Microsoft's Kevin Marshall joins the Pentawards Conference lineup

Microsoft’s creative director of global packaging and content, Kevin Marshall.

The conference at Pentawards Live Amsterdam will be entirely brand focused, giving the audience a rare insight into the perspectives on packaging from behind the brand.

As Microsoft’s creative director of global packaging and content, Kevin Marshall leads a world-class team of designers and is responsible for the vision and creative strategy of Microsoft’s packaging for its worldwide line of products including Surface, XBox, Hololens, PC Hardware and others.

He believes that today’s consumers expect intuitive, connected product journeys and well-crafted packaging is one of a brand’s most vital assets in creating meaningful and lasting consumer relationships.

Prior to joining Microsoft, he was creative director of Marc Rosen Associates, a New York-based, award-winning design firm specializing in luxury, beauty and consumer packaged goods.

Winning packaging design from Pentawards 2018

12 Sep 2018

Prior to that, he was global packaging design director for Avon Products, Inc. responsible for packaging across global brands. With over 25 years of packaging design experience, his passion is for leading talented teams that leverage the power of inspired design while launching memorable experiences that delight consumers and build brand equity.

Other speakers that have been confirmed include:

Mauro Porcini

Mauro Porcini joined PepsiCo in 2012 as its first chief design officer. In this newly created position, Porcini is infusing design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is leading a new approach to innovation by design that impacts the company’s product platforms and brands, which include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Doritos, Cheetos, Quaker, Mirinda, Sierra Mist and SunChips. His focus extends from physical to virtual expressions of the brands, including product, packaging, events, advertising, retail activation, architecture, and digital media.

Previously, Porcini managed 3M's design strategies and projects with teams based in the United States, Italy, China and Japan and collaborated with a broad variety of renowned external partners. He leveraged 3M's technology heritage and brands to produce innovation and growth through an "experience-driven" approach.

Ann Chen

The second international speaker to be announced for the Pentawards Live conference programme in Amsterdam was design and visual identity leader at Diageo; Ann Chen. Prior to joining the Johnnie Walker team at Diageo, Chen was an art director and designer in brand identity and packaging with agency-side experience across the USA. More recently, in New York, Chen led cross-disciplinary creative teams at Raison Pure NYC and designed packaging innovations and renovations across Diageo’s Reserve and Prestige portfolios, such as Mortlach and Johnnie Walker & Sons Odyssey.

Motivated by the power of design and experience, Chen connects the dots between story, form, behaviour, and culture. As a design leader at Diageo, Chen ensures design has a seat at the table by partnering with marketing, supply, innovation, gifting and retail teams, inserting design expertise in direction, process and partnerships. Externally she seeks the right talent to partner with and sets up Diageo and creative agencies for success. Together we build memorable brands that – when done right – live in the hearts of the masses.

Denise Siebert

Pentawards Live is also excited to reveal that Denise Siebert, vice president of design for the Global Kellogg Company was the first speaker to join the conference programme. Siebert, who is based at Kellogg’s in the USA, joined the Kellogg team in August of 2017 following 18 years at Procter & Gamble. After a BS of industrial design at the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning, she applied her design expertise to many global brands including Always, Crest, Pampers, and Oral B, and the P&G corporate brand including the Olympics Sponsorship.

Siebert's end-to-end design mastery includes upstream innovation, brand positioning and concepts, iconic asset creation, product and packaging development, and in-store/e-commerce experiences. She also has a proven ability to build creative organizations, identify and attract top talent, develop design processes that are both creative and efficient, and nurture a positive and inspiring culture.

Pentawards Live speakers: Denise Siebert, vice president, design of the Global Kellogg Company, design and visual identity leader at Diageo; Ann Chen and Mauro Porcini, PepsiCo, chief design officer.

How will it work?

The Passenger Terminal Amsterdam was made for Pentawards Live. The event will be divided into three areas, each with a different theme and purpose; Connect, Inspire and Learn. The beating heart of the event will be Connect on the Main Deck of the Passenger Terminal, where the interaction between design agencies, brand owners, and packaging experts in materials and technology will take place in a carefully curated ‘exhibition style’ layout.

The Promenade Deck will be dedicated to Inspire, where a selection of award-winning designs from the 2018 Pentawards competition will be displayed on the world-renowned Pentawards Winner’s Exhibit. Learn will be delivered on the Panorama Deck, where the world’s greatest influencers in packaging will take to the stage and challenge the international audience to think outside of the box.

Adam Ryan, Pentawards project manager says:

We have seen our Pentawards community grow at an exponential rate in the last 12 months. The 2018 competition saw an increase in participation by 15%, with entries coming from a staggering 64 countries. In addition, the Pentawards has successfully programmed conferences in Shanghai, New York and London to packed audiences, delivering content that has sparked debate and pushed the boundaries of innovation and creativity in packaging. Now, we are incredibly excited to be working with our Dutch colleagues at PI Netherlands, to launch Pentawards Live.