Esko Teams with Adobe, CSC, and Gencia in Design Life-Cycle Management

Last month, Esko and technology partners Adobe® Systems, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), and Gencia demonstrated Esko's Design Life-Cycle Management solution, which manages the collaboration, communication, and execution of packaging from ideation through delivery. The Design Life-Cycle Management solution features design tools that remove workflow inefficiencies, enabling all stakeholders in the package design process to devote more time to develop compelling packaging concepts.

Adobe technology is integrated within Esko's Design Life-Cycle Management software to streamline the process between structural and graphic design. CSC provides Product Lifecycle Management development infrastructure under which Esko's Design Life-Cycle Management resides. Gencia enables fast turnaround of prototypes, shortening approvals and allowing brand managers and designers to see accurate samples.

"Design Life-Cycle Management efficiently handles every part of the package design development process," says Esko's Mark Vanover, director of marketing for the company's North American operations. "It not only saves time and money, it also enables companies to innovate—and innovation is the No. 1 competitive advantage in today's ultra-competitive marketplace."

Key tools in the Design Life-Cycle Management solution are based around Esko's Scope workflow products, including DeskPack, BackStage, PackEdge, WebCenter, and ArtiosCAD. "ArtiosCAD works seamlessly with Adobe Illustrator®, a powerful and versatile tool to quickly produce flexible graphics," says Robin Tobin, senior manager, print industry marketing for Adobe. "Data can be preserved and shared between Illustrator and ArtiosCAD, which enables graphic designers and structural designers to maintain a smooth and efficient workflow with one another."

Additionally, Scope's ArtiosCAD features two Illustrator plug-ins designed to import native ArtiosCAD files into Illustrator, maintain ArtiosCAD layers and information, preserve CAD data within Illustrator, and export graphic information directly into ArtiosCAD.

The laga Design Firm Acquires One80 Design

laga, a design and innovation partner to the world's leading companies, has acquired One80 Design, a New York City-based product and package structure innovation and design firm. This move comes after a yearlong selection process, and it is laga's first acquisition since the company was founded in 1946.

The agreement significantly strengthens both firms as progressive companies continue to recognize that good design is good business and critical to successful marketing. One80 Design specializes in product and package structure solutions for such icon brands as 3M, Coffee-mate, and Gillette, and has earned a stellar reputation for innovation that captivates consumers in the store and delights them when using the package and product at home.

laga is a design and innovation firm that leads highly collaborative projects in global initiatives through its teams in Chicago, Cincinnati, and New York, and its alliance with 15 of the world's top design firms: the International Design Partnership®. Through the acquisition, laga bolsters its product, package, and structure capabilities and both firms will be able to deliver the full range of strategic consulting and 2D and 3D design.

"The merger of One80 Design's wealth of knowledge in industrial design with our existing expertise really puts the pieces together, and will bring new dynamism to the increasingly important area of design performance," says Jim Barrett, chief executive officer of laga.

Fusion Hill Develops Premium Paus Brand for 'Pet Parents'

A manufacturing company was interested in developing a premium pet product, so they asked Minneapolis-based research, strategy, and design firm Fusion Hill to position the new brand from top to bottom. "We were asked to create, launch, and market a new kind of pet bed that would succeed in major retail outlets," says Fusion Hill principal Kasey Worrell Hatzung. The line of premium pet beds feature custom interchangeable covers, which let consumers customize their pet's bed whenever they like.

The Fusion Hill team kicked off the project by developing research strategies that would help them better understand pet owners. "Since we were preparing to enter a very competitive marketplace, we needed to understand more than the basic demographics of out target consumer," explains Fusion Hill principal Kerry Sarnoski, who heads the agency's research and strategy teams. "To ensure success, we needed to understand their hearts as well."

Using a combination of industry trends, demographics, retail environment, competitive landscape, and other cultural context information, Fusion Hill research strategists developed three different audience profiles. A psychographic overlay helped researchers determine that the new line should be targeted toward "pet parents," or consumers who feel that their pets deserve as much love, attention, and comfort as everyone else in the family.

"We built the brand's positioning and personality around a pet parent's very deep, very strong connection to their pets," says Sarnoski. "Just as people parents want to give their children the best of everything, pet parents want to do the same for their pets." At the agency's recommendation, the new product line was named "Paus" with the tagline: "Matching your pet's lifestyle." Fusion Hill further created a brand personality through other support materials, such as a small take-away booklet to tell the story of the brand and flip books to showcase audience profiles.

Graphic Packaging Wins AIMCAL Award with Entertainment Crackers

When Kraft Foods North America Inc. needed packaging with a premium look for one of its premium cracker products, Graphic Packaging International responded by combining two of its proprietary technologies into a material which is so unique it has been honored by the Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL) with the group's highest award, Metallized Product of the Year.

Kraft's Nabisco Entertainment Cracker is an upscale product that comes in four flavors and is packaged for the club channel in four 40-oz. cartons per case, with each carton containing eight individually wrapped sleeves. "Kraft wanted a package that would literally carry the load for this product," says Chuck Tarlton, account executive for Graphic Packaging. The package serves as an in-store billboard, as a disappearing pallet display, and as a material tough enough to withstand shipping, stacking, and consumer handling.

The innovative solution developed by Graphic Packaging brought together the high strength and strategic lamination of its Z-flute® paperboard package with the visual impact of its Composipac® product—namely, reverse gravure printing on metallized polypropylene film that is then laminated to the paperboard.

"The result is a package that provides exceptional strength and superior high definition graphics, plus unmatched protection from tearing, scuffing, and moisture," adds Tarlton. "And there is no secondary packaging, so the product becomes a disappearing pallet in stores." The special Composipac Z-flute material, which was introduced by Kraft during the last quarter of 2005, is already having a dramatic impact on the market with both consumers and competitors, and sales are impressive.