A case study to illustrate the power of customised digitally printed packaging comes from Japan, where the Mainichi water brand created a News Bottle targeting young people who have stopped engaging with printed news.
The brand's agency, Dentsu, knowing that this demographic typically buys two bottles of water per day, saw the opportunity to turn water into content in a campaign that was launched a few years ago but has relevance to this theme.
Thirty one 'newspaper editions' were run in just a month printed by Seikou on the bottle's shrink sleeve using HP WS4500 digital press.
The packaging was supported by AR technology on the bottle that linked the design to live news updates.
This case study was published in Digital Print - A Bigger Spectrum (2016), and author and brand design guru Silas Amos comments: “It's hard to think of a more 'real time' use of packaging than this, but consider applying the same approach to topical branding, seasonal editions or tactical creativity...”
Packaging that delivers content with this level of engagement, talks to millennials in language they understand, gives them a sense of control over how they are connecting with the information. It serves to inspire, challenge and empower.
