The new service O-I : EXPRESSIONS has been named best bottle in glass at the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2018.
Unveiled early September this year, O-I : EXPRESSIONS allows brands to turn their glass packaging into a canvas through digital printing, responding to the growing customer demand for late-stage differentiation. It offers customers the opportunity to create highly personalised and customised glass packaging at flexible volumes, industrial speeds and affordable value with a wide variety of colour and design possibilities.
The technology is ideal for producing packaging for short campaigns, such as seasonal promotions or limited editions. It also enables customers to build brand engagement, consumer satisfaction, loyalty and demonstrate premium value.
These capabilities are expanded by a premium version of the service, O-I : EXPRESSIONS RELIEF, which enables brands to apply customised tactile digitally printed effects, including embossing and coloured embossing with speed and ease. This takes a step beyond what was previously thought possible in terms of glass customisation and premiumisation.
O-I received the “Best Bottle in Glass” award on 14 November at the World Beverage Innovation Awards ceremony held at Brau Beviale, the world’s most important capital goods exhibition for the beverage industry. The World Beverage Innovation Awards celebrates excellence and innovation of brands, products and suppliers across every category of the global beverage industry.
We are delighted to be recognised with this international award, which recognises the positive reaction across the beverage industry to this latest O-I innovation. O-I : EXPRESSIONS presents a valuable step in our commitment to become even more relevant and agile in serving our customer’s needs. We look forward to using this new service to help our customers differentiate themselves in the increasingly competitive beverage market.
The O-I : EXPRESSIONS service is the result of O-I’s investment in direct2glass industrial digital printing. This technology facilitates contactless direct printing through a Drop-on-Demand process, which only generates an ink drop when it is required for printing. The use of UV inks enables fast and reliable curing, while the CMYK model opens the door to the spectrum of Pantone hues. All inks used by the service are organic, ensuing all glass remains recyclable and fully sustainable.
The O-I : EXPRESSIONS services will be made commercially available by mid-2019 in Europe and shortly after in the US.