(Market) winning packaging

Among the 11 winners at the international contest Pro Carton/ECMA Awards 2012, the carton packaging solutions of two Italian concerns: Boxmarche and Lucaprint

Having reached its 16th edition, the Pro Carton/ECMA award has become an international recognition in the field of carton and board. This year, for the first time, in addition to manufacturers, the contest was opened to all supply chain partners: designers, brand owners and retail operators. The awards were handed out on September 20th in Copenhagen during the ECMA congress. And while the brilliant 3D “bubbles effect” on its packaging solution won Taittinger Rose Lens champagne “Carton of the Year” (structural design and manufacture by VG Angoulême, carton by Iggesund Paperboard, Mayr-Melnhof Karton), the Italians were no less up to the challenge.
The packaging solutions of Boxmarche and Lucaprint won “Most Innovative” and “Volume Market Cartons”, respectively. Let’s look at them in detail.

Most innovative
Warm... hot, in fact: Thermal Box “Frusta Sorrentina”
Involved right from the planning phase, for the brand owner Forno d’Asolo producer Boxmarche made a special carton for air travel catering: a product that can be heated in a conventional oven along with its frozen contents without burning (microwave ovens are prohibited on airplanes).
Boxmarche therefore had the objective of developing a packaging based on a completely unprecedented concept.
The result is Thermal Box “Frusta Sorrentina”: before heating, specially marked spots on the sides of the packaging are pushed in with one’s thumbs, preventing overpressure from the oven. Opening after heating requires simply tearing a single strip down the middle that divides the box in two halves, so that the hot sandwich can be eaten without risk of burns or mess.
The carton undergoes a special “jazz heat treatment”, which creates a barrier against the heat of the oven.
According to the jury, this is an excellent packaging solution that works well and guarantees the outcome for which it was designed, brilliantly overcoming the critical points of dealing with hot foods. Thanks to the tear-away stripe down the middle of the packaging, once the sandwiches are heated, it is possible to remove the packaging from the oven, divide it in two, and use it to hold the other hot sandwich.
The small perforations, when pressed, enable safely releasing air during heating, eliminating the risk of contamination during transport. The design is by Michele Pierfederici of Boxmarche spa, while the paperboard used was produced by Stora Enso.

Volume Market Cartons
The perfection of paperboard for Bacofoil Classic 30cm
The packaging for “Bacofoil” is the result of years of experience in the development of wrapping systems for aluminium sheets. Lucaprint offered the brand owner Wrap Film System a perfect product: easy to open, safe to use and, last but not least, easy to recycle.
The features of this new folding packaging are exceptional: the aluminium sheets are perfectly protected on the shelf and in the kitchen, and the carton is 100% recyclable thanks to its paperboard serrated edge, masterfully crafted in lieu of traditional cutting edges made from aluminium or plastic, which generally must be removed for disposal, posing a danger to the user.
What’s more, a clean tear is guaranteed: secure and rigid, attached to the base, it takes advantage of the carton’s structural integrity.
The diamond-shaped lateral walls offer robust anchorage to roll dispensers, guaranteeing maximum comfort of use.
The jury appreciated in particular the serrated edge for tearing made from paperboard, a unique solution, in their opinion, which guarantees a perfectly cut sheet.
The packaging is equipped with flaps that can be pushed in to keep the tube in place and make distribution of the aluminium sheets even easier. The packaging is also conceived in such a way that it can be refilled.
Lucaprint used paperboard produced by Reno de Medici.     

NOTE In late February 2013 the website www.procarton.com will release the terms for nomination to the next edition of the Pro Carton/ECMA awards (the registration period probably ends in early June). Winners will be named during the ECMA congress, scheduled for Dubrovnik on September 18th-20th, 2013.