Christmas cheers: Ball and Carlsberg Srbija team up on festive design

11 Dec 2018 --- In time for the busy Christmas period, Ball has partnered with Carlsberg Srbija Group to create an exclusive, premium can design for Tuborg’s Christmas beers.

Designed in collaboration with Ball’s experts, the creative design reflects the dark lager’s caramel notes and festive mood by incorporating the famous Tuborg logo alongside Christmas trees, reindeers and snow.

The design showcases Ball’s innovative Eyeris High Definition printing technique, which hopes to provide an eye-catching design for the can to stand out among competitors at this crucial sales period and promises high seasonal purchase intent.

The Eyeris High Definition technology is the most popular technique used to premiumize a can’s design, notes Ball. The HD process produces images with a depth of detail, while also highlighting richer and more natural colors. The technology also allows higher halftone resolution which is said to bring detailed graphics and photographic imagery “to life.”

“Ball has an extensive portfolio of innovations and techniques that provide solutions for customers that are looking to launch a new product or revive an existing brand. Cans are an ideal pack for all beverages, from beer to CSDs, flavored alcoholic beverages, water, energy drinks, juice, tea and coffee,” a Ball spokesperson tells PackagingInsights.

Designed and produced in Ball’s packaging facility in Serbia, the cans will use a 50cl standard format and techniques, a format that has reportedly grown in share in recent years.

“We knew we wanted to use aluminum for our packaging as the cans not only allow us to build strong numeric distribution quickly, but are also infinitely recyclable with no loss of quality, irrespective of the color or design of our branding on them. Ball’s innovation and passion has helped us create a really exciting and eye-catching design to help give us cut through during this competitive time,” says Ana Mira Milinkovic, Procurement Supply Manager at Carlsberg Srbija.

Despite soda consumption rates flagging in many geographies, canned beers continue to increase.

“Consumers are drinking less soda. The can market has declined somewhat from peak shipments of can sheet in the mid-1990s of around 4.3 billion pounds to around 3.7 billion pounds today,” Matt Meenan, Senior Director of Public Affairs at The Aluminum Association, US, tells PackagingInsights.

However, aluminum packaging is experiencing growth in other beverage markets. “Craft brewers love aluminum cans – from virtually no market share a decade ago, today, around 500 small brewers are canning 2,000 different beers,” says Meenan. “Beer is the main growth market for aluminum cans, which have risen from about 60 percent of the market a decade ago to around 70 percent of the market today (while glass has declined). We also see growth in canned sparkling water, for example, LaCroix.”

Aluminum cans are “the most sustainable, convenient and versatile container on the market today,” adds Meenan. “They are by far the most recycled beverage container, with recycling rates greatly exceeding those of glass or plastic. The high value of aluminum means that cans effectively subsidize the recycling of lower value materials, making municipal recycling programs possible.

The festival Carlsberg Srbija cans are available to purchase now in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina.