Product Ventures and Gorilla Glue Awarded Best of Show AmeriStar Award
On October 27, 2020, the Institute of Packaging Professionals named Product Ventures and Gorilla Glue the winners of the AmeriStar Best of Show Award for the Gorilla Super Glue Micro Precise structural design. The Best of Show Award honors a package that surpasses all judging criteria and receives top ratings in every category of judging.
Through category audits, consumer research, and iterative prototyping, Product Ventures’ industrial design team delivered an easy-to-use, precise, and controlled dispensing tool that fits comfortably in the hand.
“I’m so proud and humbled that our team was recognized with the AmeriStar Best of Show award. This could not be achieved without the dedication of our incredible interdisciplinary team. Thank you to Gorilla Glue for sharing this opportunity with us to work together on such an impactful design,” said Peter Clarke, CEO at Product Ventures.
The Gorilla Super Glue Micro Precise contains a metal cyanoacrylate tube of glue inside a black plastic shroud and orange winged buttons. Product Ventures discovered during consumer studies that users tended to grip the glue dispenser closer to the nozzle. This discovery inspired Product Ventures to broaden the grip at the top of the glue packaging and taper the shape at the base. This new shape made the grip more comfortable for consumers. In the final engineering stages Product Ventures designed the black shroud pieces so the same shroud part could be used on either front or back of the package and would require only one mold. This modification saved on molding costs and simplified the assembly process.
The design strived to convey the toughness of the Gorilla Glue brand and product by using a broad-shouldered silhouette. The tapered cut away exposing the orange buttons, and the angled rib details on the buttons also reflect the toughness of the Gorilla Glue brand.
The AmeriStar Awards is one of the packaging industry’s oldest and most prestigious design award programs. A roster of 15 judges from various segments of the packaging industry evaluated this year’s entries virtually, examining package innovation, product protection, economics, performance, marketing, and environmental impact.
