding for the worldwide strategic brand portfolio, Corporate Identity and Design, Internal Marketing Communication, and Graphics Technology development. Training in design and Point-of-Purchase material all over the world was part of his team's responsibility.

He has now taken over the new role of Head of Communications for the ice cream Strategic Business Unit, which involves both a strategic counselling and project management role in all of the media communication for this global business. Allan has degrees in Industrial Design and in Marketing.

Satkar Gidda
Satkar Gidda is the sales and marketing director of the packaging design company SiebertHead (UK). Having studied business management and marketing, Satkar gained his brand experience during five and a half years at Rowntree Mackintosh, working his way up through several positions including sales, trade marketing and latterly in new product development as Brand Manager. He joined RHM Foods as Trade Development Manager within the newly formed trade marketing function before joining SiebertHead in 1989. There he was appointed a director in 1991.

Pascal van Beek
Pascal van Beek has been active as a packaging buyer throughout his career, which started at Mars in 1991, where he worked for a company called Masterfoods, producing sauces in glass jars (Uncle Ben's, Dolmio and Suzi Wan). After 1.5 years as management trainee, he became a packaging buyer. Subsequently, he worked for Nestlé, where he was European Purchasing Manager printed packaging for their petfood division (Friskies, Gourmet, Felix, Winalot, Bonzo etc.). In March 1999, he joined Unilever Ice Cream and Frozen Foods Europe (ICFE). Since 2004 Pascal has been European Supply Management Director for packaging (folding cartons, flexibles, paper cups and aseptic cartons) for Unilever Foods Europe (Knorr, Magnum, Becel, Hellmann's, Lipton, etc.). His team is responsible for buying these packaging requirements for the 75 factories in Europe incl. Turkey and Israel.

Katrin Werth
Katrin Werth is Product Manager for BALEA, the premium private label of dm-drogeriemarkt, a German drugstore retail chain. After her graduation as a business economist from the University of Saarbrücken (D) in 1998, she worked as product manager in the adhesive industry, before joining dm-drogeriemarkt in April 2001. Before starting her professional career, she worked as a freelancer involved in the planning, and co-ordination of consumer marketing projects commissioned by various companies.