MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Creative Edge Software, developer of the award-winning iC3D packaging design software, has appointed a new business development director for USA and Canada. Lalita Zapata brings to the role a breadth of experience in brand management and high-end photographic services.
Building on the initial success of iC3D with a wide range of major brands throughout the region, Zapata will be focused on rolling out recent iC3D product developments to quality-conscious communities, such as packaging designers and branding agencies, who provide essential and time-critical packaging production services. Her appointment coincides with the most significant iC3D version release in more than a year, which includes capabilities previously only available from specialist 3D design software.
“We’re delighted to be welcoming Lalita to the team, especially at such a key stage in the iC3D story,” comments Creative Edge Software CEO Nick Gilmore. “With version 5.0 we’re now at a stage when even the most hard-bitten cynics are forced to admit that iC3D can accurately replicate, and even replace, physical mockups and studio photography. These capabilities open up a whole new world of opportunity that plays directly to Lalita’s strengths and experience.”
With a degree in international business and marketing from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Zapata is a Bolivian national who has made the creative industries her area of expertise, specializing in photographic services. Following previous roles in marketing, business development and brand control, Zapata spent nine years managing the staging and production of high-quality photographic shoots for premium food brands and other consumer goods. Working with many household brand names, she carried responsibility for the successful execution of brand-critical photography for clients including PEPSICO, 3M, Post, General Mills and KraftHeinz.
“I feel very excited to be taking on this role just as iC3D has reached a level of sophistication that makes it unmatched in the world of packaging design software,” says Zapata. “To be able, quickly and easily, to create any shape, simulate the physical behavior of packages, and visually enhance their aesthetics to suit different environments, all with total photorealism, is unique from a single software application. It’s a powerful capability that I feel eager and confident to present to the packaging design community, knowing that the time-to-market gains will benefit both the brands and the service providers equally.”