Pentawards honour plastic bottle design

The 2011 Pentawards, held on 29 September 2011 in New York was a sell-out, as 25 countries were represented at this awards ceremony for the best packaging in the world.

Best of the Show

The Diamond Award - Best of the Show went to the bottle of Ramlösa mineral water (Carlsberg) created by the Nine agency in Sweden. The Swedish mineral water Ramlösa was facing some challenges in the beginning of 2010, with an iconic premium bottle shape in glass that was much too heavy for transport and with too high costs in terms of production and environmental impact. The obvious choice was to design a new bottle in PET but would high-end customers accept a premium product served in a plastic bottle. The producer Carlsberg Sweden gave design and innovation agency Nine the task of designing a new bottle for the premium version of Ramlösa, in the more environmentally friendly material PET. "The successful launch of Ramlösa in a unique premium PET bottle has increased the number of our customers by 16% and the more environmentally friendly packaging has been an important step in our CSR work," said Paul Davies, marketing director of Carlsberg Sweden.

Sweden's Nine agency with the Diamond Diamond Award.
Sweden's Nine agency with the Diamond Diamond Award.

Platinum Pentawards

Five Platinum Pentawards were given to the best creations of the year in each of the five broad categories: Beverages, Food, Body, Other Markets and Luxury.

  • Beverage Category - Brand: Heineken - STR bottle, Entrant: dBOD, Country: The Netherlands
  • Food Category - Brand: Panda Liquorice, Entrant: Cowan, Country: UK
  • Body Category - Brand: Görtz 17 - Shoelace Box, Entrant: Kempertrautmann gmbh, Country: Germany
  • Other Markets Category - Brand: Morrisons - Laundry Care, Entrant: Stocks Taylor Benson, Country: UK
  • Luxury Category - Brand: Marc Jacobs - Bang, Entrant: Harry Allen Design, Country: US

Special awards

This year, on the initiative of Pentawards' founders, Jean Jacques and Brigitte Evrard, two special Pentawards were awarded. The first was to Mary Lewis for her whole career and her highly creative and innovative contribution to packaging design.

(L - R): Jean Jacques, Mary Lewis with her special award and Brigitte Evrard.
(L - R): Jean Jacques, Mary Lewis with her special award and Brigitte Evrard.

Mary Lewis was the first female president of British Design & Art Direction. She has chaired the BBC Graphic Design Awards and is a member of the Royal Mail's Special Stamps committee. Lewis received the British Design & Art Direction President's Award in 2001 for Outstanding Contribution to Design. Other awards include a D&AD gold and three silver awards, DBA Grand Prix and International Brand Packaging.

Lewis, a creative director at Lewis Moberly, works on brand identity design for clients such as Champagne Bollinger, Le Bon Marché, Jasper Conran, HRH The Prince of Wales, Stuart Crystal and the Royal Mail to name a few. She is also a contributing author to Understanding Brands.

Jean Jacques and Brigitte Evrard award the special Pentaward for the legendary bottle of Coca-Cola.
Jean Jacques and Brigitte Evrard award the special Pentaward for the legendary bottle of Coca-Cola.

The second to the legendary bottle of Coca-Cola, which for more than a century, has risen to cult status and has been able to reinvent itself continually, while maintaining its original DNA.

Sponsor awards

The sponsors of Pentawards awarded special prizes:

  • Avery Dennison gave a prize to the best creation in the wine and spirits categories - Brandever, Canada and best design in the Self Promotion category - Stranger & Stranger, UK
  • Sleever International, sponsor of the Limited Editions categories, awarded its special prize to Webb Vlam, UK for Bombay Sapphire 250th anniversary
  • Luxepack offered a booth at the Shanghai Luxury Platinum Pentawards to Harry Allen Design, UK
  • EskoArtwork gave software to the winner of the Best of The Show, the Nine agency from Sweden

To view all the award winning designs go to http://blog.pentawards.org

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