A game-changing vodka bottle combining computerised design with artisan production and finishing, and a redesign of a popular pet food line to make it easier for animal owners to navigate the range, contents and benefits have been given top honours in PKN’s Shelf Shout Awards.
A vodka bottle by Vert Design for Alaskan Rock Vodka has been named the Best New Pack in this year’s edition of the awards. Saltmine Design Group’s re-design of the Purina Supercoat range for Nestlé Purina PetCare is the winner of the Best Brand Refresh Award.
Choosing the winners proved a particularly challenging task for the panel, with the thinnest of margins separating the winners and the runners up in each category.
Vert Design used computer-aided design (CAD) to produce a bottle sporting a unique punt (the underside of the bottle) representing a stylised mountain range, thus echoing the product's brand name. A gunmetal mould was produced to enable hand blowing and moulding of prototype bottles.
Formal production was sourced in Mexico where the bottles are machine blown in a unique mould and then hand-finished to apply the white decals. A custom mould was also cast for the closure, which is produced from food grade plastic.
Judges voiced high praise for the finished bottle: “A rebel, a game changer – quite an individual," one judge said. “These guys are dismissing the category conventions and just going for it!”
“You would keep this bottle post-consumption. Feels good in the hand (though heavy) and has a top shelf premium appeal.”
Top scorer in the Brand Refresh category, Saltmine, was approached by Nestlé Purina PetCare to re-invigorate the packaging for its Supercoat brand and unite the visual identity of the black dog range with the white cat range, while maintaining the existing animal photography and making it stand out on its new background.
Saltmine was also required to demonstrate the brand's nutrition credentials while creating clear navigation of life stage and flavour across the range.
To achieve this, across the range, photographic icons were introduced to highlight the key ingredients while on back of pack a wheel device provides a simple but informative depiction of the natural claim for the consumer.
The judges acknowledged the trickiness of getting the refresh’s balance right between providing a consistent look through the range, and making its information details accessible.
“This category needs to be information intense, so it's a tough job creating a solid communication hierarchy. Overall, a solid brand refresh that brings new cohesiveness to the range,” the judges commented.
Both winning designs had strong competition in their categories, with the runners-up separated by only the thinnest of margins.
Glass maker O-I’s new textured bottle for New Zealand’s Tuatara Brewing Company creating a distinctive and intricate reptilian pattern impressed all the judges to take second place in the Best New Pack category.
“As a bottle innovation this works really well. The technical challenges probably mean that Tuatara will stay ahead in the category for some time,” the judges said.
“Excellent structural execution of an intricate and ambitious design… this is really out there and its irregular profile a testament to a single-minded refusal to compromise.”
The Tweak Design Agency, for its part, was runner-up in the Best Brand Refresh section for its work to update Queensland's Nerada Leaf Tea.
While long making use of its heritage cues, Nerada felt the time had come to reposition the range to modernise it with current category cues for the hot beverages segment, while maintaining its brand values.
Tweak evolved the logo and packaging architecture, added natural tea imagery to the packs, while highlighting and strengthening its Australian-grown and pesticide-free messaging.
"This is a perfect example of why tired brands need to seek out specialist brand packaging designers. Communication on all levels has been lifted. Its provenance, its freshness and its taste appeal – all without losing continuity with the old look or over-promising outside of its mainstream positioning,” judges said.
Such was the quality of finalists and closeness of scores, the PKN team also awarded “highly commended” citations in both sections.
In the Best New Pack Section, Outerspace Design group won plaudits for its Activia Pouring Yoghurt structural pack design for Danone Australia. In the Best Brand Refresh section, Passport’s limited edition “Rock & Pop” promotional pack for Peters’ Drumstick brand won a high commendation.
