Best Packaging 2020: ... Oscar it is! (Part two)

In the April/May issue of ItaliaImballaggio we described the “plan B” developed by the Italian Packaging Institute to promote the Best Packaging 2020 contest and with it the 42 companies that made it possible. And after focusing on the sustainability characteristics of the solutions and the packaging systems in the competition, in the June issue we give space to the Quality Design and Technological Innovation aspects of the other finalists.

As we have already had the opportunity to write, there are 42 finalists in the Best Packaging 2020 contest. 42 products that have passed the first technical selection and that compete to win the Packaging Oscar for Quality Design and Technological Innovation.

Innovation in the round: keyword of the contest

> 2020 edition is organized by Packaging Meeting Srl and promoted by Istituto Italiano Imballaggio, in collaboration with the School of Design of the Milan Polytechnic and is therefore dedicated to enhancing the solutions that stand out in terms of design and quality design.

The event is sponsored by Altroconsumo, Conai and Brera Design District.

The contest does not include product categories. The Jury will evaluate which products present the degree of innovation and response to the real needs of markets and end users, to be considered Oscar solutions, trying, when possible, to give an overall overview of innovations for different materials, for different types of packaging from primary to transport and for the technological offer, also taking into account the most dynamic outlet sectors of the moment and the current consumption phenomena.

> A great novelty of the 2020 edition is the opening of the competition to innovation in the field of technology: the avant-garde in the design of packaging systems and technologies becomes Oscar with the renewed support of Ipack Ima 2021.

> The 2020 edition will therefore reward the best examples of innovation in terms of design in the broadest sense of the term, i.e. the project as a whole: structural dimension (aesthetic, semantic, sensorial qualities, consistent with a perspective of environmental improvement), visual system (originality of the narrative model, quality of the graphic form and ability to enhance the communicative potential of the packaging), informative attention, quality of graphic solutions that promote access to information to all user groups, functionality and ways of use, designed to improve and simplify the user experience... A user experience guided by the latest digital technologies and apps, which enables the conveyance of information in real time but also by the need of companies to communicate their brand values, their company history, offers, promotions, to find out new ways of loyalizing the customer.

Special prizes

As in the past, the 2020 edition of the contest includes the presentation of special prizes.

> Environment. Under the patronage of Conai, to enhance the solutions that stand out in terms of environmental impact prevention.

> Technical innovation. To enhance examples of material innovation, improvement of technical performance, smart packaging, active packaging.

What awaits us

Forced to revolutionize times and methods in choosing the finalists, the Italian Packaging Institute has hypothesized some valid alternatives, which entail a roughly half-year postponement of contest activities and events.

> The press and social media campaigns will be concentrated in the first half of the year. This holds true for the contributions of the magazine ItaliaImballaggio which, in the April/May issue has given an initial overview of the finalists, focusing attention on the sustainability characteristics of the products entered, in line with the contents set out in its 2020 editorial plan.

In its June issue, the magazine will focus on the technological innovation and Quality Design aspects of the other finalists.

> The public events associated with the contest have been postponed to the second half of 2020 and the first months of 2021. This is the agenda:

• exhibition of competitors at Best Packaging during the Ecomondo exhibition (Rimini, 3-6 November 2020);
• promotion of competitors at Interpack (Düsseldorf, D, 25 February–3 March 2021);
• exhibition of competitors in a prestigious venue during Milan Design Week 2021.

> Given the persistence of the national lockdown, there is still some uncertainty about the date and place of the announcement of the winners. But the Institute expects to be able to provide this information shortly.