The 9th edition of Pack & Gift, which was held on 15 and 16 June at Porte de Versailles Exhibitions Centre in Paris, welcomed more than 3,000 visitors, compared to 3,438 last year.

This 2016 edition was organised in a context of strikes, flooding and football competitions and visitor figures were down by 5%, however, the number of directors and brand marketing representatives attending increased,” said the organisers.

This Pack & Gift edition hosted 225 exhibitors showcasing a very wide range of promotional and event marketing packaging solutions: this year, printing specialists added their ranges to "traditional" event marketing packaging, which continues to show extensive creativity.

Pack Fiction

The organisers also welcomed the success of the Pack Fiction zone and competition:

 DIGITAL PACKAGING won the Pack Fiction award in the "New Technologies" category. The company proposed the MYPACKCONNECT process, incorporating digital innovation and allowing advertisers to transform each packaging item into a unique mobile platform, now enabling customer chat. MYPACKCONNECT, combined with MY PACK ON LINE and MY PACK IN STORE modifies the relationship between consumers and brands, and creates an original role for packaging as a double liaison agent.

The Pack Fusion award winners

 The Pack Fiction award went to KAPAG in the "Design" category, for its FibreForm Impact - 3D paper. This FSC certified composite paper is highly extendible cellulose board offering improved tear resistance. These properties enable extremely deep embossing (2 to 3 times the thickness of the board), an original point for traditional board variants. The jury appreciated the appearance of this embossing combined with the technique required to achieve this look.

 The jury also decided to reward BELGOSWEET with a "Special mention" for its apple customisation project. The idea may not be new, but the jury appreciated the quality of the product and the range of options provided.