At the opening of the European Label Forum 2022 in Baveno (IT), FINAT presented the winners of the #LABELicious competition 2022. This 3rd edition of #LABELicious (or #L in short) proved to be a continuous opportunity to strengthen the relationship between future talents for the label industry and the current active professionals in the field. During the conference, the theme of future workforce development was addressed at multiple occasions, concluding that the innovative label and packaging sector is a work environment that suits most, if not all, considerations of the younger generations that will enter the workforce in the near future.
Left to right: Gwen Calvo Suárez, Jorge Casterad, Alessandro Tomaghelli
#LABELicious 2022 competition
The brief of the 2022 edition challenged young talents (between the age of 18-25) to design a label for the fictitious company HUMANDATE. The company name is a contraction of the words Human and Mandate. The company uses the mandate given by people and planet to develop beautiful and relevant brands. Their new brand is Genergise, again a contraction of two words: Generation and Energise. Genergise aims to develop health and wellness products to make consumers aged over 60 feel like being under 30.
It was an exciting test for young designers to develop a brand experience and label for the generation of their parents and grandparents.
Winners for design, smart labelling and sustainability
In addition to the trophy for the overall winner, separate awards were announced for the best performance in design, smart labelling and sustainability. The Jury, all professionals actively working at national associations in Europe, trade media, and (inter)national companies across the entire value chain of the label industry, selected the following three winners from the 100 registrations:
- Design: Gwen Calvo Suárez (Spain)
- Smart Labels: Jorge Casterad (Spain)
- Sustainability: Alessandro Tomaghelli (Italy)
Jorge Casterad, was also announced as overall winner. The jury commented: “His design and solution are a true attempt for innovation.”, “A clever minimalistic design and innovative idea of building in thermal ink to check skin condition.”
All three winners had the opportunity to attend the Europan Label forum and get acquainted with FINAT’s activities and its members, before returning home with their trophies and prizes. They all appreciated both the conference programme and the welcoming human atmosphere during the conference. One of them stated: “I can’t wait to join the industry after finishing my study!”
Future workforce challenge
As the industry innovates, the need for young generation professionals with both traditional graphic and new digital skills is growing. In the past editions of FINAT’s RADAR market report, respondents from the entire European industry, place next workforce challenges in their top-5 priorities. The broad backing of the #LABELicious competition by industry partners and sponsors, shows the importance of the initiative to attract young professionals. FINAT plans to intensify the project to build even stronger relationships between students, education networks and companies in the industry. The 2024 edition will start immediately after the summer break in September 2024, to allow schools across Europe to include it in their curriculum.
