WATCH: The top beverage packaging trends in Asia Pacific - Crown
In our video, Robert Bourque details some of the latest product innovations that are being taken up by brands, ranging from personalised products, tactile inks and digital marketing via interactive tabs.
He also discusses how the company has developed new products tailored to local customs and practices, such as in China where it worked with Budweiser to create a smaller can designed for the ganbei culture.
Similarly, in Singapore it collaborated with Guinness to develop limited edition packaging for its Foreign Extra Stout brand that commemorated the company’s nearly 150 year presence in Singapore.
The Guinness brand name, which was initially difficult for Singaporeans to pronounce, came to be known in the country’s local Hokkien dialect as “Ang Ji Gao”. This translates to “Red Tongued Dog,” in English and the image served as the iconic emblem for the brand’s first package label.
Singapore-based illustrator Ben Qwek reinterpreted the brand’s original label design for the anniversary package, which used Crown's offset printing to create a photo-like image.
Regional expansion
Bourque, who assumed the top regional role last year, said the firm now had more than 30 regional facilities, and 4500 employees.
Most recently it opened a new beverage can plant in Jakarta, Indonesia, which began commercial shipments in June.
Elsewhere, it is opening a second beverage canning line with a production capability of 1 billion units at Danang, Vietnam, and a new beverage can plant is being built in Yangon, Myanmar that is expected to begin production in first-half 2018.
It also recently opened a new food packaging plant on the outskirts of Bangkok, it’s fifth in the country.
Bourque said Crown was now looking to find a launch partner in Asia for it’s CrownSmart technology.
This is a new interactive application that allows brand owners to directly interact with consumers, delivering a wide range of content or experience via a unique code situated beneath the tab of a can.
The codes can also be used as anti-counterfeiting technology or to deliver experiential content.
Check out the video to see Bourque discuss this further.
