PA Consulting Group, the leading international management, systems and technology consulting firm, has won the silver award in the Consumer Product category of the Institute of Packaging's Starpack Awards for its design of the Evian Action water bottle - the latest example of PA's excellence in applying innovative solutions cross-industry for business advantage.
The annual awards ceremony, held this year on 28 June at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London, promotes the best standards in package design and manufacture, encourages innovation and rewards packaging advancement.
Evian Action, launched in Europe towards the end of 2000, was designed to be a 'lifestyle accessory' with looks which would differentiate it on a crowded product shelf. The pack combines an easy-carry ring top and (leakproof) drinking spout with a distinctive, easy-to-grip spring-back bottle shape.
On the Evian Action bottle the Starpack judging panel commented:
"The Evian brand has been taken up a notch with this pack - a total solution for the premium positioning of water. The container, grip, label and ring shaped closure are designed for style and ease of use by people on the move or in the gym. "
PA's Evian Action pack was selected by the judges out of hundreds of other designs. The judges took into account a wide range of qualities including: sales appeal, graphic design, recyclability, protection and preservation, ease of handling, opening and reclosure, ease of filling and stacking, adequacy of essential information, economy of material and cost reduction, regulatory compliance and quality of production and safety.
In making the award, the judges said:
"PA's winning bottle design reflects the valuable blend of skills it brought to the assignment including: evaluation of consumer needs; aesthetic and ergonomic pack design; innovative food packaging technology; rapid and early prototyping."
Mike Paton, Head of PA's design group at its Cambridge, UK, Technology Centre, who collected the award on behalf of the PA team, commented:
"Our ability to create a device appeals to the consumer through the creation of its innovative features, to rapidly prototype the device and then to help get it into production quickly, can give a brand significant market lead - as happened with Evian."
Malcolm Lightbody, a member of PA's Management Group based in the Product and Process Engineering practice, added:
"We are proud to receive this award in recognition of the packaging advances the Evian bottle has made in the last year, and also to have contributed so significantly to realising Evian's vision for a brand strengthening product with minimum time-to-market."
Technological innovation and pioneering products and services drive growth and long-term profitability
PA's dedicated product and process engineering practice has a unique combination of industry expertise and engineering capability, delivering solutions from concept right through to launch.
It develops award-winning products, automation and manufacturing processes at the Group's international technology centre in Cambridge, UK, and creates step change innovation programmes resulting in reduced 'time to market'. Its understanding of innovation can transform the contribution that technology makes to a business.
