FROM THE COMPANY THAT CONTINUOUSLY EXPANDS THE BOUNDARIES FOR VIRGIN FIBRE BASED PACKAGING MATERIALS #1 2009

The ordinary made extraordinary

KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS 3

does not lie elsewhere. That seems to be the clear message of our latest customer satisfaction survey, in which Customer Service in particular and the sales staff in general received high marks from our customers.

Considering how great it is to work in Customer Service (see the article in the previous issue of Korsnäs Highlights), this tends to confirm my theory that if you’re enjoying your-self, you will do a good job and help make the company more profitable. Personally, I’m trying to be nice and create a positive atmosphere around me. Let’s see how far I can take it...

Speaking of encounters, a symbol is also a kind of encounter – a com-munication that reminds you of the sender. We have chosen a pinecone. It appears in various guises, from a heavily decorated Christmas version that is reminiscent of a Fabergé egg to a subtle, stripped down embossed version. Enjoy the magazine, and don’t miss the article on Quality Meals, which increased sales 400 % (!) by upgrading their packaging and improv-ing their point-of-purchase visibility.

Annica AlexandersonEditor

EncountersHave you ever stopped to think how many people you meet every day, in person, on the telephone and by e-mail? How do these encounters affect you? And have you considered the effect you have on others? It’s worth thinking about.

I am pretty sure that we are affected by and affect others more than we imagine, and that we – con-sciously or unconsciously – choose to contact or avoid contacting people based on how they treat us. This brings me to the point I wish to address: the fact that a company’s competitiveness depends largely on the relations it creates with the world around it.

Often we point to the properties of our products – printing properties, say, or strength – as our source of competitive advantage, but the ques-tion is whether our greatest strength

ADRESSKorsnäs ABSE-801 81 Gävlewww.korsnas.com

PUBLISHERAgneta Rognli

EDITORAnnica Alexandersonannica.alexanderson@korsnas.com

LAYOUT & PREPRESSStrateg Marknadsföring AB

PHOTO Studio GérandalHdM, Stuttgart (PIDA Germany)www.bojo.nu (Idéhuset)CordovanStrategBrand’em Communication

PRINTGöteborgstryckeriet

MATERIALOmslag: Korsnäs White 265 gsmInlaga: Tom & Otto Silk 170 gsm

LANGUAGESwedish, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

EDITION10 000 ex

4 KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS

A lot of effort is put into the pack-aging. In the run-up to Christmas, new promotional packaging is developed that tops sales figures. The tendency is to make packaging season-neutral so that it works as well in February as in December.

SOLID OvERALL EcONOMY

Claes Magnusson of Brand’em Communication AB has designed Nivea’s promotional packaging for the Scandinavian market for many

years. He changed to Korsnäs White when it was launched a couple of years ago.

”Good printing and punching properties combined with solid overall economy has had me choos-ing Korsnäs year after year. Before Christmas 2009, we will take things even further and print on the back”, says Claes. The image shows the 2008 design, since the Christmas 2009 packaging is still under wraps. n

World-famous skincare brand Nivea will soon celebrate its centenary. In 1911, German-owned Beiersdorf introduced the first Nivea cream, which was also the first water-in-oil based cream on the market. Step by step, Beiersdorf has built up this strong brand, the cornerstone of which is the confidence of its target group – one that without exaggeration can be described as extremely broad: Everyone – Always.TExT: ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

Nivea – beauty for all

Producer: Beiersdorf, GermanyBrand: NiveaDesign: Brand’em Communication, Swedenconverter: Ekmans Jönköping, Swedencartonboard: Korsnäs White 345 gsm

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KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS 5

PIDA Germany was the final chapter of Korsnäs’ 2008 Packaging Impact Design Award competition. The event was held in mid-November and attracted 150 participants with an engaging programme. Nicole Henninger, Senior Brand Manager

at Nestlé, gave a riveting speech on the development of the market and what it demands of packaging for chocolate and confectionery. Josef Weber of Carton Idéen talked about how to make an impact with direct advertising. Korsnäs’ German

PIDA partner is the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart, where the contestants are students and the event was held. The university, which is Germany’s leading packag-ing design and media school, is situated in something of a graphics

A flirt with 60s retro at PIDA Germanyand a winner that literally ‘stands out’At the heart of the concept, a shop display that combines many packs to produce a powerful impact and convince consumers to open their wallets.TExT: ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

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6 KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS

hotbed, where printers and convert-ers rub elbows with the major car manufacturers.

‘ANYTHING BUT BORING’

wAS THE BRIEf

The students made their entries out of Korsnäs White.

‘This year’s eighteen entries represent an outstanding display of creative design, ranging from the ingeniously simple to the most complex solutions,’ said jury chairman Roman Klis of Roman Klis Design at the awards presenta-tion. ‘Both the packaging and the graphic designs maintained a

consistently high level.’ The winning entry was Salatstil, which took home first prize, a trip to Stockholm and the Korsnäs production facility in Frövi.

cOvERING ONLY THE ESSENTIALS

The winning entry’s colour scale and design idiom bear a strong 60s influence. It’s a pack for salad uten-sils in which most of the product sticks out to form a kind of handle. Its selling effect grows out of the way it is displayed in the shop, which the students imagined being the British design chain Habitat. The packs are stacked in a block

shape with the green plastic han-dles combining to form what looks like a grassy lawn. ‘Irresistible,’ according to the jury. The design may be retro, but as far as PIDA is concerned, it’s ahead of its time – it would have been a perfect creative response to the 2009 brief, which asks students to design a pack and a display that fit together. Indeed, that’s the brief in brief: ‘Pack and Display’. n

1. fIRST PRIZE:

Salatstil ‘A fantastic concept in which the transport pack-aging becomes the display, and the individual packs vault into the “must have” category thanks to their humour, simplicity and reasonable price point,’ explains the jury in motivating the prize./ Sonja Bauer, Juliane Berner, Anna Bloßfeld, Lydia Brühl, Svenja Lämmel

2. SEcOND PRIZE:AlpenglühenFondue cheese in an amusing cheese pipe pack that can either be hung or displayed on a shelf. ‘Simple and distinctive, and it communicates the contents admirably,’ according to the jury./Jonathan Scherer

3. THIRD PRIZE:PickA romantic picnic basket that folds out into a tray. After the picnic, it’s easy to dispose of. ‘An attrac-tive gift package that says, “Be nice to yourself and somebody else,” and would fit in perfectly at a fine deli,’ according to the jury./Kerstin Krüger

HONOURABLE MENTION:

SpoonfulAttributes like quick opening and ease of hand-ling combine with a fresh design to give this pack an honourable mention./Jochen Glaser, Floran Lang, Carolin Reiß, Jan Semmler, Paul Winkler

SchreibkulturEye-catching pack for a pen with an ingenious opening./Jesco Gumprecht, Zackarias Rebholz

ÉtagèreAn intricate, irresistible chocolate pack that is unfortunately a poor candidate for production./Daniel El Titi, Annika Butting

Korsnäs AB is introducing a new product: Korsnäs Carry 480 gsm. The new grammage was developed especially to meet customer de-mand for an extra strength board for heavy products and displays.

“With this high grammage, we are pushing back the limits of car-tonboard packaging – with all the advantages board offers in terms of print quality, material reduction and efficient distribution – before

other materials have to take over,” says Rolf Gustafsson, Business Manager for Cartonboard.

Luxury beverages, industrial products and display solutions are the focal areas. Korsnäs already has a long-term presence in this segment with Korsnäs Carry 425 gsm. The new 480 gsm weight has extremely high strength properties, opening up opportunities for heavier prod-ucts, integrated handles, effective

openings, tear strips and sophisti-cated embossing. For displays, the material’s scoring properties are a major advantage.The new grammage is included in Korsnäs’ “Service your way” concept, which offers very flexible delivery service. The material is already in stock for quick deliveries and samples. n

Korsnäs launches new productTExT: ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

Initially, Quality Meals was using a thin, improperly designed case. Then they discovered that the quiches tended to crack if handled roughly in grocery freezers. They asked Stockholm’s Idéhuset design agency to carry out a thorough review of the packaging. Step one was to “go shopping”. Idéhuset’s Bengt Bussler wanted to see how the packaging stacked up against

the competition. The conclusion was inescapable: it was too anony-mous and did not communicate the product contents unless the consumer was willing to make an extra effort. Not only that, it didn’t protect the quiches well enough, leading to unnecessary returns from the shops.

cOvER MORE IMPORTANT THAN

cONTENTS?!

“Many producers focus on mak-ing the best product they can, but view packaging as essentially an extra cost,” says Bengt Bussler. He urges them to look at it from the other side.

“Packaging is central to building a brand. Most importantly, it has to be attractive and communicate

Quality Meals identified a gap in the market: main-course quiches to meet the needs of families. Now they have the right pack for the product, too. What was once a problem is now an advantage – with the new pack, sales shot up over 400 % in six months. An appetising, smart design made of Korsnäs White was the solution. TExT: ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

New pack gives record sales

KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS 9

the contents clearly, leading to a decision to buy on the part of the customer. It should also be func-tional and convenient. Finally, the product must be of high quality; this is axiomatic. If you meet all three criteria, you win the confi-dence of the customer.”

PAcKAGING PERfORMANcE SERvIcE

HELPED wITH DESIGN

“Thanks to our partnership with Korsnäs’ Packaging Performance Service, we were able to develop the solutions we needed – includ-ing a tamper-proof closure and a challenging window placement – to produce the highest-impact, strongest-selling pack possible,” says Bengt.

“We also gained access to unique expertise on the material and its properties. Korsnäs White provides the properties we need to deal with a distribution chain full of humid and frozen environments. The material also assures good print-

ing results – essential for a pack that doubles as a seller – at the same time that it is stable, stiff and protects the product. With Korsnäs White, we are playing it safe and avoiding expensive returns.” “With the help of the strong design of our new packaging solution, we positioned ourselves right,” says Quality Meals Managing Director Micael Östlund. “Our quiches have moved from the special order range into the standard range of Sweden’s leading grocery chain.”www.idehuset.nu n

Brand: Quality Mealsconverter: Ekmans, SwedenDesign: Idéhuset Design & Marknads-kommunikation, Swedencartonboard: Korsnäs White 380 gsm

Packaging Performance Service is the collective name of the packaging develop-ment services that Korsnäs provides. These services focus on three primary areas: maximum packaging exposure, user-friendly packaging and packaging optimisation.

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“I’ve never been involved in a pro-ject quite like this”, says Thomas Feiner, the artist behind the image. “There were many challenges: the design, the techniques, the multi-ple applications, sizes and media types, the realistic simulations of lighting, the print effects it had to allow for. And however tech-nical the project, there was only one way to begin: a long walk in the woods to get a closer look at cones.”

The cone that Thomas finally de-signed was however his own crea-tion. It has the essential cone-ness about it but it’s neither as oblong and closed as a spruce cone, nor squat and open like a pine cone.

“I was inspired by the big, beauti-ful cones of the Italian stone pine the way I remember them from my early teens when I roamed the Tuscany countryside on a moped. The shape has stayed with me. It’s cone-archetypical.”

DOING THE MATHS

“As for the presentation, I faced a few entirely new challenges”, Tho-mas Feiner says. “Not least mathe-

matically. The apparent symmetry of a cone is an illusion. I ended up building a 3-D cone in my 3d Studio Max CAD program, basing the image really on one deformable and duplicable cone leaf. Which was rather information-intensive in itself. For the animated sequence, one single rotation would require 1,000 pictures, and the geometry of the finished cone consisted of a couple of million polygons. It’s

You saw it on the 2008 Christmas Card – with foil and embossed in three levels. Those of you who visited Luxe Pack in Monaco saw it in motion, as a big back-projected 3D image slowly turning and glittering. And as the centrepiece in Shape Your Brand, the magnificent Korsnäs White inspiration book. The cone.TExT: ROLF STRIDH

The ordinary made extraordinary

AS fOR THE PRESENTATION,

I fAcED A fEw ENTIRELY NEw

cHALLENGES

KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS 11

an animation on a scale, requiring real powerful hardware – for the processing I had to send it all off to a computer rendering farm in Germany.”

fORMABILITY AND SHAPES

Originally, the cone as a commu-nication concept emerged in the creative process at the advertising agency. There was a need for a cen-tral “communicator” at the launch of Korsnäs White, something that could embody the formability of the material, that could display the ability of the material to handle any number of post-treatment effects – foils, embossing, die-cut-ting, you name it.

“The object had to be simple and natural, yet interesting, graphically beautiful and capable of conveying a sense of premium,” says Mats Eklind, Art Director at Cordovan Marketing. “We wanted the com-munication to be about shapes and the cone was the perfect answer. Especially since the cone can evoke a wealth of associations and inter-pretations.”

cONTEMPORARY ELEGANcE

“Thomas’ first sketches of the cone simply blew us all away”, Mats continues. “They were so superb that we thought this was it, mis-sion accomplished. And it had a contemporary expression. Then

Simplicity meets luxury, evoking a wealth of associations and interpretations.

Agneta Rognli, responsible for market communication at Korsnäs, and Mats Eklind, Art Director at Cordovan Marketing.

The finest set of swatch books in the packaging business? Printed and plain samples of all substances of Korsnäs White.

The inspiration book is a magnifi-cent showcase of print effects and post-print techniques.

we were amazed once again how Thomas took the cone to another level. The feeling, the accomplish-ment.”

“It is true that the cone and the expression Shape Your Brand were developed for the Korsnäs White launch at Luxe Pack in Monaco in 2008”, says Agneta Rognli, respon-sible for market communication at Korsnäs. “But we saw the real potential right away. This is bigger. It’s not only about Korsnäs White or just our range of cartonboard material – it’s about how we can communicate our offer in a much wider sense.”

A SEx SYMBOL

You could say the cone is about sex – a tree’s idea of sex. Because this is how trees procreate. A cone holds the promise of a new generation of trees. A single cone can hold more than 100 seeds. In a general sense, the cone is a symbol of a vital, continuously rejuvenated forest. It’s a symbol of a sustainable eco system, if you like, or a renewable resource.

More specifically, at Korsnäs the cone is a symbol of the origin of our business in the Nordic forests. Korsnäs is not just paper mills, but also a forestry operation of consi-derable size. All Korsnäs products are made of virgin fibre, the strong resilient fibre sourced from the slow-growing Nordic forests.

A SEcOND cOMING Of fABERGÉ?

But this cone is not just any old cone. It’s a designer object, a jeweller’s cone, covered in silver and gold, studded with precious stones. Inevitably, associations go to Fabergé Easter Eggs. A regular cone (like an egg) can be adorned and adjusted to a life in a commer-cial environment. Just like Korsnäs White or any other Korsnäs packa-ging material. What is ordinary can be made extraordinary. Something so plain that it is taken for granted can be worked, refined and trans-formed into an object of utmost sophistication.

Which is exactly what Korsnäs does when manufacturing packa-ging material. Wood fibre is turned into efficient, strong, attractive – and climate-smart – packaging material. The perfect thing for our customers to use to promote their brands, to develop further to conquer and win on supermarket shelves all over the world. The per-fect thing to shape your brand.

KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS 13

Were you born with a silver spoon in your mouth? A teaspoon is enough. If so, you can purchase De Jaeger snail caviar: ”A taste sensa-tion that evokes a sense of walking in the forest after the rain, with hints of mushroom and moss”, says Dominique Pierru, owner of the snail farm in France. The elegant, wine-red coloured tin filled with precious eggs may be procured at Harrods Food Halls in London or gourmet shops in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates at EUR 80 for 50 g.

THE SNAILS LIvE THE GOOD LIfE

Three years of development have resulted in a method that both tones down the taste to the proper level, while maintaining a reason-able level of handling.

”An absolute prerequisite for obtaining gourmet-class eggs is

that the snails are relaxed and live well”, says Dominique. The snail farm, a small family-run business, has received a great deal of media attention. In 2008, no less than 15 different TV teams visited the farm. But despite the publicity, snail caviar is relatively unknown on the market, and the packaging is an important tool in communication.

THE PAcKAGING: A BALANcE BE-

TwEEN fUNcTION AND ATTRAcTION

”When creating packaging, there are many parameters to consider”, says Génebaud Gérandal, a designer at Studio Gérandal.

”The function should simply be

there while the “wow” factor takes over when you look at and touch the packaging. The packaging should also inspire an element of surprise when opened. Korsnäs White was the obvious choice for cartonboard due to its printing properties and exceptional form-ability, which is so essential for high-quality embossing. This packaging breathes luxury and conveys the right feeling”, con-cludes Génebaud. n Producer : De Jaeger, FranceDesigner : Studio Gérandal, Franceconverter : Debrez, Francecartonboard : Korsnäs White 240 gsm

Russian caviar french style – in Korsnäs whiteTExT: ANNICA ALEXANDERSON

A TASTE SENSATION THAT EvOKES A SENSE Of

wALKING IN THE fOREST AfTER THE RAIN, wITH

HINTS Of MUSHROOM AND MOSS

14 KORSNÄS HIGHLIGHTS

PIDA SwEDEN 7 MAY Korsnäs Frövi

PIDA fRANcE 15 MAY IUT Université, Reims

LUxE PAcK 21–23 OcTOBER Monaco

PIDA GERMANY 12 NOvEMBER Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart

vS PAcK 1–3 DEcEMBER Cognac

cALENDAR 2009

For the past two years, Korsnäs has centralised order management at the main office in Gävle, where some 20 staff members are in daily contact with customers throughout Europe – usually in the customer’s own language. They are a popular group, providing high-quality service in

close cooperation with the salespeo-ple in the field. This cooperation is the source of the high marks our customers gave us.

Other areas that customers value especially highly are Korsnäs’ prod-uct knowledge and solid technical expertise, and our willingness to

share them. On-time delivery and delivery precision are two service aspects that receive relatively lower marks both overall and in the indi-vidual product areas.“As in previous years, we will analyse the results of the survey in greater detail and provide feed-back on the measures we take in response, especially in the areas where we received lower marks,” says Per Haglund. “But just because we’re highly ranked in certain areas doesn’t mean we’ll be resting on our laurels. We will keep striving to im-prove customer satisfaction in every way possible and come as close to 100 % as possible.” n

customer satisfaction surveyEvery year, Korsnäs carries out a customer satisfaction survey based on telephone inter-views with a random selection of customers throughout Europe. In 2008, we did 200 interviews in four different languages. The survey was carried out by the Centre for Market Analysis, CMA, an independent market research firm. Customers in the liquid packa-ging board product segment are not included in the survey.

Our customers have now had the chance to say their piece, and they gave our sales organisation top marks, both for their day-to-day handling of orders and their work in the field. This was the verdict of Korsnäs’ recently completed annual customer survey.

“It’s a fantastic result, and it only fuels our ambition to stay on top,” says Per Haglund, Director Sales & Marketing Paperboard at Korsnäs AB. TExT: AGNETA ROGNLI

Korsnäs sales organisation receives top marks

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KORSNÄSwHITE

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KORSNÄSLIGHT

KORSNÄSLIqUID

KORSNÄS PRODUcT PORTfOLIO

KORSNÄS cARTONBOARD Three strong board materials, each carefully developed for specific areas of application.

KORSNÄS SAcK & KORSNÄS KRAfT Sack and kraft paper for sacks, bags and other products requiring maximum strength and durability.

KORSNÄS wHITE TOP KRAfTLINER Four liners covering every need for high-quality top liners for corrugated board packaging.

KORSNÄS LIqUID PAcKAGING BOARD Board material developed for some of the world’s largest and most demanding liquid packaging manufacturers.

Korsnäs ABSE-801 81 GävleSwedenwww.korsnas.com