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It wasn’t just Mike’s idea to put it in a box, it was the whole team’s.

Aqualisa Scoop Prestigious Packaging Design Award

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Aqualisa has won the coveted ‘Best Packaging of a New Product’ award for its Midas 100 shower and its accompanying fixing bracket at this year’s UK Packaging Awards. The prestigious awards were held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, with Aqualisa proudly triumphing over a shortlist of contenders that included household names Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser and Glenmorangie.

Already a firm favourite with the construction industry, the packaging of the Midas 100 shower and its fixing bracket – created in collaboration with Line Packaging – secured the judges’ vote for its ingenious, installer-friendly design that allows the plumber to complete the ‘first fix’ of a showering installation by removing the fixing bracket via a pop-out section of the box, without disturbing the actual shower valve.

This ensures that all ’second fix’ components remain sealed and undamaged until they are required. As most installers will testify, there can be months between first and second fix stages – especially on larger building projects – and the problem of vital components either going AWOL or being damaged from building dust and debris is age-old. Aqualisa have paid great attention to detail and handy ‘extras’ also contained within the pop-out section of the packaging such as blanking caps allow the bracket to be positioned in place, but stay clean and dry until it’s time for the job to be completed.

The awards’ judging panel, which included luminaries from Waitrose, Tesco and the Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising declared the Midas packaging,

“A stunning piece of design that shows a deep understanding of the market – totally fit for purpose.”

Meanwhile, Simon Greenstreet, Aqualisa’s Marketing & Sales Director commented,

“We are absolutely delighted to have scooped this award. We always try to prioritise the experience of the installer when designing both our products and their packaging and the Midas box was no exception. It was superbly received by plumbers from the off and we are thrilled that the Midas packaging has now achieved even wider recognition.”

- Aqualisa Products, 01959 560010
- www.aqualisa.co.uk

Image Captions -

1.)L-R Matthew Benyon of EasyFairs – sponsor of the Best Packaging of a New Product category – Paul Mendham, Aqualisa’s packaging technologist, Martin Weal, Aqualisa’s Materials Manager and the BBC’s Bill Turnball.