Taking a different tack on print’s use in packaging, we hear from CORMAC NEESON, Director of External Affairs at Crown on a contest designed to deliver the future possibilities of print…
Brands are continually seeking new ideas and different means by which to engage consumers, grow shopper loyalty and ultimately increase sales. Crown Holdings continuously strives to develop new formats and research new technologies – like printed electronics – to enhance the consumer experience. In 2014, Cormac Neeson, Director of External Affairs at Crown, saw an opportunity to engage the next generation of packaging designers to research and model new concepts that would leverage printed electronics to engage consumers at a higher level.
Design students present their print innovation
While the field of printed electronics is appropriately almost boundless, in the packaging industry, it typically consists of electronic circuits printed onto either a film or a label – that is then applied to the container itself – whether rigid or flexible. When the packaging is filled and sealed, the result is a container that offers a new level of functionality, such as providing alerts if the food it contains has spoiled or the capacity for self-heating or cooling the package’s contents.
As a leader in metal packaging, Crown has a tradition of innovation spanning the company’s long history. Against this background, exploring the new capabilities afforded by new developments in printed electronics was a logical step for the company. In 2014, Neeson proposed hosting a ‘design challenge’ for students at Brunel University. He also brought in the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), which is part of the UK Government’s Catapult Centre for High Value Manufacturing and has an entire facility dedicated to the scale-up and commercialisation of printed electronics.
The Design Challenge
Real-time info could be displayed on-can
The contest took place during the spring semester of 2014 in order to follow the academic calendar and students received class credit for participating. A total of 36 post-graduate students from a range of different of backgrounds including design, innovation and branding, participated in the challenge, all under the mentorship of Brunel’s Program Director, Stephen Green.
The event kicked off at Crown’s UK Innovation Centre in Wantage, where students were given introductions to Crown and CPI, as well as an overview of printed electronics and their capabilities. The teams needed to propose and design new packaging concepts that would benefit consumers or other stakeholders. The main components of the packaging needed to be manufactured from metal, and all concepts should feature printed electronics.
The final presentations took place at Crown’s Innovation Centre in Wantage, Oxfordshire. Presentations ranged from heated baby bottles to intelligent sunscreen dispensers to drum kits made of metal closures to ‘cheering’ beverage cans. Here’s a selection of some of the best.
www.crowncork.com
Example 1: Keep Stock of Beauty Products
Because of the opacity of an aerosol container, it is typically difficult for consumers to gauge when the product inside is running low. Brunel students proposed adding a printed LED indicator on the aerosol package, powered by the thermoelectric charge generated by the drop in temperature inside the can when product is dispensed. The result is a self-powered aerosol container that senses – and displays – the volume of product remaining in the can, reducing the risk of coming up short before a date!
Example 2: Interactive Sports Packaging
Sports fans love to promote and share their intense loyalty to their favourite teams. Typically, beverage cans have been limited to printing team colours, logos or players on the can itself. The students at Brunel, however, took this to a whole new level, by adding an Actuator Printed Battery to the can, to help brands power a whole suite of effects and capabilities on their packaging. For example, organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) could be used to light-up the can in team colours, or micro-speakers could be employed to create sound effects when supporters toast one another. The use of Near Field Communication (NFC) tagging within the can could link content to consumers’ smartphones, enabling multiple fans to interact, take part in activities through connected social networks, or share content.
Example 3: Convenient Infant Formula
When parents are out and about with their children, it can be difficult to store, mix and heat up infant formula on the go. The proposed disposable aluminium packaging for formula can store a single dose of milk powder and includes a hygienic teat. A thin-printed thermostat, heater and battery can warm the milk and adjust it to a suitable temperature. All that is left for parents is to add water and press the switch on the bottom of the bottle to give their baby a warm meal. With all components of the packaging being recyclable, families do not need to worry about the environmental impact either.
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