Trade magazine PLBuyer to name winners of private label packaging design competition on Nov. 14, to judge products from companies, including Sam's Club, Safeway, Tesco, based on design's ability to influence purchases

Kendall Sinclair

CHICAGO , November 11, 2011 (press release) – In recent years, private label food and grocery lines have become a major force in retailing. Packaging has progressed from old-time generic labels to a wide array of new packaging styles that rival – and in some cases exceed – the look, style and visual flair of many national branded products. Now, forty-four finalists have been unveiled in trade magazine PLBuyer’s annual Design Excellence Awards, which, for the first time, will recognize the best in private label packaging design as selected by an esteemed group of leading branding and design professionals.

“PLBuyer felt it was time to acknowledge, celebrate and show the retailing world the gigantic strides private label packaging has made. What better way to do that than to assemble the best of the best in a contest judged by people who have created some of the most widely known private label in the Untied States, Canada and around the world,” says PLBuyer Publisher Brion Palmer, in announcing the finalists.

Finalists represent products from 26 retailers, including such major players as Sam’s Club, Safeway, Walgreen’s, Family Dollar, Meijer, Britain‘s Tesco, Canada‘s Sobey’s and Longo’s, to name only a few.

Winners of the competition will be announced Nov. 14 at a special Awards Ceremony being held in Rosemont, Ill at the Hyatt Regency, in conjunction with an annual private label trade conference. Fourteen category winners will be announced and one of those will be selected Best in Show, based on voting by an All-Star panel of design experts assembled by PLBuyer.

“Our goal was to assemble a team of the most respected creative professionals in private label, and ask them to judge the entries based on a strict scoring methodology,” says Patrick Rodmell, CEO of Watt International and co-chair of the judging competition.

“Unlike some design competitions that are nothing more than beauty contests, there’s no subjectivity here; this is about the package design’s ability to influence purchase behavior,” says Brion Palmer, publisher of PLBuyer.

Palmer will be presenting the awards at this event sponsored by packaging solutions company Sealer Air Global’s Cryovac brand.

Along with Rodmell, the distinguished judging panel includes:

Jonathan Asher
Senior Vice President
Perception Research Services

W. James Forward
President
Forward Branding

Lindsey Hurr
Vice President
Immotion Studios

Todd Maute
Partner
CBX

Denis Ring
CEO
Bode International

Dennis Whalen
Vice President
Michael Osborne Design

All finalists will be displayed at PLBuyer’s show booth (# 600) at the Private Label Manufacturers’ annual trade show in Rosemont, Ill., Nov. 13-15.


PLBuyer is the leading magazine covering the business of private label food and groceries retailing. The monthly magazine is part of a full range of news, analysis and informational products it offers the food retailing business, from PLBuyer’s twice-weekly eReport e-newsletter, to its two Web sites, PrivateLabelBuyer.com and Plbuyerstore.com.

PLBuyer parent company BNP Media also recently launched a companion publication, Perishables Buyer, aimed at those running the fast-growing perishables sections of food retailers.

Since 1926, BNP media has been serving multiple industries with its leading business-to-business publications. BNP Media has more than 50 publications catering to 11 distinct industry markets.

For more information on the awards, contact PLBuyer Editorial Director John N. Frank at 847-224-3368 or via email at frankj@bnpmedia.com

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