Hood Container has been participating in the Shop! Global Awards for the past 20 years. The 2021 Shop! Global Awards recognize excellence in point-of-purchase advertising display, marketing-at-retail activations, and retail design. This competition welcomes Gold winning displays from individual Shop! affiliates’ own industry awards from around the world to celebrate international best in class. This year Hood Container is proud to have won two Silver and one Bronze OMA Awards. Congratulations to all of our team members in Burbank, Chicago & Cincinnati that worked hard to create these award-winning displays.
Entertainment – Bronze
SCOOB! Walmart Mini WOW Merchandiser
We wanted to bring the Scooby Doo to the consumer larger than life. Scoob! was depicted to be large, whimsical and cute. The tall footprint was easily visible and inviting throughout the store. While it was important to be functional and a compliant to store standards, we felt it was critical that the display needed to be somewhat experiential rather than just a means to showcase the products. While also ensuring that the display be inviting and thematic, we needed the display to have a photo opportunity for social media.
The delivery, set up, and in store execution and compliance achieved very high marks from both the retail chain and client. The display execution on the floor was truly superior and well above normal. The 3rd party merchandiser involved commended the unit on its ease of set up and confirmed that fact with conformance reporting exceeding expectations. The display quickly gained social media traction from store guests, fans and store staff posting photos of themselves & groups with Scooby. Retailer feedback was exceptional and client feedback exalted this was a success! Exact sales figures were not available, but it was noted by all that sales goals exceeded expectations.
Snack Products – Silver
2020 NCAA Basketball Display
The assignment was to build on the long-time partnership between our snack brands, the NCAA and the Final Four to deliver an exciting basketball themed display that would secure placement during March Madness and underscore Nabisco’s official partnership. Since insights show college basketball fans seek out brands that support the NCAA, our goal was to make sure we provided POS that would attract these fans while driving consumer engagement, making sure cookies and crackers were the winning choices.
Specialty Retailers and Services – Silver
Fancy Feast Advent Calendar & Gift Display
The Advent Calendar was produced in 0.24pt SBS, printed both sides. The Sleeve that was removed at home had an Embossed 3-D relief of the Cat image. Each Advent Calendar held 24 cans of 3oz product.
The Gift Display was produced in corrugated B-Flute board. Each Gift Box was printed as a 4 color process spot label, mounted to corrugated board and die cut. Each Gift Display held 10 Advent Calendars. The completed display shipped assembled on a wooden pallet. At retail each display was topped off with a Golden, three-dimensional bow.
In celebration of Earth Day, April 22, 2021, Hood facilities are choosing organizations and/or locations in their community to beautify. While these events are kicking off our Earth Day celebration, these opportunities will be ongoing and there is always a chance to join. There are non-profit organizations in every city.
Atlanta, GA: Mark Boyd, General Manager at Hood Container Atlanta and his family volunteered to clean up with a nonprofit public charity who creates, supports & implements children & youth’s community service projects. KIDS CARE is all about youth volunteer opportunities & community service. KIDS CARE hosted a youth planning session on community service. They discussed what community service is and why & how we do it. They listened to their ideas on how they want to give back to the community and who they want to help. Their input was heard and will influence the choice for our next big service project. KIDS CARE briefly discussed environmental awareness as they handed out our litter picking tools and got to work! They spent some time cleaning up the local park of litter, then they evaluated what we found and discuss it.
Dallas, TX: Janet Stovall is a member of the City of Irving Green Advisory Board which partners with Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) a nonprofit, grassroots, leadership organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification in order to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, KIB reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, neighborhood, and civic organizations.. In celebration of Earth Day 2021, they hosted the Great American Cleanup / Texas Trash-Off where they cleaned Trinity View Park, a large park boasting several athletic fields plus playgrounds, picnic areas & barbecue grills as well as Campion Trail which runs throughout the City of Irving.
Lincolnton, NC: Tina Hayes passes this park daily and noticed the litter building up by the tree lines. To celebrate Earth Day and to show HCC’s love for our community, Tina gathered volunteers from her Hood location and they brought out nature’s beauty by removing the debris.
Houston, TX: Mike Espino, Hood Container Houston Plant Manager, got the team together to clean up and beautify vacant lots near their plant in Jersey Village. The team takes a lot of pride in the community so it was easy to gather teammates to go out and do their part in celebration of Earth Day 2021!
Yesterday Hood Container Louisville celebrated receiving not only the Hood Companies Safety Award but also the Kentucky Governor’s Safety Award.
Each Year Hood Companies gives out safety awards to those facilities within the Hood Family of Companies that meet certain safety milestones. Hood Container Louisville was one of several facilities over 100 employees to be awarded.
The Kentucky Governor’s Safety Award is the highest safety award given by the state. To qualify, a company must have over 200,000 hours
worked without a recordable incident. As of December 31st, when the award was officially granted, Hood Container Louisville had 434,841 hours. As of April 21st, they are 870 days safe. Congratulations to all the recipients for your exemplary performance in “Working Safe Together”.
Hood Container Atlanta was recently fortunate enough to connect with a local church whose hope was to fill over 400 food boxes for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity homeowners that have been impacted by Covid-19 through a new food box serving opportunity. Hood Container designed and produced these boxes to help Peachtree Church get closer to reaching their goal. General Manager Mark Boyd said, “Hood is proud to play a small part of the generous work you and your church are doing for the community.”
As they had started to prepare for this project, they had reached out to over 12 different companies requesting quotes to purchase boxes. As they were close to making a decision, Ginny Nickles, Director of Mission Mobilization & Innovation for Peachtree Church, received a call from Hood Container’s VP of Sales and Marketing Jeff Craig. Ginny said, “It was late, after 5pm, and my phone rang. I was driving home and had to pull over to take the call, I answered that call and the gentleman on the other end asked me about the food box project, what we wanted to do with the boxes, and when we wanted to do with the boxes and when we needed them. I told him all about Atlanta Habitat and what some of their families
are experiencing. Then, I will never forget, he said ‘We will take care of this for you.'” Hood Container not only offered to donate the production and printing of the Atlanta Habitat for Humanity boxes, but they also doubled the number we were originally budgeting to purchase!”
Understanding the devastation that some families have experienced this past year, Hood Container is also in touch with Atlanta Habitat and Buckhead Christian Ministry to connect our local plant with those in need of work due to the pandemic.
Hood Container Atlanta Employees: L-R: Eloy Francisco, Martin Salcedo, Santos Amador, Antonio Gasper, Lucio Diaz, Leobardo Gonzalez, John Batemon
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – April 5, 2021 Hood Container Corporation announced today that it has acquired Sonoco Display and Packaging. The transaction includes locations in Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, Arkansas, and New Jersey. Sonoco Display and Packaging is a world class provider of point-of-purchase corrugated displays and contract packaging services in the U.S. This strategic acquisition allows Hood Container to expand product offerings to Sonoco Display and Packaging’s existing customer base while increasing Hood Container’s domestic footprint. Hood Container recognizes and is committed to the legacy of Sonoco Display and Packaging’s quality, customer focus, and talent for design. It is an excellent complement to Hood Container’s existing products and services, and there is great excitement to carry on the relationship with its customers and employees. The tremendous synergies between the two organizations and product offerings within similar markets highlight Hood Container’s in-depth knowledge of the unique requirements needed to bring value to the customer supply chain.
Greg Hall, President & COO of Hood Container said, “I am delighted to welcome the team members of Sonoco Display and Packaging to our Hood Container family. We feel the cultures of both organizations align perfectly and we are excited about the acquisition and our combined future growth opportunities. We plan to capitalize this business to ensure we expand our customer base and offer world class service and capabilities.”
Howard Coker, Sonoco President and CEO remarked, “Our U.S. Display and Packaging business has been an industry pioneer with a legacy of providing innovative solutions for complex supply chain challenges. I’m extremely proud of the business that we developed and of our associates who will continue to be part of the business going forward. We believe Hood Container will be able to create a strong, world-class leader in the display and packaging services industry with enhanced capabilities and opportunities for growth into new markets.”
Hood Container Corporation is a family-owned, mill to market company specializing in containerboard and kraft paper, corrugated boxes, high graphic displays and contract packaging. Over the last nine years Hood Container Corporation has grown to become one of the top ten Paper and Packaging companies in the United States with 56 locations nationwide. Hood Container’s integrated company resources allow for a unique dynamic that evolves with every addition to their geographic footprint and allows them to build close relationships with customers, while offering the resources of a large corporation.
Hood Container Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hood Companies, Inc. Hood Companies is a privately owned, closely held holding company and is the parent to operating subsidiaries involved in the manufacture and distribution of forest and wood products, building and construction materials, and flexible and corrugated packaging products throughout North America.
This past year has presented new challenges for so many across the nation. Due to loss of jobs and income for many, the fight against hunger became more challenging as so many communities struggled to provide food for those in need. Hood Container had the privilege of partnering with Extra Table on a very special project. Extra Table is a Mississippi based non-profit organization committed to ending hunger by providing food pantries and soup kitchens with the new and healthy food they need to feed the hungry in their community. Hood Container was asked to design and produce corrugated boxes to package meals and communicate a message of hope. This need touched many of our team members working on the project and we have been very proud to support Extra Table and their needs.
Learn more about this special project here by clicking here:
Hood Container is proud to be the Texas Tackle and Title Sponsor for Paso Robles CAB Collective. This grassroots non-profit organization was formed with the belief that the best red Bordeaux varieties in the world are produced in Paso Robles. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec is grown in the Paso Robles appellation – and the subsequent quality of the wines produced – are worthy of international acclaim. The PRCC is seeking to improve awareness in Texas regarding the distinctive attributes of Paso Robles Cabernet and red Bordeaux wines. PRCC plans to bring the Paso Robles region to life for the consumer through events, in-store tastings, displays, digital advertising, education, in-market visits, media engagement, and more. After nearly 20 years of partnering with clients in the beverage industry, we are excited to sponsor the PRCC and lend our expertise to promoting their efforts with their Texas Tackle Initiative. Hood Container is a world-class producer of corrugated displays and packaging of all types including e-commerce. Our leading-edge digital technology, award-winning displays, and unique designs showcase products across markets including club store, grocery, and retail to create inviting in-store experiences.
As one of our core values, Hood Container is continually focused on sustainability and expanding opportunities to reach our goals. Apart from playing a role in innovative prototypes and the increased need for eco-friendly shipping containers, it is paper packaging’s inherent renewable nature that has brought it to the forefront of the growing need to employ renewable and recyclable solutions. With customer preferences continuing to be focused on sustainability, the beverage industry and paper and packaging are a perfect pairing.
Supporting each other as a team is something every employee does each day, and as an organization we want to say thank you. Over the past year many of us have faced new challenges in every aspect of our lives, but the dedication that our team, the Hood Container team, has shown has been remarkable. Thank you for all your talent, expertise, commitment, and drive to become the best.
Hood Container Corporation recently kicked off another session of its sales development and training efforts. Welcoming our second class of sales representatives to this program is incredibly exciting and we look forward to supporting them with the necessary experience and skills to be future leaders in the corrugated industry.
Jeff Craig, VP of Sales and Marketing said, “I’m personally thrilled to have Haley Melvin, Thomas Phan, and Keenan Sullivan as part of our team. I believe each of them will bring new and creative ideas to our organization and industry. The development of our future leaders is something we take seriously at Hood Container. This program and these individuals will continue to set us apart in the marketplace.”
Our sales training program started fall of 2020 and is designed to develop top talent for sales specific to the paper and packaging industry. We designed a robust year long program in which participants gain an understanding of the goals and needs of the organization through mentorship and their experiences.
First class sales representative Annie Schaubel said, “The sales training program at Hood Container has been a unique and rewarding experience so far. I know that I have all of the tools and resources I need to be successful and learn as much as possible.”
We look forward to many more classes to follow and welcome Haley, Keenan, and Tommy to the Hood family.
Since coming onboard with Hood Container in 2020, Director of Compliance Bridget Hawkins has lead the charge on implementing a code of conduct, enforcing anti- discrimination policies, and bringing Diversity and Inclusion to the forefront of discussions. Today, leadership throughout the organization engaged in roundtable discussion highlighting how diversity in leadership has a connection to innovation and profitability in the bottom line.
Our Innovation Core Value states that “We are forward focused on solutions.” One of those solutions is creating a diverse and inclusive experience for our customers and employees. Diversity and Inclusion undeniably drives innovation. Thought provoking, insightful, and open conversations like these pave the way for implementing policy and changing mindsets that shape company culture. This discussion has been just one of many over the last months helping to educate employees and start a dialogue that promoting Diversity and Inclusion.
Entertainment – Bronze
