Crown Triumphs at 2018 IMDA Awards

Crown Holdings, Inc. received five awards – including the event’s top prize, the Grand Award – at the 2018 International Metal Decorators Association (IMDA) Excellence in Quality competition. W
Crown was the most honored company at this year’s event.

A Christmas package created for a coffee customer by Crown’s Closures, Aerosols and Promotional Packaging business unit was named Best of Category: Specialty and Fancy Cans – and won the contest’s overall Grand Award. The rectangular shape of the 12oz. tin serves as an ideal backdrop for the complex printing and decorating techniques used on virtually every side of the package.

The first challenge was for Crown’s Midwest Graphics team (based in Aurora, IL) to perfectly replicate the brand’s color scheme, composed of bright pastel colors, on metal. Without the traditional white base that substrates like paper provide, the team took great pains to build a foundation that would result in a precise color match. To add visual and textural interest, matte and gloss finishes were used to create an intricate, subtle wrapping paper pattern that encircles the entire package. For a final holiday flourish, snowflakes and festive slogans like “joy” and “merry, merry, merry” were embossed onto the tin’s front panel and lid. 

“Our customer wanted to push the envelope with this package, and we are proud to have delivered such a successful outcome,” said Jim Wilson, president of Crown Closures Aerosol and Promotional Packaging. “From the beginning, the design was intended to capitalize on the capabilities and properties of metal, including the use of the silver color for the snowflakes and holiday messages. When bringing the design to fruition, the distinct color palette and use of multiple decorative techniques presented several technical challenges. Perfecting the coating application and making sure the inks were cured at exactly the right temperature was critical to the end result that made it onto the shelf. Our teams in Aurora and Belcamp, Maryland, did a spectacular job, leveraging our best-in-class printing and decorating capabilities and working in close collaboration with the customer.”

Crown Closures, Aerosols and Promotional Packaging was also recognized with the Award of Excellence in the Specialty and Fancy Cans category for a package designed for Le Petit Bastille dark chocolate butter cookies. To ensure the graphics were sharp and clean and offered a realistic representation of the cookies, Crown maximized the resolution of the artwork and kept the printing press in tight balance. Added visual interest comes from subtle vignettes of color on the lid and at the tin’s base and the use of fine microprint on the sides of the package. The cookies are imported by Overseas Food Trading and sold via retail channels including Costco and Amazon.

The company’s two additional IMDA awards went to Crown Bevcan Europe & Middle East and recognized collaboration with soft drink and craft beer customers. Winning Best of Category in the Two-Piece Beverage portion of the competition was a limited-edition package created for Coca-Cola to promote the Woodstock music festival in Poland. Crown’s Bevcan Graphics Studio team, based in Leicester, U.K., worked with Coca-Cola to pay homage to the iconic U.S. event, using a kaleidoscope of color inspired by the 1960s-era “flower power” theme.

Finally, Crown’s work with Austrian craft brewer, Bevog, on a playful design for its Session India Pale Ale received the Award of Excellence in the Craft Cans category. Featuring the mythical monster Zo, the graphics utilize Crown’s High-Quality Print technology to highlight the fine details of the character’s face, body, and posture and capture the contrasts in the original hand painting by American artist Lars Grant-West. A matte varnish was also applied to boost the premium appeal of the package and help attract consumer attention.

The cans for both beverage customers were produced at Crown’s plant in Kechnec, Slovakia.