From: Packaging Europe News

The high end of the packaging market, a particularly lucrative niche, historically tended to rely on the stock signifiers such as expensively weighty materials or opulence of finish. In the face of today's more complex market demands, the segment is more agile and creative than ever, reports Tim Sykes.

If it is an exaggeration to state that in the past luxury packaging subscribed to the maxim 'more is more', it is fairer to acknowledge that awareness of the sustainability issue has focused the minds of premium brand owners on limiting environmental impacts of their packaging. As we reported in the April edition of our magazine, the appetite for sustainable luxury is reflected in increased sales of reusable packaging formats and use of widely recycled materials, as well as in the rise of the 'minimalist chic' aesthetic. This may be one factor that helps explain why luxury brands are working harder than ever to make an impact using more creativity and less packaging material.

A good example is Dempson's 'Box Bag' - an innovative point of sale retail / packaging concept that has been adapted to suit the luxury retail/gift market. Brand conscious retailers need look no further for the perfect presentation of luxury goods. The Box Bag is a block bottomed 'SOS'-style bag but, when folded, it takes the shape of a box. It provides better gift style point of sale packaging than a traditional-style carrier bag and is more secure as it is not open at the top.

The Box Bag comes in a range of formats, including large sizes and bespoke options, and also gives retailers the choice to seal the smaller versions with a label / decorative tape or using pull-through handles.

Surface luxury

As brands look to use fewer layers of packaging and recyclable materials, there is increasing onus on delivering the look and feel of luxury through coatings, varnishes and high definition print.

"Ever more frequently we are seeing that luxury packaging is not just about the core competences of printing and refining: for individual solutions to become a reality, it is essential to maintain sight of the bigger picture," says Oliver Eschbaumer, in charge of strategic marketing at folding carton specialist Edelmann.

Refinement and shaping for an unmistakable brand look is at the heart of Edelmann's appearance at this year's Luxe Pack Monaco. At the show, the international packaging group will be exhibiting optical and haptic effects like brush, mother-of-pearl, holographic, and metallic designs, as well as folding cartons with unusual shapes like curves, contoured edges or concave surfaces.

With 'Concepts by Edelmann', the company offers customer-oriented transparency for its portfolio. At the heart of the concept are the seven concept packages of performance, excellence, security, efficiency, sustainability, digital and future. They comprise 12 competence building blocks and are consolidated into service packages in the areas of consultancy, production and process design. "Everything is precisely tailored to the specific requirements of our customers in the areas of healthcare, beauty care, consumer brands, and luxury goods," explains Mr Eschbaumer. Each of the solution packages in the concept is, in itself or in combination with others, the basis for individual customer packaging.

Packaging for luxury cosmetics, prestige fragrances, or for wine, spirits and tobacco represents an ever-recurring challenge. Alongside attention-capturing shapes, constructions and finishes, it is also the reduction of the design combined with the use of top-quality board that coveys the brand's content and guarantees it will stand out from the competition. According to Mr Eschbaumer, the real strength in Edelmann's realisation of strong-brand luxury packaging lies in the performance promise of the Edelmann competence building blocks. The 'effect+' element - which encompasses Edelmann's traditional strengths of applying individual finishing effects and producing unusual packaging shapes - is a key part of this.

Finish is also the key element in the packaging produced for the Evoka range by M&H Plastics. Designed to position the product at the highest end of the Health & Beauty category, the range sought to lift itself to occupy a market space alongside high end perfumes.

M&H Plastics was able to produce a luxurious finish for the packs, using flat based Boston round recyclable PET bottles, tubes and jars. These were then decorated with a matt lacquer upon which were screened the icons, logos and also the distinctive latitude and longitude varnish lines to evoke a travel element and the sense of exclusivity. The resultant form offers an aesthetic associated with perfume quality packaging and also an upmarket tactile feel. The reflection of light that the varnish lines provide also creates an eye-catching element in the retail space. Complementing this innovation, a more classical luxury packaging signature tops off the containers: a wooden closure developed to suit the cultural themes of the brand.

Traditions endure

Just as the wooden closure remains a winning signifier of luxury, traditional formats such as the metal tin and the bespoke glass bottle have tended to embody luxury in markets such as premium alcoholic beverages. Their endurance is testament to both the importance of historical brand values in consumer perceptions and the fact that metal and glass do not face a strong environmental backlash, since they are recyclable and often these packaging artefacts are indeed kept and reused for storage or display.

Two newly-designed metal tins for the world-renowned Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne brand represent a contrasting take on a similar design concept to that behind the Evoka containers discussed above. Produced by Crown Aerosols and Speciality Packaging Europe at Châtillon-sur-seine in Burgundy, the tins for Nicolas Feuillatte's X'ploration range follow the brand's design requirements by featuring delicate patterns that outline an intricate map of the world. Motifs employed include destination points and the Nicolas Feuillate compass logo which are both embossed as well as flight paths - all of which enhance the consumer's visual and tactile experience. Each tin is branded with the famous compass which contrasts with the primary shade of each tin to further stand out on store shelves and attracts consumer-attention.

Developed with a metallic sheen finish that reflects the brand's class and high quality, the tins are available in two colours - a luxurious gold and a deep black - which evoke the campaign's theme of 'day and night' and echo the different time zones in the regions where the champagne is available. The tins also have emphasise the brand's commitment to sustainable development by incorporating a printed recyclability message.

Meanwhile, eye-catching creations in container glass retain their total hold on the top-of-the-range spirits market. Among the array of stunning baroque works of art, a new design that belongs to the 'less is more' aesthetic has caught our eye. A new whisky brand and bottle 'The Class', created for leading Korean brand owner HiteJinro by Seymourpowell and aimed at an emerging and younger market in Korea, has been revealed.

Filling a gap in the Korean whisky market, Seymourpowell's design moves away from the general trend for ostentatious glamour toward minimalist elegance. While it is a unique design, it maintains status and masculinity - themes that have become seemingly inherent to the whisky market. Seymourpowell director of 3D Brand, Neil Hirst, says of the design: "The intention was to design a pack that was both masculine and elegant. Something that would be distinct from the local competition while using a contemporary but familiar frame of reference. The unique design reflects the aspirations of the target consumer, while retaining the familiar heritage and quality cues of the Premium Scotch Whisky."

Despite its economy, the design succeeds in communicating a number of important brand values through the holistic combination of bottle and graphics. The bottle's contours - two flowing lines converging - suggest a drink which is intended for mixing. Meanwhile, the omission of a label in favour of foil blocked gold lettering produces a striking modernist simplicity, which also maximises product visibility.

This is an example of packaging design in the luxury segment that aims to redraw the characteristics and boundaries of its market. The launch of the new brand reflects and accelerates the dropping age of the Korean whisky consumer. In a market that is gradually displacing the old image of older drinkers in local whisky hostess bars, The Class references these 'achieving more with less' aesthetic values which resonate with a new generation of consumers.