Winners All Around

While employees in many fields complain that their efforts often go unnoticed, lack of recognition is certainly not an issue in the beauty and personal care packaging industry. Instead, recognition is the very essence of the game and numerous competitions provide many opportunities for acknowledgement.
  
For wannabes and seasoned professionals alike, ICMAD’s fifth annual CITY Awards for Cosmetic Innovators of the Year will honor entries from entrepreneurial businesses for personal care, color cosmetic and skin care products and package design. In addition, two awards will be presented for advertising and website design.
  
Need inspiration? This issue of Beauty Packaging updates you on the recent winners of the most noteworthy perfume and cosmetic packaging innovations at Paris’ PCD congress; some of the latest creations revealed at Beautyworld Frankfurt; the recipients of the highly regarded IoPP awards; the products that made the grade for spa, salon and specialty retailers at New York’s EX•TRACTS show; and “the hottest prestige beauty brands” according to a poll by noted research analysts The NPD Group.
  
Increasingly, as these product awards show, this volatile industry thrives on new twists on old standards and evolving views of existing markets. You’ll find the latest on both trends in this month’s features. In “Airless for the Masses,” you’ll learn how new technology and competition have carried airless packaging from the prestige arena to the mass market. “The Final Touch” shows how brands are making every package look like a special gift. And “Speaking the Same Language” recognizes the changing Latino marketplace, and offers insight on why language alone is not
a sufficient communications tool.
  
Recognition and understanding go a long way toward keeping a vibrant industry humming along.
  
We hope you enjoy this issue.

Jamie Matusow
[email protected]