Food packaging: Talking heads

Belgian brewery Martens has launched a new brand of beer, Dagschotel, which is packaged in PET bottles digitally printed with a smartphone application. The beer was created in coordination with the Belgian TV sitcom, “F.C. Kampioenen,” to promote its new movie.

With the app, the sitcom characters printed on the bottles deliver performances on a smartphone. When two bottles are brought together, the app creates a dialog between the characters—in effect, resulting in talking bottles.

KHS and NMP Systems, a subsidiary of KHS, supplied Plasmax FreshSafe-PET barrier coating for an enhanced shelf life. They also provided Direct Print, the first industrial-scale digital printing process. The technology uses low-migration UV cure inks to produce food-safe, color images on PET bottles.

“The breakthrough technology of digital printing onto PET will enable beverage companies to change graphics within hours instead of weeks, and create new forms of consumer experiences in a world where everything is digital,” explains Phil Johnson, managing director of NMP Systems.

The Direct Print process eliminates labeling material, he says, allowing new and amended designs to be quickly and flexibly adapted according to market demands. Eliminating secondary packaging also can reduce production and transportation costs.

The images can be printed in white, cyan, magenta, yellow and black, as well as various special colors, and have an optical resolution of 1,080 x 1,080 dpi. In addition, the bottles printed using the Direct Print process are 100 percent recyclable.