For its competition to find this year’s best aluminium aerosol cans, AEROBAL, the International Organisation of Aluminium Aerosol Container Manufacturers, once again invited entries from all over the world. AEROBAL’s member companies account for about 70 per cent of all aluminium aerosol cans produced worldwide. The panel of experts comprised journalists from well-known international packaging and can magazines.
“Our World Aluminium Aerosol Can Award is a truly global exhibition of our sector’s capabilities,” says Gregor Spengler, Secretary General of AEROBAL. “The competition is not only a yardstick for the aluminium aerosol can’s high quality standard, it also serves as a pointer to trends in future developments. Moreover, it is a valuable indicator of what is happening in the can markets and where packaging is heading. This year’s winning cans are literally the best examples.”
The ‘She is a Clubber’ aluminium can from Turkish producer Aryum received the most votes in the category for cans that are already on the market. Its intelligent concept for countering product piracy was persuasive. The owner of the ‘She’ brand, Hunca Cosmetics, is very successful with its products in Turkey and the Middle East. The brand is well known, is held in high esteem and has a high acceptance rate. No wonder, therefore, that cases of product counterfeiting have been increasingly reported in the Middle East as well as in northern Africa. That is why Aryum suggested its customer should make the can more counterfeiting- proof by using a shaping technique oriented towards the printed image.
On the front of the can there is now striking and distinctive embossing in the vivid shape of a heart with the brand name ‘She’ printed in the centre. And the brand name is printed on the back of the can as well, in embossing that runs all around the can. A really successful example of anti-counterfeiting by design. The interplay of shape and print offers a fantastic new look and the colouring of the rest of the can is a real eye catcher. A great concept that combines brand presence and brand protection perfectly.
A can from German manufacturer Tubex that goes under the name ‘PURITY’ was the winner in the prototypes category. The name is the concept and the can is a true innovation. With this can, Tubex was presenting nothing less than the first aluminium aerosol can without the lacquering that such cans have always needed previously inside and outside for the shaping process, even for non-critical contents. The manufacturing process has been altered in such a way that it is now possible to completely forego this lacquering. According to the manufacturer, it was even possible at the same time to further optimise some of the can’s mechanical properties, such as a higher burst pressure. PURITY thus represents an almost revolutionary overall concept: no internal or external lacquering any more, and thus significantly improved cost economy, shorter production processes and therefore smaller investments in machinery as well, a reduced ecological footprint due to less energy consumption and lower CO 2 emissions, and improved mechanical product standards.
The quality of the entries and the result of the competition impressed AEROBAL Secretary General Gregor Spengler. “The entries have documented once again the imaginativeness and the innovative spirit of the aluminium aerosol can industry. I’m pleased that a convincing proposal to solve the problem of product piracy was declared the winner. It is evidence that our members can make a constructive contribution to one of the major problems facing international brand manufacturers.
“And it is remarkable that the prototype category was won by an aluminium aerosol can that can be produced without lacquering on either the inside or the outside. For customers, sustainability is currently right at the top of the agenda. In this respect this packaging solution can contribute to improving both the environmental performance and the cost effectiveness of the aluminium aerosol can.”
