FROM THE COMPANY THAT CONTINOUSLY EXPANDS THE BOUNDARIES FOR VIRGIN FIBRE BASED PACKAGING MATERIALS #1 2008

packaging impact design award 2008

Anything but square

korsnäs is one of Sweden’s leading forestry companies, manufacturing some 1.1 million tonnes of paper and carton-board annually at two facilities – Gävle and Frövi. Korsnäs develops, manufactures and sells virgin fibre-based packaging materials intended for users with exacting requirements for efficient, creative, functional packaging solutions, primarily in the consumer goods segment. The company exports approximately 90 percent of its products. Korsnäs employs 1,900 people, has annual sales of SEK 7,519 m (2007) and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Investment Kinnevik AB.

korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS 3

addressKorsnäs ABSE-801 81 Gävlewww.korsnas.com

pUBLisHerAgneta Rognli

editorAnnica Alexandersonannica.alexanderson@korsnas.com

LaYoUt & prepressStrateg Marknadsföring AB

pHotoGreger Tallroth (PIDA Sweden)Studio NickelKrome (PIDA France)Paul Brown Imaging (Student Starpack Award)Eson Pack (Mackmyra)Annica Alexanderson (Mr Azizollah)

printdb grafiska AB

materiaLExterior: Korsnäs White 240 gsmInterior: Tom & Otto Silk 170 g

LangUageSwedish, English, French, German

edition6 000 ex

At Korsnäs, we describe ourselves as a supplier of fibre-based products, but we are much more than that. We are involved with the entire value chain, from the forest to the consu-mer, and the needs of brand owners are an ever more central focus.

All this is a long way of leading up to the subject of packaging, which plays an increasingly important role.

‘To make good packaging, you have to be a master of the visual, the verbal, symbolism, materials, technology and economy. A good packaging designer has to be like a decathlete,’ says Lars G Wallentin, a packaging guru and wellspring of inspiration at our PIDA events, where up-and-coming designers compete to create high-impact packaging. The material they work with is Korsnäs White. This year’s theme is ‘Anything but square’ – we are encouraging participants to design packaging with unusual shapes that test the possibilities of our material. Take a look at the entries and let yourself be inspired; much is possible, it seems. The French winners are seductive; Sweden’s winners shoot for the stars. Indeed, the sky is the limit!

Since 1994, Korsnäs has arranged and sponsored student design competitions. PIDA stands for Packaging Impact Design Award. It was established in 2005 in Sweden in con-junction with Design Year 2005. Competitions are now held in Sweden, Germany and France and are a great success. You can read more about the concept and previous competitions at our website, www.korsnas.com/Inspiration/Events.

our next event is pida germany, starting 13 november at the Hochschule der medien in stuttgart.

Design is fun – and important. It’s a life or death issue in a market with cutthroat competition. A good pro-duct is not enough. ‘How can I get consumers to discover my brand?’ That’s the question brand owners ask, and the answer is a whole science of seduction. ‘Most deci-sions about what to buy are made in the shop, and the sellers’ tricks influence you more than you think,’ says Jens Nordfält, vice-chancellor of the Nordic College of Retai-ling in Sweden. Point-of-purchase displays, big-screen TVs providing culinary inspiration, colours, sounds and scents are the ingredients that influence us – and the contents of our carts – on an ordinary shopping trip. It’s a question of understanding the consumer and offering the right products. In the US, researchers are working on ‘neuromarketing’, doing brain scans to measure what we are actually thinking.

design is a ques-tion of survival – and profits

annica alexandersoneditor

4 korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS

During the day, participants heard from this year’s main attraction, Lars Wallentin, packaging guru and former creative director at Nestlé in Switzerland. ‘Do it big or stay in bed’ and ‘Simplify and amplify’ are just two bits of advice he shared while spellbinding the audience for an hour and a half on the subject of Packaging: A to Z. ‘I thought pack-aging was interesting before Lars Wallentin’s talk, but now I truly understand how many undiscovered opportunities there are in packaging design,’ said Sara Zetterberg, one of the student contestants. ‘Now I’m really fired up.’

mackmYra on Hand – sorrY,

no tasting

The day also included something of a world premiere. Just a few days after the event, the world’s first Swedish-produced Scotch whisky – Mackmyra – was released. Rik-ard Lundborg of Mackmyra pro-vided insight into how the project began and Nicklas Bentsson of Eson Pack, who produced the box using Korsnäs White, talked about

everything that went into the final packaging design. Unfortunately, Korsnäs’ alcohol policy did not permit a tasting, but Mälarchocola-terie was on hand with samples of handmade chocolate, also packaged using Korsnäs White. Amongst the pralines a whisky chocolate had suc-ceeded in making it past the censors.

After a panel debate on the theme of cost-efficient packaging moderated by editor-in-chief Bo Wallteg of Nord Emballage Maga-zine and packnyheter.se, it was time for the awards ceremony.

anYtHing BUt sqUare

The jury had its work cut out for it choosing among the 29 entries, but ended up unanimously selecting as the first-prize winner a brilliant DVD pack shaped like the Millen-nium Falcon, in Space Wars. ‘A versatile pack offering remarkable freedom of choice, depending on how you stamp out the board. This packaging makes innovative use of the properties of Korsnäs White with a design that could be commer-cial reality tomorrow. A pack you

will be seeing in the shops,’ wrote the jury. ‘When I heard the theme was “Anything but square”, I immediately thought of DVD boxes,’ says Maria Hjerppe. ‘They are always square and usually made of plastic.’ Maria is looking forward to her trip to Barcelona, where she will visit the city’s leading school of applied art and design, the Escola Massana, which has been arranging design competitions in cooperation with Korsnäs for many years. In October, along with the winners of PIDA France, she will take part in Easy Fairs in Stockholm, which will feature a display of entries from this year’s competition.

FRÖVI IN MAY 2008 – PIDA SWEDEN

winner aims for the starsThink unusual shapes, think luxury and think cartonboard. That was the challenge in this year’s edition of the Packaging Impact Design Award (PIDA). Korsnäs’ competition for design students in Sweden, France and Germany is now under way, with the Swedish competition wrapping up at the end of May. Under glorious blue skies, students and businesspeople met at Korsnäs in Frövi for a full day of packaging design activities. The competition entries were of very high quality and Maria Hjerppe from Mälardalens Högskola took home first prize – a trip to Barcelona – with her DVD box for the Space Wars trilogy. text ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

First priZe: Millennium Falcon, Maria Hjerppe – Mälardalens Högskola.

korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS 5

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1. maria HJerppe is looking forward to a trip to Barcelona and a visit to the Escola Massana.

2. second priZe: Rum bottle, Anna-Lena Jansson - Broby Grafiska. ‘A daring solution that is a good example of how two different materials can be combined,’ wrote the jury. ‘The packaging makes good use of the properties of Korsnäs White, both protecting and displaying the bottle, and it is easy to produce, too.’

3. tHird priZe: Sunne Survival Kit, Jonas Björlevik, Christian Andersson, Martin Winqvist and Håkan Gåård – Broby Grafiska. A charming concept with a generous dose of humour. The shape suggests a waist pack.

HonoUraBLe mention

6 korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS

Several weeks after the Swedish PIDA event in Frövi and one day after Sweden lost to Russia in the European Cup, it was once again time for competition, this time in Reims, in the heart of Champagne. Among the 24 contest entries were several lovely champagne packs, but a pack for underwear neverthe-less took home the top prize. First prize was a trip to the production plant in Frövi combined with a weekend in Stockholm and entry in Easy Fairs. The Swedish winner will also be participating in October when the PIDA competitions are presented and the winning entries are exhibited.

inspiring event attracts manY

participants

Korsnäs’ partner in PIDA France is the Université de Reims (IUT). The event drew some 150 participants including – besides the competing design students – many representa-

tives of customers, producers and designers. It was covered in the trade press and other media, includ-ing regional television coverage.

paneL deBate took oFF

For tactical reasons, the awards cer-emony was the last item on the agen-da and the high point of the day. The remainder of the programme, including Lars Wallentin and a panel debate moderated by Bo Wallteg, editor-in-chief of Nord Emballage Magazine and packnyheter.se, guar-anteed a full day of inspiration and entertainment centred on packag-ing design. In the panel debate, Bo asked the questions in English and the panellists responded in French. The topic was ‘What is good, cost-efficient packaging design?’ After a few leading questions, the discussion took off, with lively contributions from the audience, too. Olivier Roussier from the converter Edel-mann and designers J-L Azizollah

and Christophe Fromentin gener-ously shared their ideas, sometimes going head to head in debate. It was a fantastic show – you didn’t have to understand French to understand that – and Bo’s job was more to make sure the panellists stopped in time than to ask questions to keep them going.

This year, the theme of Korsnäs’ PIDA competition is ‘anything but square’, which can be interpreted as encouraging unusual shapes but also as ‘anything but boring’. The contestants’ job was to design packaging for luxury products. Despite tough competition, the French jury unanimously chose a winner. This pyramid-shaped underwear pack with a handle, a product window and a relatively simple design is delivered flat and folded in the shop. ‘Brilliantly simple yet utterly irresistible,’ according to the jury. text ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

enticing packaging is a winner at pida France

REIMS IN JUNE 2008 – PIDA FRANCE

First priZe: Les Cachotteries de Rosa (underwear) – Cyrielle Guillemain and Marie-Caroline Erard

korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS 7

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1. second priZe: Akoya (jewellery) – Rosalie Chambert, Thomas Dupont and Léa Fantoni

2. HappY winners: Cyrielle Guillemain and Marie-Caroline Erard look forward to visiting Sweden this autumn.

3. tHird priZe (tie): ADN (skincare) – Stéphanie Bouteiller and Cindy Hocqueloux

4. tHird priZe (tie): Saveurs d’Ailleurs (spices) – Aurore Chaumier, Florimond Malnou and Fabien Laval

8 korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS

In 2007 four design agencies – in Germany, the UK and France – undertook the assignment to each create a pack to show the pos-sibilities with our Korsnäs White cartonboard. Jean-Louis Azizollah, designer and president of JLA and Partners in Paris designed a perfume pack. This was the beginning of our friendship and partnership and since then Mr Azizollah has also been involved in our PIDA-events in Reims. In June we met in Paris for an interview. I expected a designer with drawings and I met a business man, philosopher and poet.

mr aZiZoLLaH, wHat is tHe

BUsiness idea oF YoUr companY?

We help our customers to find their own identity and to create a dura-ble sign for their communication, internally throughout the hierachy, as well as externally. And we do it the whole way from the logo to the product, packaging, services and dis-tribution – even the company truck should immediately be recognized.

How do YoU deFine design?

Both function and seduction are important but they have to be in symbiosis, if we separate we de-mystify and lose creativity, inspira-tion and attention. Design has to inspire and not just illustrate and it has to be sincere. It has a strong power that can reach the target above the culture.

compared to otHer medias, wHat

is tHe advantage witH packaging

and How do YoU Use tHe diFFer-

ent media togetHer For tHe Best

impact?

The packaging is the product and is therefore most important. It is a communication tool but it is more than media, i.e a good food pack makes you feel hungry. The big chal-lenge is to pack the immaterial, that is more a dream than a product. Media is another link – a speaker that keeps talking – and a comple-ment to the packaging, and here it is important to find the right media for your target group through surveys and statistics. Design is linked to the linguistic, like you tell a story and use verb, adverb and subject which all together creates a harmony.

in generaL terms – How do

YoU commUnicate witH tHe

Best resULt?

It depends on the product. For fashion and luxury products, you talk about the product and involve celebrities for a high image, while for health care products it works with a more scientific image.

wHat rULes are

tHere For tHe

Logo?

The brand is com-municating behind the symbols (logo) and the means we have are the typography, colour, shape and the word. The most important is the colour, which has the highest impact in our memory. The more well-known the

brand is, the more you can play with the symbol, but the colour is crucial. Small changes every 2nd or 3rd year help to keep the attention on the brand. Recognition and at-tention, it’s a tricky balance.

and FinaLLY, wHere do YoU

get inspiration?

Modern and contemporary art is a great source of inspiration, but I can get inspiration everywhere, i.e. last week I felt very inspired at the PIDA-event with all the creative students, listening to Lars (Wallen-tin) and meeting interesting people. You have to be curious and open to be creative.

text ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

design has to be evocative and not just illustrate

PARIS IN JUNE 2008 – PIDA FRANCE

”initiaLLY design revoLves aroUnd words, vocaBU-

LarY, tHe senses. it teLLs a storY. tHe Best design

is tHat wHicH is simULtaneoUsLY most sincere and

most dreamLike,” saYs Jean-LoUis aZiZoLLaH.

Jean-Louis Azizollah, former President of the international design group Carré Noir, President and Founder of JLA and Partners, a consulting agency for image and design strategies.

korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS 9

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This year M & S and Korsnäs com-bined to create a brief to explore the field of children’s packaging. Stu-dents could choose from a range of products to be packaged in Korsnäs cartonboard with the overall aim of designing new and innovative pack-aging that will appeal to children. Furthermore, the design had to take into account the environmental im-pact of packaging and child safety, but still be functional both for the consumer and for the producer and retailer. A challenging brief indeed!

The number and quality of the entries received was very encour-aging for the future of packaging

design, which this competition is keen to nurture to protect the future health of the packaging industry. The creativity and hard work evi-dent in the pack solutions submitted by the students was clear to see, and the judges had a tough task deciding on the winning entries.

Finally a clear choice was reached for the winning pack – an ingenious popcorn pack which dis-played creative thinking combined with practicality. The pack, which won a gold Student Starpack star and was also named “best in show” at the awards ceremony in London, was designed by Anni Nykänen,

a student at the Lahti Institute of Design in Finland.

The winning pack has visual impact which is heightened by the transformation of the pack shape as the contents are heated and expand. The concept utilises the board characteristics of strength and formability, plus the ability to have direct contact of the food contents to the board because of its purity. The space saving design provides for efficient transportation and distribu-tion (environmental considerations) combined with effective use of shelf space and an appealing concept for young consumers to want to try.

As part of their on-going commitment to packaging development and supporting the designers of the future, Korsnäs has once again co-sponsored the Student Starpack Awards in the UK, together with the leading UK retailer Marks & Spencer. text DARRYL T RICE

pop goes the student starpack winner

LONDON IN MAY 2008 – STUDENT STARPACK AWARD

1. Best in sHow + goLd Anni Nykänen, Lahti Institute of Design 2. siLver Saana Hellsten, Lahti Institute of Design3. BronZe Man Li, University of Northumbria 4. BronZe Monika Osinska, Lahti Institute of Design

10 korsnäs HIGHLIGHTS

Visit www.korsnas.com

caLendar

2008 easYFairs on 21–22 octoBer – PACK & EMBALLAGE, Stockholmsmässan, Korsnäs stand C08:23, exhibition PIDA contributions and Learnshop PIDA on 22/10 at 11.00

LUxe pack on 28–31 oktoBer Monaco, Korsnäs stand DC:10

pida germanY on 13 novemBer Stuttgart, Hochschule der Medien

2009 easYFairs on 11–12 FeBrUarY – PACKAGING INNOVATIONS, NEC Birmingham

introducing the world’s first swedish malt whisky

Mackmyra malt whisky – The First Edition – was launched on the open market in June 2008, following successful sales of a ‘Preludium’ range. text ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

The idea was born late one night almost exactly 10 years ago, after a few glasses of whisky, when eight university classmates were on a ski-ing holiday. The result? A Swedish success story – and a multimillion kronor business with an internation-al reputation. Mackmyra has already won a Silver (Best in Class) at the In-ternational Wine & Spirit Competi-tion 2008, one of the world’s biggest competitions of its type.

‘It’s a gentle whisky, not at all pushy or assertive, but rather one that demands consideration and time in the glass,’ says whisky con-noisseur Bengt-Göran Kronstam of the Stockholm daily Dagens Ny-heter. ‘One thing is certain: this is an exquisitely distilled product.’

an innovative packaging soLUtion

made oF korsnäs wHite

Pond developed the pack design in cooperation with Eson Pac. For the material, they decided on Korsnäs White.

‘We wanted an unusual, inno-vative packaging solution that fits the way people look at our prod-uct,’ says Rikard Lundborg, one of Mackmyra’s founders. The pack had to be extremely stable with fine printing for a premium feel. The pack features four-colour printing together with foil for impact.

designer: Pond, Swedenconverter: Eson Pac, SwedenBrand: Mackmyra WhiskyBoard supplier: Korsnäs ABgrammage: Korsnäs White – interior board 320 gsm and exterior board 410 gsm

Have you seen our new homepage?

Please join us for a tasting of the first Swedish malt whisky at our stand at Luxe Pack – DC:10. www.mackmyra.com

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korsnäs cartonBoard Three strong board materials, each carefully developed for specific areas of application.

korsnäs sack & korsnäs kraFt Sack and kraft paper for sacks, bags and other products requiring maximum strength and durability.

korsnäs wHite top kraFtLiner Four liners covering every need for high-quality top liners for corrugated board packaging.

korsnäs LiqUid packaging Board Board material developed for some of the world’s largest and most demanding liquid packaging manufacturers.

Korsnäs ABSE-801 81 GävleSwedenwww.korsnas.com