From:Packaging Digest

Topco's Full Circle Chopped Fresh Frozen Herbs wins the top award in Store Brands' packaging competition.

Packaging design for store brands continues to evolve, with package structures and graphics creating strong brand identity and differentiating store brands from leading national brands. With nearly 150 entries to choose from, judges of the 2015 Store Brands packaging competition identified 13 of the packs as standouts in their respective categories.

The competition’s panel of judges—which this year included Packaging Digest’s own Lisa McTigue Pierce and Rick Lingle—evaluated the entries based on general appearance, functionality and how well the packages communicated brand/product message. The judging took place in April 2015.

Gold and silver awards were conferred in the categories of: Shelf-Stable Foods, Beverages, Refrigerated and Frozen Foods, Non-Foods and New Line or Line Extension Across Multiple Categories. In addition, the judges selected one package as the Best of the Bunch Award winner; the Full Circle Chopped Fresh Frozen herbs carton from retailer Topco took that honor.

The Full Circle herb package—a rectangular paperboard carton with a snap-fit, injection-molded lid—provides a combination of shelf appeal, functionality and sustainability. To access the product, the consumer removes the lid, opens the perforated top of the carton and then reattaches the lid. The flip-top lid offers easy, one-handed dispensing. When the product has been consumed, the carton can be recycled.

Package graphics feature vibrant photography of the herbs (garlic, cilantro, parsley and basil) as well as the colorful Full Circle logo. Topco designed the package in-house.

In the Shelf-Stable Foods category, the Irresistibles Olive Oil Spray package from Montreal-based retailer Metro Inc. won the Gold Award. Both Lisa and Rick featured this package in their coverage of the judging, citing its premium look and feel and its ergonomically designed two-tone sprayer trigger.

Not all the packages that grabbed Lisa and Rick ended up winning awards, but several that they highlighted were among the winners. These included the Full Circle herb package and the packaging for:

• Beauty 360 bamboo brushes, from CVS Health (Gold Award, Non-Foods).

• LoveSome Frozen Desserts, from SpartanNash Co. (Gold Award,Refrigerated and Frozen Foods).

• CVS Nicotine Gum, from CVS Health (Silver Award, Non-Foods).

• Brookshire’s flap-tie small trash bags, from Brookshire Grocery Co. (Honorable Mention, Non-Foods).