The winners, the trends and the mingle at PIDA Sweden 2017

On May 23 the finals of the Swedish edition of PIDA, Packaging Impact Design Award, took place - an event arranged and hosted by BillerudKorsnäs. The event was attended by industry professionals as well as a new generation of packaging designers. Out of in total 48 entries, 16 were nominated to the finals, and at the PIDA event, six awards were presented in different categories. In addition, visitors were treated to keynote speeches on topics such as sustainability and trend spotting mixed with an enjoyable mingle.

The BARS team won gold

The finest prize, PIDA Gold Award, was awarded to Frida Roth, Elin Stridh and Emily Wickstein from Nackademin with their entry BARS ’Travel Kit’. An innovative packaging project that caught the eye, added value and showed consideration for the environment. And that’s exactly what this year’s competition was about, given the brief “Challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future”.

“We have put a lot of effort and work in our packaging. We really believe in our product. It’s a great experience to win” say the winners of BARS Frida Roth, Elin Stridh, and Emily Wickstein from Nackademin.

The BARS entry was a travel kit and the pack contained dry miniature units of shampoo, conditioner, showering gel and lotion; a concept that simplifies airport security control. In addition, the packaging was made entirely of cartonboard and is a good example of how to challenge conventional packaging in the Health & Beauty segment. “BARS ticked all the boxed that were mandatory for the competition and also that the packaging had a very nice finish and was well typographed. Also the product content was sustainable which we in the jury placed great emphasis on” says chairman of the jury Isabelle Dahlborg Lidström.

The trends

Visitors to the event got to listen to some interesting keynote talks. Among them, Emma Norbäck (Delicato) spoke about “Sustainable Swedish Fika” and Anna Möller (Altia Sweden) shared her views on the importance of packaging on a regulated market. Mirjam Grari (Innovation Consultancy NINE) delivered a very inspiring talk on trends in packaging design. Here is a brief summary of her observations:

1. SEAMLESSNESS. Understanding the context of where, how, when, and by whom the packaging is used is key for creating seamless packaging solutions that make every day run smoother.
2. PERSONALIZATION. This means emphasizing consumers’ unique needs, mood, taste, wants and lifestyles and allowing them to co-create the packaging.
3. SUSTAINABILITY. Being conscious when it comes to choice of material, right-sizing and strong messaging can encourage positive behaviour. In the future we are probably going to see more packaging that allows for second lives, making it easy to do good and look good.
4. EXPERIENCE. Create a memorable experience that has a potential to spread digitally and reach a wide community, keeping the dialogue ongoing.

Isabelle Dahlborg Lidström and Mirjam Grari.

More winners

Besides the overall winner the jury selected winners in four different subcategories. The winners were chosen by a jury consisting of several prominent industry professionals: Isabelle Dahlborg Lidström (innovation agency NINE), Marie Ahlvik (Svenska Förpackningsgillet), Lasse Svärd (Gafs Kartong), Idun Olsson (design agency Silver), Lisette Andersson (Eson Pac), Emma Norbäck (Delicato), and Sofia Erixson (Orkla Foods and sofiaerixson.se.)

Sustainability – Team Voltoma designed a smart and aesthetic packaging solution for batteries that has a compartment for used batteries, and is made of environmentally friendly material. The solution included a QR code that you scan to find the nearest recycling site. The team consisted of Elina Larsson, Amanda Östensson and Sigrid Sjöström of Nackademin.

Innovation – Team BARS (Frida Roth, Elin Stridh and Emily Wickstein) won, besides the Gold award, also the innovation category for solving a current problem in a new, innovative way with their packaging (and product) concept.

User Friendliness – Josephine Englund, Sandra Nordin and Svetlana Lapshina of Nackademin won with their entry Calhua. They designed a grip-friendly all-cartonboard package for chia seeds with a built-in portioning feature that adapts the amount of seeds for each serving.

Shelf Impact – the winner was Himali by Hanna Simu of Mid Sweden University –an aesthetically appealing packaging concept that connects both visually and in terms of shape to the place where the Himalayan salt is mined. The concept is also using storytelling to share insights into responsible use of the earth’s natural resources.

The people’s winner selected based on Facebook likes

Last but not least, the general public had the opportunity to select the winner of the new category PIDA People’s Choice Award. In this new challenge, Facebook users could vote by a “Like” or by sharing the favourite entry on Facebook. The People’s Choice was awarded to Niclas Mandelström, Simon Essnert and Patrik Bodén of Nackademin for their entry Voyage. The entry won with a total score of 314, of which 243 votes came from ‘likes’ and 45 from ‘shares’.

PIDA People’s Choice Award, launched one week prior to the award ceremony, quickly generated great interest and engagement on Facebook. In a matter of a few days, the challenge reached over 13,300 people, 5,631 video views, 2,583 minutes of film viewed and 665 likes, shares and comments. A fantastic result for BillerudKorsnäs, that through the PIDA initiative aims for a dialogue with tomorrow’s designers, and for creating a platform to drive the development of new, innovative packaging design!