Pentawards with Adam Ryan

https://pentawards.com/live/en/page/home
Deadline EXTENDED! APPLY BY the 28th of March 2024

How has the Pentawards by Easyfairs made a huge impact on the world of packaging design and sustainability?
Did you know they have over 2,000 entries from over 60 countries?
Will you be at the Gala event in London in October?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-ryan-a14108103/

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This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

Transcript

Cory Connors: 0:31

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is my friend Adam Ryan, the head of Pinto Awards. I am thrilled to interview you, my friend. I am so excited about what you're doing, what you're, how you're changing the industry for the better, and focusing design on so many things that are important, like sustainability. Thank you.

Adam Ryan: 0:54

You're welcome. Thank you so much, Corey, for having me. I'm a big fan as of all my team are, and it's a delight to be here to chew some fat and to go through some things that

Cory Connors: 1:03

we're doing. I, thank you. I remember meeting you. You were running around like a crazy person with your head cut off because you, you had so much to do. It was Paris packaging week and I, Avelio Matos, our mutual friend introduced us and, you said, great to meet you. I got to go. And that was okay because you have so much responsibility. But before we get into all of this stuff, I'd like to just take a few A quick step back and say, how did you get into this role? And what's your background? My great question.

Adam Ryan: 1:36

Do you know, I actually got into this role by chance. I'll the company that owns pencil is a business called Easyfairs it's a top. 15 global exhibition and events business, and I was actually in between roles and I was doing some temping here working on a different event and the CEO of the business, Matt Bennion, conversation with me and having a tea and he just said, what's your background? And my background was basically I'd worked with fashion houses and global brands, in a marketing and creative direction role. And he said, Oh, we've just acquired a business called Pentawards . And I've never heard of it. He said, I think you should interview for it. And I was a temp at the time. So I interviewed, and he went very well and they offered me the role. And I said to my wife, I don't know whether I should go into packaging because I've always worked in fashion and jewelry. And luxury and I went away and looked at the industry and do you know what I committed to the role and it's the best thing I've ever done because the packaging industry is one of the most sexy, innovative, quality industries and the people that are within it, like yourself and the agencies and brands we work with are incredible. So, yeah, that was 7 years ago.

Cory Connors: 2:43

Wow, seven years and you've built this thing up with your team so much. kudos to you and all the people that work on it. The Easyfairs group is incredible. and, I can attest to that for sure. But let's talk about the Pint Awards. I see you've got a couple behind you there that your award design is so cool. I hope someday you have a sustainable packaging podcast category, so I have a shot at winning one. But what you've done is incredible. Tell us about the Penn Awards, why it exists, and how it serves this packaging community.

Adam Ryan: 3:20

No, thank you. Amazing. So yeah, we were establishing 2007, and we're known as the leading global platform and community dedicated to packaging design and what we actually do, we're committed to recognizing excellence in design, inspiring the next generation of creative talent, providing a source of inspiration and connecting the global packaging design community. And we do this through a number of different channels. So firstly. our competition, which we're probably best known for. But as the years have gone, we've definitely, not only known for that. so the competition gets in excess of over 2000 entries every year from 60 plus countries. And you have, global, Brands, design agencies, freelancers, manufacturers, students who enter the competition from an array of different categories from beverage, food, cosmetics, home, branding, and we've an amazing jury lineup. Again, you mentioned the Evelio earlier. He's part of our jury and we've got 50 members. From the likes of Disney, Lego, Netflix, Diageo, Colgate, Microsoft, Pepsi, Pentagram,

Cory Connors: 4:23

and many more. Big brands. Wow. Thank

Adam Ryan: 4:26

you. And we do our global, gala ceremony every year, in an array of different locations from the Guggenheim Museum to the Royal Opera House in London. and we actually have lots of other events that we do throughout the year. So, Pentawards meets, or our design festival, or partnering with the likes of. Paris or London packaging week. I don't know if you can see as well. We do a book with Tashan, the package design book, and we release our TREM report every year. Some people call it TREM report and the book, like packaging design Bible. Others call it packaging design porn, depends.

Cory Connors: 4:58

That's quite a, that's quite a, a variance on the spectrum there.

Adam Ryan: 5:01

Exactly. Well, you know what designers are like, it's wild and wonderful. and so and then to top it all off, what we try and do is, incredible partnerships with the likes of Pantone and UPM. and again, like the packaging weeks, to really show people what we are as an organization and to do good for their packaging design community.

Cory Connors: 5:23

Excellent. Amazing. And it sounds like you've got some good news. You've extended the deadline a couple weeks. So what's the new deadline for entry into your

Adam Ryan: 5:33

contest? Yeah, no, thanks for that. Look, everybody said every awards competition in the world seem to extend. We don't normally. And the reason is because we've been asked so much. There was a lot of things happening at the beginning of the year from, holidays. And we started earlier because of Easter. So we've actually extended it. That's the good news until the 29th of March. So you again, if you've got anything packaging design wise, you wish to end up, garments on to the website or contact us personally or directly and we'll be able to help you with any information that you require. So fingers crossed you get to enter and hopefully get to the gala ceremony.

Cory Connors: 6:10

and 2000 entries plus 60 plus countries. That's incredible. I've been told I haven't been to your gala yet, but I've been told it's like the Oscars of the packaging world. you put on quite an event. it sounds very exciting. Yeah,

Adam Ryan: 6:24

we've really upped the gala ceremony experience and we've been to many other kind of awards and, sometimes, especially in packaging, the awards don't always represent the industry. We've made it a lot more fun, a lot more exciting. a lot of people think you have to wear a tuxedo or ball gown and some people do, but there's also a bit more. of a relaxed vibe, but ultimately it's just to celebrate the very best in packaging design from that year. And a lot of agencies and brands get to network and see their peers and celebrate together. So hopefully this year, 25th of October at Magazine London, you'll be there with your glam rags on.

Cory Connors: 7:02

I need to get a new, suit, I think. Yeah. Very exciting. let's talk a little bit about sustainable packaging. How has, the awards, the Pint Awards, helped the design world create more sustainable designs? I think you have maybe some categories related to sustainability.

Adam Ryan: 7:23

Yeah, that's a great question. So I'd say 4 years ago, we actually introduced a very small sustainable design subcategory. And, in the 1st year, it got a handful of entries, but as we've seen over the last 4 years, it's doubled and tripled. and now it's got its own full category dedicated to sustainable design. It's got its own jury . And to be honest, I have to thank one of our partners, UPM, who are a biomaterials growth company. Are actually transforming the world of materials by using and producing a wide range of renewable alternatives to fossil based materials that actually helps designers and brands reduce their carbon footprint to improve recyclability of their packaging and There's a gentleman there called Robert Taylor, who's director of sustainability at UPM, who's part of our jury. So he helped shape our judging criteria and how we would actually put that together. Because before this time, we'd never ever added or changed any categories. We were very, honorable to the previous founders, and we thought it was time with the change in the industry to introduce this category. and I'm sure one day, Corey, you're going to be part of the jury, but we've got a nice. We'd be honored to have you, but we've got a nice, kind of caveat of jury members from, Susie Shelley at Paul Fisher, Paul and Chin at WWF, Mark Buckley at the Ella MacArthur Foundation, Julia Marsh from Sway, I don't know if you're familiar with her.

Cory Connors: 8:45

Yeah, she's a good friend. She's been on the show and she's, what they're doing there is awesome. Yeah. Sway is great. Material. Yes, I'm

Adam Ryan: 8:55

in company. Yeah, they're amazing. She's an amazing process. And then we got, Amit Aurora, who's the design manager at Sustainability at Halyon. And what you've got is jury members from the whole packaging supply chain. So the conversation isn't only from a designer's point of view, or a brand point of view, or the manufacturer supplier, we now important is when that collective come together. So we've really worked hard in terms of the category and the jury members. But Also across all of the other categories like beverages and food and branded, for example, we create a judging criteria, which looks at the quality of design, the brand expression, creativity and innovation and emotional connection. And within that creativity and innovation now across all main categories, we put a little note in which it basically is looking at and considering the innovation of areas. Currently driving industry, such as sustainability or inclusive design or smart technology. So, so now that everyone that enters the main categories that they know that they have to think about sustainability, which I think is extremely important. so that's something we've done across the board and obviously having the category and then at our live events, we make sure that the content always cover sustainability so that we're educating people in the industry and we're showing great examples and we've got the designers and brands behind great work talking about the work and case studies and what was difficult, what kept them awake at night and how they made their improvements. So that's great. And then even us as an organization, as we're part of Easy Fares, but we are now committed to running our events in an environmentally and sociable, responsible manner. We've created this ESG framework, which highlights reducing our environmental impact, fostering innovations in design and materials and more, embracing diversity and inclusivity, and again, supporting in our communities. In their transition during, the economy that's going on working with gritties. So we now are taking more responsibility and even for our gala ceremony last year, it received, an ESG gold standard.

Cory Connors: 11:38

Wow. Congratulations. Thank you

Adam Ryan: 11:40

so much. But just making subtle changes at the gala, not having any red meat, having vegetarian starters for everyone and finding a catering company that has sustainable sourcing policies, not printing any materials being next to a train station. This was really important. And look, we are still learning. And as we move into this year, we're hopefully going to improve and host even more responsible events.

Cory Connors: 12:06

That's excellent. It's such a, difficult challenge to take a look at an event and all of the aspects that you're focusing on, in the past have been related to, experience for your guests, probably. And, and now we're looking at, okay, how do we do that? In an amazing way, while still being sustainable and still having a low impact on this environment. well, then it's a, it's an exciting time in packaging, 26 years I've been in the industry and, never has sustainable packaging been so cool and so important. And I think the Penta Awards is really having an impact on that. You're showing with your team and your group how a sustainable package can be. And it can be, sought after by customers and consumers. So, well done. Good for you. Thank you so much. Yeah. So you said you, you would have some examples to show us. I'm excited to see these. if you can, enlighten us with, some past winners or whatever you wanted to focus on. I'm excited. Yeah,

Adam Ryan: 13:13

absolutely. Listen, let me share my screen. You might have to give me permission, Corey, to do that.

Cory Connors: 13:18

Yes. And if you're listening, We will, we'll describe, what, We'll describe what Adam's showing, and, eventually we will post this on YouTube. So fully, you'll be able to see it as well.

Adam Ryan: 13:32

Lovely. Prior to that, Corey? Yeah, I've got some examples and I think what, better way than to start with the platinum winner in 2023. it's an incredible job. and it's by, Ecolaf, by, Lavernia and Cienfuous. It's a design agency based in Spain. And it's actually a waterless body care range with reusable, recyclable and refillable packaging. And I know we're seeing a lot of this, Corey, in terms of refillables, but I think this is a really great job. and especially this has got, you can tell this has got a bit of investment into the system. Yeah. eco Very impressive. look, the design of this, the quality, the look, the feel, it's luxury, but the underlining quality of this is remarkable. I think it's well executed. It's beautiful. And it's something a lot of the jury members when they saw this, and I remember Susie Shelley, When Pearl Fisher said, I wanna buy it . And when you hear the expert saying they wanna buy it, there's a real underlining reason why. And it's because, when you look at the materials used from the aluminum to the a hundred percent, FSC recycled cardboard box.. It's just beautiful.

Cory Connors: 14:39

So let's describe it to the people listening. all shades of black and grays and silvers and whites, very clean, very smooth edges with also at the same time crisp, hard corners, which is incredible. it's almost hard to describe. Wow.

Adam Ryan: 14:58

Yeah, it's wonderful. I remember when I actually held this in my hand for such a small product, the aluminium, the weight of it is really beautiful and it feels quality. the emotional connection I had to this product was fantastic. And they've really thought about this, even the process and the, materials used and the actual, the product itself, they take you on this whole sustainable journey in it. And it's very emotive. and the wonderful thing about this is that the 100 percent recyclability in the aluminium, which people sometimes forget how much of a great material that is, actually plays into this. And I love. On this outer box on this kind of gray and then the white is quite, subtle in the details is because there is no planet B. And I just love that a bold statement on the front of the packaging itself. And we actually saw that in our, In our actual trend report that came out this year, we are making a statement also plays into sustainability. So the next example I'm going to show you is, actually for Nespresso. I love that. Yeah. Look, this isn't groundbreaking in terms of the packaging design itself, but I just thought this was a really interesting example. And we saw several packaging designs last year where the use of bold statements in punchy lettering to create immediate impact and grab the attention actually delivered the key brand values and the messaging that the products featured. And, for the people listening at home, it actually says on the packaging, If you're not going to recycle, please don't buy our capsules. I think it's so bold. I think it's very direct. And, as a company, global companies like this are pushed on their revenues and they're, making a profit. But this is so bold saying, if you're not going to recycle, Then don't buy it. Don't give us your money. We don't want your money.

Cory Connors: 16:51

Right? And i've noticed that they're a certified b corporation, which is incredible for such a large company like nespresso Amazing and they just announced a new totally packaging free capsule, which is exciting. It's, it's just coated with plant based material, which I saw that and I just thought, okay, wow. Here we go. This is the future.

Adam Ryan: 17:16

that's incredible. I have seen that in the press and, yeah, they became a B Corp I think in 2022. and you can see with this, it aims to put sustainability at the heart of its brand and its recycled coffee capsules play a critical part in this. So I thought that was just, nice element to put in, even though it's not the most, crazy design. again, it's very simple. but I thought it was very nice to include that one. This one. I'm sure you know this one very well.

Cory Connors: 17:42

Beautiful.

Adam Ryan: 17:43

Yeah, it is so beautiful. again, this is something, when I first saw it, I wanted it. So it's the Dom Ruinart by James Cropper. and it really, for me defines modern luxury packaging. has this chalk wrap in a stunning, sustainable, innovative way. It's an eco-friendly alternative for a gift box. it's velvety soft in its tarps like chalk. It transforms. It's exceptional bottle into a structural object, and I just think it's perfection. I think when you look at the shape of this, and I'm sure it wasn't easy to do to be able to create something in this shape, which isn't something just off the shelf. And that now a lot of sustainable things are off the shelf and the repeat by many brands. This was something very unique. And it's, I think it's 100 percent fiber gift wrap. and it fits snug on the outside of the actual bottle itself.

Cory Connors: 18:32

molded pulp sleeve, basically, that fully encompasses a bottle of champagne. It looks to me like it's been chiseled out of rock. It's so stunning, with a very flat, almost, just shocking, front face. And then the rest is just. Just sharp lines, like it's been chiseled out of a solid piece. when the first time I saw this, it stopped me in my tracks. I think it was at Paris packaging week and, just wonderful. So good job, team over there.

Adam Ryan: 19:04

Yeah. like what you were saying about the front bit being so flat and then to describe it to the listeners, there's this, Hot foiling stamping that just demonstrates the high standard of the craftsmanship, especially through the crest and the typography and the foil has this, been color matched to the brand specification and does, doesn't affect the recyclability of the whole product, which I think is really beautiful. And then something we're seeing now is, definitely the manufacturers and suppliers, they're really creating things that come part of the storytelling of the product itself, and it becomes something really authentic to the consumer. And, just to touch on what James Cropper do, I know when I was looking at this project and I did some reading, 100 percent green energy. Is produced from their solar, the wind and the hydro, especially from their production site. So I think that's exquisite in itself. So not only the materials, but the people behind it. And again, UPM do a lot of things like this when they're creating their materials. so I think. I think it's just beautiful. and I know this also delivered a lot of reduction in the carbon emissions. I think it was by 62 percent compared to the previous design.

Cory Connors: 20:09

Incredible. Yeah. They reduced, I think two boxes and insert in two boxes, to go to this design, incredible reduction probably in cost too. for them, probably a large investment up front, but, overall long term. So this will save them money too.

Adam Ryan: 20:27

Absolutely. and then I just had this example, because what we found is definitely, brands now are certainly moving away from the single use plastics by using alternative materials, more paper, card it, and definitely in a more creative way. I love about this example, this is by Xiaomi, some headphones and, John Marshall from Pentagram actually spotted this one because when I first saw it, I thought, okay, this is interesting. it didn't stand out to me immediately, but John is, he's a industrial designer by trade. He saw this and when we delved into it, he made some really good points. And what he said about this one was. That normally the pulp tray is something that you have within packaging to hold the product here. When you look at the final packaging, it's two layers of the pulp layer together to create this real impression of the product inside. It's very clever in its use. And the simplicity in this is beautiful. And I absolutely love this. And again, I had to read into it a bit more to understand it. But when you see it, it's so simple in its nature, so subtle, that it's just doing something that you wouldn't necessarily think it would do. I love that.

Cory Connors: 21:40

It's stunning. I haven't seen this one before. it's a form, molded pulp tray, that basically has a flat bottom backer piece, for, some really nice headphones. very well done. Beautiful.

Adam Ryan: 21:56

It's amazing. and then my last example, because when I put these examples together, Corey, I thought, where's the color because everybody talks about sustainable design and it's the same colors and bland. So, I had to put this one in. It won a gold. this is paper form. and it's with a brand called Half Magic Beauty. And this is a sustainable bio based packaging solution, 100 percent plastic free. And again, when you look on the picture on the right hand side, packaging, which is for cosmetics. it actually says just the word compostable in capitals. Again, very subtle, but I just loved, how they use the color of the paper phone in this kind of. green, fluorescent green, and it works against the eye shadow color. It just makes it pop. so I love this. It's very subtle and very beautiful

Cory Connors: 22:42

again. Amazing. Yeah. And all the colors that the way they presented the, basically it's a small paper foam, color. Clamshell design where it's like a makeup compact that opens, instead of a mirror in the top, they have, it just in embossed, it says, compostable. and it's this stunning kind of a green, yellow color, very unique, but it makes all of their makeup colors. Just like you said, jump out of the packaging really beautiful.

Adam Ryan: 23:15

Yeah, I think they've seen your branding, Corey. they saw the colors you were using and they were like, we need to put this on our packaging design. So you're a trendsetter.

Cory Connors: 23:25

I have Evelio Mattos tos to thank for that. He sent that to me and he said, here's your new logo, my friend. And I said, Thank you, sir.

Adam Ryan: 23:33

Amazing. these were 4 or 5 examples from the competition last year that, Really stood out, but we're also really interesting talking points from the jury, and we learned a lot. And what I must say is more and more now in those main categories, there's conversations coming up around sustainable design and last year, we did include some of the sustainable jury members like Susie across the main category. So when the conversation came up about is this sustainable or not, there was an expert in the room, which we learned from previous years. So she could give real good advice, say if something was greenwashing. it was legit or not. And, yeah, I think the quality of the award winners are really getting to the next level and we're excited about this year.

Cory Connors: 24:16

It seems to be improving year over year, which is incredible. You, you think about packaging and you think, ah, there's nothing else that could be done. it's, we've done everything, but every single year something brand new comes out. That's just like. Whoa, how did that, who came up with that? And, brilliant minds in this industry. and I'm excited just to see the winners this year for the pent awards. Yeah. So, we have until the 29th of March to enter our, designs. and do they just go to the website for that? Or how, what's the best way to do that?

Adam Ryan: 24:49

Yeah, please visit the website at pentawards. com. We've got all of the information that you require. You can download a user guide in five different languages. and you've got the categories that you can enter the judging criteria, the information in terms of how the actual judging works. So the first round is done online. Okay, by all the jury members across the globe. And then if you're shortlisted, we then request the physical sample to be sent to us. And that's where then all the jury come together to look at the real packaging and then they decide on who wins what award, but it's, it's an amazing time when all the packaging starts coming from across the globe. Our offices turn into this little kind of cave of packaging and everyone comes to have a little look, but

Cory Connors: 25:32

it's very exciting. Probably looks like my office. Yeah. Very full of, samples and people like to send me, Hey, check this out. Well, thank you, Adam. I appreciate your wisdom and keep up the great work at the Penta Awards. I'm excited to share this with, the, community.

Adam Ryan: 25:50

Thank you so much, Corey. It's a pleasure as always. And, I appreciate you inviting me on.