Top packaging award goes to PET bottle designer

A design agency owned by packaging processor Billerud has been awarded the Best of the Show award from Pentaward, the only worldwide competition exclusively devoted to packaging design, for its work on a premium PET bottle for Ramlösa, a longtime Swedish water brand available carbonated and still. The PET bottle replaced the long-established glass packaging. Weight savings are estimated at better than 90% over the thick glass packaging, and naturally carbon emissions caused during shipment have plummeted too.

The agency, NINE, is based in Sweden. The packaging design contest was held in New York City recently for the fifth year in a row, with prizes awarded in platinum, gold, silver and bronze categories, plus a diamond (best of the show) award to the best entry in all categories.

NINE developed the 33-cl PET bottles (photo) for Carlsberg's Swedish premium version of Ramlösa, primarily intended for selected restaurants, bars and clubs. The small bottle is also sold on several IKEA restaurants, which dramatically increases the production volumes. NINE's mission was to design a new, smarter packaging in a material other than glass while retaining the premium feel and the experienced value of the established product. Critical was that the package help keep the brand's premium image; the position just beneath premium is a poor one for a brand to hold, with margin's tight and cheap imitators nipping at one's heels.

The design process took about a year and was initially carried out in collaboration with No Picnic, an industrial design company based in Stockholm. The new packaging was launched in May 2011, and since then the number of people buying the water brand is up by 16%, according to the bottler, which tracked levels of new customers following the material switch.

"We are delighted to have won this award...Packaging has become an increasingly important tool for communication and marketing to consumers and it is crucial to have a strategy for the entire product lifecycle," commented NINE managing director Jon Haag.