Superunion and sustainable packaging brand Notpla are awarded Cannes Lions’ Grand Prix in Design

Global branding agency, Superunion, and sustainable packaging brand, Notpla, have been awarded the Grand Prix in Design at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the yearly global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields.

Superunion worked with the seaweed-based material business to create a name, brand strategy and identity aiming to position it as a leader of environmental sustainability. Notpla can be used directly to replace plastic cups at sporting festivals, as sachets for condiments, and as a coating for cardboard, flexible film and paper to create a wide range of products for multiple industries including takeaway food boxes.

Superunion created the name, Notpla - an abbreviation of ‘not plastic’ - to signify fully natural packaging and to differentiate the business from the crowded bioplastics market. The brand’s identity is centered around its core mission: making packaging disappear. The animated and interactive logo reflects a vessel that can be filled with water, juices, cocktails or sauces, and when it is emptied, the exterior disappears, just like its packaging.

“At Superunion we believe in the power of ideas to create positive and meaningful change in the world and Notpla could not be a better representation of this. While it’s not exactly common practice to define a brand by what it isn’t, in the case of Notpla, what makes it different is what it isn’t - and that’s the beauty of it,” says Mark Wood, senior creative director at Superunion.

“We created Notpla to make packaging as we know it disappear, naturally. Superunion has been a completely transformative creative partner, committing to our mission and helping us to make our bold ambitions a reality. Together, we have created a brand that puts us front and centre of the sustainable packaging conversation and leaves people in no doubt of our purpose,” says Pierre-Yves Paslier, co-founder of Notpla.