Pet food container concept wins Project 2020 packaging design contest

At Pack Expo 2011 in Las Vegas, an innovative petfood container concept submitted by Directions Marketing was named the grand prize winner in Project 2020: The Consumer Experience.

Project 2020 challenges the design community to imagine how packaging will drive consumer purchasing decisions in a decade. Designed to bring functionality and recyclability to bulk petfood packaging, the winning container has an interlocking triangular design and uniform size and shape. Accordion-type compression reduces container height as product is dispensed and the container folds flat to be recycled when empty. For consumers, the package features built-in, pop-up handles and resealable lids. For retailers and brand owners, extraneous packaging is reduced and the container has the potential for retail-ready display.
"We named the concept Tri-tainer, and it addresses two main challenges: portability and recyclability," said Jeff Hillis, art director with Directions Marketing. "Current dog food bag packaging is difficult to transport. And, once home, equally as difficult to manage. To make storage and dispensing easier, the food is often transferred from the bag to a separate container. The laminated bag is then thrown out, which causes recycling issues because of the multiple substrates used to make the bag. Tri-tainer solves these problems."
As the grand prize winner, Directions Marketing will receive the Complete Studio Bundle from software partner EskoArtwork. The other nine finalists will receive copies of Studio Designer, EskoArtwork's 3D visualization plug-in for Adobe Illustrator.