Amcor Flexibles Christchurch Branston Street branch has produced this year’s supreme award winner for the Pride In Print Awards, which took place at Wellington’s TSB Arena on Friday night.
Accepting the award on behalf of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, printing laminating manager Mark Thian, delivered one of the shortest speeches in the Awards 22 year history. He simply said, “I’m speechless.”
The country’s premier print night attracted an audience of over 500, all intent on celebrating the best that the industry has to offer. Masters of ceremonies Alison Mau and Jeremy Corbett kept the night rolling at decent pace; at one stage having the proceedings ahead of schedule, possibly a first for a Kiwi show. As always, awards manager Sue Archibald’s team provided a platform for everyone to enjoy the evening, taking the opportunity to let their hair down, renew old friendships, and to make new ones.
Flexographic printing has long played the Cinderella role at awards shows and Amcor Flexibles needed an extra special job to bring the Pride In Print supreme award home. The winning work, designed by Brother Design for Farrah’s Multigrain Wraps, aimed to create Farrah’s product packaging to give the impression that the food contents printed on the front of the packet, are sitting on the actual wrap inside of the packet. To achieve this effect, the food photography needed to look as real as possible when printed. An extra white plate and striped colour printed on the inside back of the packet gave a strong background to further the three dimensional effect.
Pride In Print Patrons with supreme award winner, from left Ian Gibson, Fujifilm; Willie townend, Norske Skog; Mark Thian, Amcor Flexibles; Angela thomas, Fuji Xerox; John Greenacre, Spicers; and Alex Peters, APM
Speaking about the win later in the evening, Thian said, “We used every technique we could. The effort we put into the job, the perseverance of the guys to get the look that the client wanted, made this stand out. The amount of preparation and design effort was impressive. We had several meetings with Farrah’s and, to be honest, we were unsure we could exactly achieve the stand-out effect they wanted. To know that we did, and that we have won Supreme, just blows me away.”
In addition to being the Supreme Award Winner, the wrapper won both the packaging category and flexographic process prizes. Pride In Print judges commended the wrap as demonstrating the real power in print, calling it , “A good example of designers and printers working together to create a great package,” adding, “Great images really make this stand out.” Credit must also go to the team effort between Brother Design, Amcor, and the Farrah’s team for working together to achieve this winning piece.
Scott Porter, Pride In Print Awards chairman, praised the calibre of the flexographic print process used, and the ability of Amcor Flexibles to compete on the international stage with success. He said, “Many FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) decisions are made by customers in a matter of seconds and these guys have not only met the brief, they have knocked it for six.”
Amcor Flexibles award winning job
“This job speaks to me on many levels. Visually, it is very appealing. They have successfully reproduced the colours and made it look as if the product sits outside the wrapper. There is extra tactile feel applied over some areas such as the recipes, to enhance the experience of the buyer. These guys have found a way to stop work of this calibre going offshore. It rocks.”
The Pride In Print Awards recognise the innovation and technical mastery of the print industry, and how printers, designers, and companies work together in the marketplace. The award’s campaign theme, Power of Print, highlighted the impact of printed products through every sector of New Zealand life. This year’s Awards recorded an approximate 20 per cent increase in the number of entries from 2014 (777 entries in total), perhaps indicating that the New Zealand print industry has successfully weathered some tough economic conditions since 2008.
A breakdown of the increase in entries shows an increase in publication category entries of 35 per cent; promotional print entries, 34; packaging category entries, 26; specialty product entries, 20; and label, display print, and industry development entries, seven. The number of gold medals awarded annually as a percentage of entry has remained consistent.
The supreme winner numbered among several awards that knocked the judges socks off. Judges offered superlatives to all the major category winners and said the standard remains of the highest quality.
Other major awards went to:
Category Winners
1 Publications – McCollams Print, Pro Photographer Magazine June/July 2014
2 Business Print – Spectrum Print, Market Gardeners Ltd Annual Review 2014
3 Packaging – Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, Farrah’s Multigrain Wrap
4 Labels – Mesh Print, Trout Measure for the DOC Taupo Fishing District
5 Display Print – Big Colour Imaging, Nike Spider.
6 Promotional Print – Panprint, Brancott Estate WOW campaign wine
7 Specialty Products – Artrite Screen Printing, Tawharanui Waves
8 Industry Development – Live to Print, Live to Print –Screeners Choice
Process Winners
Web – DSP Print Group, Translite
Heatset – Webstar, Metro Jan/Feb
Coldset – NZME, Bite
Flexo – Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, Farrah’s Multigrain wrap
Finishing – Fuji Xerox, La Fleur
Digital – Fuzed, Guardians of the Galaxy
Screen – Artrite Screen Printing, Tawharanui Waves
Inkjet – Big Colour Imaging,Nike Spider
