The collaboration between industry, students and universities helps the company be part of the evolution of packaging, it adds.
Creativity meets business
Entries for this year’s competition were on display at Empack 2014 in Stockholm last week.
Agneta Rognli, marketing communication manager, BillerudKorsnäs, told FoodProductionDaily.com the competition asks students to think not just about creativity, but to take feasibility and the business case into account as well.
“Generally we see the level of sophistication increases every year," she said. "We try to get entrants to understand you have to be able to sell the idea, and that part has improved tremendously."
“We’re a packaging company, so we focus on sustainability and functionality, but also encourage the design. In every country a jury is mixed from industry, designers, and our own company.”
BillerudKorsnäs’ competition started 10 years ago in Sweden in conjunction with universities, and has since expanded to France and Germany. A different design brief is set each year and winners are selected in each country.
The 2014 brief was ‘breaking the code.’ Entrants were asked to bring a fresh approach to champagne packaging to target a young audience (between 20 and 30 years of age) with a special occasion (such as a birthday, Valentine’s day, or graduation) in mind.
The designs for the secondary packaging had to be made from premium BillerudKorsnäs cartonboard.
In 2013 the brief was ‘food for thought,’ which asked designers to consider how they could reduce food waste.
The judges take functionality, design, user-friendliness, shelf impact, and the potential for commercial production into account.
Part of the packaging evolution
The competition helps students get used to using cartonboard and develop skills in this area, and they also benefit from meeting industry professionals, Rognli said.
However, it also allows BillerudKorsnäs to keep in touch with ideas from the younger generation and become a ‘hub’ for both students and the industry.
“We realize that if we do that, we will be part of the evolution of packaging,” Rognli said.
BillerudKorsnäs manufactures strong primary fibre-based packaging material, using material from sustainable forestry. It has three business areas: packaging paper, consumer cartonboard and containerboard.