As one of the largest producers of spirits and beer in the world, Diageo is a company that relies heavily on its global network of suppliers. Every year, the hard work of those suppliers is recognised at an awards ceremony – and this year, the team from MW Luxury Packaging were lucky enough to bag both an invite and an award.

Attending the awards banquet at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium on November 1st, MW team members from the New York office were delighted to receive an award for Innovation Excellence. This category recognises the brilliant execution of new Diageo product offerings.

As the official phrasing goes, “This partner has demonstrated brilliant execution with new Diageo innovations and product offerings. Partnering closely with Diageo on special projects, this supplier has provided breakthrough performance and speed to market despite demanding timelines and changing requirements. Award criteria includes the supplier's impact on Diageo's ability to achieve sales growth and market share gain.”

Anyone who follows MW’s output will know that the company recently collaborated with Diageo to produce bespoke packs for the drinks giant’s 2017 Special Release whiskies. Each year, Diageo releases rare, aged bottlings from its Scottish whisky distilleries, and for the past five years in a row, the MW team have helped to manufacture the packaging.

The eight packs produced by MW this year include a pale blue box with hand placed labels for the 52-year-old Port Dundas, and a midnight blue case for Collectivum – a blend of single malts taken from Diageo’s 28 operational distilleries.

With the MW team receiving this industry honour and another successful batch of Special Release packs under their belts, we can expect to see the two companies collaborating again in the near future.