Bud Light has created 200,000 different beer cans in 31 design variations using digital printing technology from HP.
Following the trend in individualised packaging pioneered by Diet Coke and Absolut, the cans will be available to attendees of a music festival touring the US and Canada shortly, according to Adweek.
Bud Light's Alex Lambrecht said the individualised cans are “very much in line with what Bud Light wants to do for millennials”.
“We know they want something unique and an unexpected experience, and they will be so surprised and inspired when they order a Bud Light and get these cans," he said.
A-B InBev packaging innovations manager Gina Bazigian said Bud Light was looking for an opportunity to amplify consumers' experience with the brand.
"That's where the packaging came in," she said.
"Instead of printing these cans through conventional printing, we leveraged HP's Indigo digital press technology. What makes that significant is that we also used HP's SmartStream Mosaic algorithm."
The algorithm tweaks each can design based on parameters set by Bud Light.
"Each time we've printed a label out they're a little bit different, and that allows us to get 31 million possible label outputs from those 31 designs, ensuring no two cans printed are alike," Bazigian said.
Lambrecht said it's the first time such technology has been used in the US market.
"This is really tapping into the desire for millennials to have a unique experience," he said.
"All 200,000 cans produced will provide 200,000 different experiences."
Bud Light's internal creative team partnered with Vice and Diplo's LA-based record label Mad Decent to create the cans. Mad Decent's team created four custom cans, and the 27 other designs were done by various artists.
The cans will be available exclusively at the 2015 Mad Decent Block Party summer events.
To find out more about what digital printing technology can do for your brand, come hear from HP Indigo's Jason Beckley, who will be speaking at the Disruptive Innovation Industry Forum on 13 August in Sydney.
