CanCourier Ball’s Worldwide Beverage Can Customer Magazine 2/2012
Let´s Talk about Unique Names
Die Getränkedose ist ideal für junge Konsumenten. Ob mit Freunden draußen oder bei Events – hier sind einige Ideen.
04
06
10
12
Update Awards and other news
14
The dragon economy Vietnam – a booming economy with appetite for cans
15
People Ball appoints two new experts
17
New on the market From “Haute Couture” to Jägermeister
20
22
Anniversary Ten years in cans: Dale’s Pale Ale
Cover Story Nomen est Omen. Professional brand development starts with a name
28
Size matters Growing demand for different pack types
Lightweighting Light as a feather, tough as ever
30
Innovation Ball’s new R&D process in Europe
New wine in cans From Monkeys and Mosel vintners
32
Promotions 2013 Cans at events boost sales
34
Summertime 2012 The most exciting event highlights
Biodiversity Lunch break in Paradise
Imprint: CAN COURIER Published by Ball Packaging Europe, Public Relations, Kaiserswerther Straße 115, 40880 Ratingen, Germany, Phone +49 (0) 2102 130-0, Fax +49 (0) 2102 130-130 | Executive Editor Sylvia Blömker | Realization dn,media, Düsseldorf; Atelier Goral, Cologne, Germany | Printing Heider Druck GmbH, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany | Photos Corbis, Fotolia, Frank Reinhold, Anita Troller, Rolf Schwertner, Warsteiner, Karlsberg, Bavaria, EMS&P
2 p Can courier p 2-2012
Editorial
For me, beverage cans are all about youthfulness, freedom, convenience, coolness, freshness and an ultra-active lifestyle.
Constantly in Flux
F
or me, beverage cans are about pure emotion. When I hold one in my hand, I associate it with terms such as youthfulness, freedom, convenience, coolness, freshness and an ultra-active lifestyle. This rich bundle of positive attributes can easily be injected with the DNA of a company’s own beverage brand by customizing the design of the can. This gives our customers’ products a unique look at the point of sale. In the fiercely competitive beverage market, the key challenge for manufacturers is to develop a successful packaging concept that enables them to precisely tailor their product to the relevant audience. With target groups having become more and more segmented and differentiated in recent years, this is no easy task. Our response has been to provide an increasingly extensive range of sizes, formats and finishes, allowing the packaging to be perfectly matched to the drink, the consumer and the occasion. This means that we are constantly working on new solutions. The aluminum Sleek Can, for example, is just one of the recent additions to our range of products and solutions – perfectly matching the trend towards health and wellness drinks. When it comes to the mega trends of individualization and differentiation, we can offer a host of extremely interesting possibilities. Just to name a few examples of successful brand differentiation: • France’s Kronenbourg brewery uses a pull-tab etched with laser ingram as branding medium
• Oskar Blues launched this summer the first craft beer in a 568 ml (19.2-oz.) can differentiating its signature brand, Dale’s Pale Ale, from all other craft beers in the US market (see page 14) • Coca-Cola launched the 25 cl Sleek Can in Europe to address young on-the-go consumers – with great success Highly exciting developments are currently taking place in the beverage market, where ranges are constantly being expanded by new flavors and mixtures. To position these innovations in the marketplace, the focus has to be primarily on the packaging – and, as a young and lifestyle-oriented product, the beverage can is ideal for this purpose. This is already known in the US, where each person uses an average of 290 beverage cans per year. But in other parts of the world, too, the can is becoming increasingly popular. From my view, developments in Asia are particularly compelling. Economic success has created a prosperous middle class, which has adopted a Western-like lifestyle. In Asia, the beverage can is the packaging of preference for premium products. So it’s good for us and our customers that we positioned ourselves in this growth region at an early stage in its development. Thomas Haensch
Vice President Sales, Marketing & Innovation Ball Europe GmbH
2-2012 p Can courier p 3
John Hayes, President and CEO of Ball, speaking to the guests of the opening ceremony in Zurich.
European Headquarters Open in Zurich As part of an organizational realignment of Ball’s European operations, Ball Packaging Europe has moved its European headquarters and a number of key company functions to Zurich, effective August 3, 2012. All strategic decisions will now be made in the Leutschentower, a modern office building close to Zurich airport. At the official inauguration of the new offices on September 7, Gerrit Heske, President of Ball Europe GmbH, stressed that Switzerland – which ranks as the world’s most competitive economy – offers a motivating environment. Also speaking at the opening, John Hayes, President and CEO of Ball Corporation, emphasized that the reorganization of Ball Packaging Europe is part of Ball’s Drive for 10 strategy and will help increase competitiveness. Ball’s European headquarters are located at the following address: Ball Europe GmbH, Leutschenbachstr. 52, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland, tel.: +41 (0) 445 597 101
Gerrit Heske, President of Ball Europe GmbH, Frank Weekers, CFO, and Manuela Schigulla, Assistant to the President.
Schweppes Cans Nominated for French Design Award Ball and its customer Schweppes were delighted to achieve a great honor: Four aluminum slim cans manufactured by Ball for Schweppes Indian Tonic, Schweppes Agrum, Schweppes Lemon and Schweppes Dark Side were nominated for the Observeur du Design Award 2013, one of France’s most prestigious design prizes. The jury was impressed by the range of design techniques used for these beverage cans. Matte varnish combined with high definition printing enabled sophisticated artistic designs to be printed on the beverage cans. In addition, luminescent overprints that glow in the dark under UV light make Schweppes’ fluorescent “Night Cans” series perfect for the fashionable Parisian nightclub scene. The winners of the Observeur du Design Award will be announced on November 15, 2012, at the opening of the exhibition at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris, where the nominated products and award winners will be shown. The exhibition will run through March 31, 2013.
4 p Can courier p 2-2012
Can World
Infinitely Good Prejudices about the environmental performance of beverage cans are often more prevalent among consumers and the public in Germany than elsewhere. As a result, in all its communication activities in Germany, Ball will now be summarizing the key messages relating to beverage cans under a memorable new tagline, “Ohne Ende Gut” (Infinitely Good), illustrated with a friendly logo. A play on words, the slogan refers to the two key advantages of the beverage can: It is a lifestyle product offering optimal protection for drinks and keeping them fresh, and beverage cans can be recycled an infinite number of times with no loss of quality and are permanently viable as a material. The new tagline will be used in B2B advertisements as well as on Facebook, YouTube and other social media sites. In a representative group study carried out in advance, the claim and logo were found to be immediately understood, with consumers “getting” the dual meaning of the slogan.
New Web Presence for Ball Following a major overhaul, the new website www.ball.com went live at the start of this year, creating a modern, clear and distinctive image for Ball. Ball’s European beverage cans division followed suit in the fall with the relaunch of its website www.ball-europe.com, now with the same corporate design and more closely integrated in its parent company’s website. The European internet site predominantly features products and services that are available specifically for European customers. In addition, the sales relevant Customer Technical Service (CTS) contacts for each country can now be found more quickly. A drop-down menu on the European homepage leads to the specific sites for European countries where Ball has a presence with its own production plants. Users can find additional information here in the language of the country.
Dosionair? Like! So – what is a “Dosionair”? Answer number one: A Dosionair is a creative mind – in this case probably Germanic – who shares his or her thoughts, works of art and future visions relating to the beverage can (German: Dose, pronounced “Dozeh”) in order to inspire others. But that isn’t the whole story. www.dosionair.de has almost swept the board this fall as a prize-winning online/offline platform. The hip German-language blogosphere initiated by Larissa Laternser, Business Manager, is double-shortlisted at the European Best Event Awards and has been appointed for two silver Galaxy Awards. Artists of all kinds use the Dosionair website to display their canrelated creations and inspire others via social networking to join in and do their own thing. At the “Fresh Up Kiosk,” this year’s Dosionair promotion event in the real world, visitors were invited to join the sustainability dialogue and co-create. (Video: Youtube/ballpackagingeurope). 420 million network contacts to date and registering over 200,000 “can experiences” alone show the success in the virtual world. The integrated approach to on- and offline media has been honored with the “Adam & Eva Award” in the Category 360° communication. This award is regarded as “Oscar of Live Communication.”
2-2012 p Can courier p 5
6 p Can courier p 2-2012
Markets
The dragon economy L
ittle peach or mandarin trees bearing fruit are a favorite traditional New Year gift in Vietnam. In the run-up to February 10 next year, western visitors to Vietnam’s major cities will once again be treated to the spectacle of a traveling, swaying sea of green as countless mopeds buzz and weave through the streets with saplings strapped to their luggage racks.
between 7 and 8 percent for most of the time, only dropping to 5.3 percent in the 2009 crisis year and 5.9 percent in 2011. Deutsche Bank economists project 5.5 percent growth for 2013. These are the fruits of the Doi Moi or “renewal” campaign in which the Vietnam communist party began opening up the country’s markets to private enterprise starting in 1986.
February 10, 2013, heralds the Year of the Snake—an animal said to be clever, logical and creative. Not a bad blend of attributes for Vietnam, the much-noted newcomer in the Far East. Though small in comparison, Vietnam has kept up in the economic growth stakes with China and India during the last 10 years. The country has maintained real GDP growth of
Vietnam is home to a 92 million people in an area roughly matching the size of Germany. The average age is just 29. This win-win mix makes companies sit up and take notice. The population is young, free-spending and enthusiastic—something that comes out in regular surveys like the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index. Just one example: Two or three
Vietnam is booming. Its young, energetic population has an average age of just 29 and a huge appetite for anything modern.
years ago, not one of the daring moped pilots transporting New Year saplings across the city would be wearing a bike helmet. But as more students and expats were seen donning Western-style protective headgear, helmets became a fashion accessory—to be worn even when walking. The enthusiasm for all things new is boundless.
2-2012 p Can courier p 7
Markets
Ball’s expansion in Vietnam Ball opened a beverage can joint venture in Ho Chi Minh City in 2012 with Thai Beverage Can Ltd. The region’s can market is projected to grow by 15 percent a year. The new plant currently has one production line. The total value of the joint venture, including the plant and equipment contributed by Ball, is US$45 million (approximately €36 million).
Figures: By 2020, Vietnam aims to industrialize.
Imports 2012 (estimated) $130 bn/€101 bn Exports 2012 (estimated): $120 bn/€93 bn
The country is rich in natural resources and has a large pool of fiercely ambitious, willing workers. All of this feeds through very positively in projections for this tiger economy. Goldman Sachs rates Vietnam among the Next Eleven—the countries identified as having greatest potential among emerging economies. Economists at consultants Prognos AG likewise forecast sustained long-term economic growth. By 2025, Vietnam’s GDP is expected to grow on average by 6.1 percent a year, versus 1.5 to 2 percent annual GDP growth in western industrialized countries
8 p Can courier p 2-2012
Vietnam of course has some catching up to do on various fronts, as country experts are quick to point out. Companies operating in Vietnam must cope with numerous infrastructure gaps, including inadequate road links and poor power supplies. Two factors stand out most of all: • Labor productivity is still low • Specialized workers are still hard to come by and expensive On top of these come relatively high inflation and frequent devaluations of the Vietnamese currency, the “dong.” These are challenges that management at foreign investors can overcome. The plans to step up economic cooperation between ASEAN countries by 2015 in particular create new investment opportunities for business. Vietnam counts among ASEAN countries as a stable state with a robust economic model. With a young, free-spending population of 90 million, Vietnam offers a largely undeveloped sales market and potentially an attractive labor market.
2-2012 p Can courier p 9
Dedicated to the customer Ball added two new experts
Olaf J. Joeressen
10 p Can courier p 2-2012
Olaf J. Joeressen, Director Innovation “I like to understand things down to the last detail,” says the new director of innovation (from July 1, 2012), Olaf Joeressen. Time and again, this curiosity leads to fruitful exchanges. Joeressen, who holds a doctorate in electrical engineering, joined Ball as a lateral hire two years ago. “I have spent my whole prior career working with innovation and innovation processes. That’s my expertise.” Before moving to Ball, Joeressen worked for nearly 15 years at Nokia, the mobile phone giant, among other things leading Bluetooth technology development and most recently as Head of Technology/Mobile Gear. The move to a can maker? Joeressen smiles. No, it was not the first industry he thought of. “The challenges posed by beverage cans are not immediately obvious.” But that a mass product in the food sector that has seen ongoing improvement for decades will indeed pose challenges, and that those challenges will be extensive and exciting—that much was clear to Joeressen. “In the end it was the fantastic openness, the culture of communication and innovation that clinched my choice for Ball.” Joeressen now works with his 25-strong innovation team at the Technical Center in Bonn on continuously improving the environmental performance of cans and on new, compelling products for brands, retailers and consumers.
CAN World
The first is an engineer with a good eye for customer and consumer needs, the second a marketing specialist with vast experience in packaging technology. Two experts augment Ball’s beverage can expertise.
Benoit Hirszowski, Marketing Director A climate of fundamental change in consumer habits presents huge potential for beverage cans. This basic truth serves as the starting point for Benoit Hirszowski’s systematic approach: Subjecting can formats and functions to ever closer scrutiny, Hirszowski aims for the next level in understanding customer added value. Benoit Hirszowski began his career in FMCG marketing (with companies like Kraft, Erdal and Granini) and can look back on 20 years of experience in the liquid foodstuffs packaging sector at TETRA PAK, where he held a variety of sales and marketing positions across Europe. His deep knowledge of the European and international brand goods and packaging business means he is ideally qualified to head marketing activities at Ball Packaging Europe, one of the continent’s leading beverage can makers. Hirszowski also has extensive international experience. Born in France, he has worked in many countries including Russia, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. As business development director at TETRA PAK he was in charge of business expansion in Europe & Africa. His work focused around corporate strategy, innovation and product development. “My prime goal is to pinpoint key market developments on the horizon so that we can make better use of opportunities,” says Hirszowski. He took up his new post at the Ball office in Zurich, Switzerland, in July 2012 and reports to Thomas Haensch, Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Innovation.
Benoit Hirszowski
2-2012 p Can courier p 11
Polish mineral water in cans Cisowianka is now a pioneer with its 33 cl (11.3-oz.) cans of mineral water for the Polish market. “Here in Poland we are talking about a completely new way of packaging water. Cans are light but unbreakable. They are quickly chilled and fully recyclable. That makes them the ideal container for water, especially for people who are very active,” enthuses Katarzyna Pióro, PR Manager at Cisowianka. According to a recent study from the industry association Beverage Can Makers Europe (BCME), Polish consumers rank cans among the most consumer-friendly beverage containers. Annual sales growth—even through the economic crisis—is around five percent.
N e W
Irene Hits the Heights It’s X Factor France – and could this be the anointed one? But what’s this? Timidly, Irene trips around the audition room. For a wannabe rock diva, her singing is far too quiet, her dancing much too lame. And that garb...then suddenly a hand lifts the stylus from the 45. It’s none other than top designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, and he is obviously frustrated at what he sees. So he mentors Irene to put on the show of her life. The YouTube commercial with puppet Irene and the 15 cl (5-oz.) can of Cola Light – the ultimate star soda that fits in any purse or pocket – lasts two entertaining minutes. Just one swig of Coke and suddenly everything is better. Irene rocks her heart out and literally flies through the air. And grand couturier Gaultier obviously enjoys the shoot. Gaultier’s sidestep into the world of zero-calorie Coke is being supported by a comprehensive advertising campaign in several European countries. And Ball also appears in the credits of this marketing film as the team responsible for the special effects used to produce the can. The printing expertise of our specialists resulted in a can design that passes muster even under Jean-Paul’s critical eyes. Before Gaultier, big names such as Karl Lagerfeld, Roberto Cavalli, Donatella Versace, Diane von Fürstenberg and other style gurus have also provided inspiration for Diet Coke designs.
Small change, big impact The top makes all the difference. Several months ago, MillerCoors, the second-largest brewery in the USA, began selling Ball Punch Top Cans and started seeing a noticeable boost in sales of Miller Lite. The secret is in the can end – a second opening. When a second indenture is punctured, it increases airflow resulting in an improved smoother pour. It improves the drinking experience, say consumers. Small modification, big impact. And great for Ball customer MillerCoors.
12 p Can courier p 2-2012
World first: Jägermeister in a can German ready-to-drink (RTD) market leader Jägermeister is celebrating a world premiere: For the very first time, the cult drinks brand is available for sale in cans. Australia and New Zealand were picked for the launch. This August saw the market debut of two Jägermeister brand extensions down under. The first, Jägermeister RAW, is a strong blend of the well-known German herbal liqueur combined with guarana extract, a popular pick-me-up among fitness fans. The second, Jägermeister Ginger Lime, is a blend of Jägermeister with ginger root and fresh lime. The two drinks come in 33 cl (11.3-oz.) Ball Sleek Cans and are positioned as high-quality premium beverages. The stylish Sleek Can format is the ideal packaging choice for the high-end lifestyle segment serving the young dance and party scene.
Jägermeister has developed since the 1990s from a traditional digestif into a successful global brand that is notably popular in the USA. The launch of the new canned flavors is set to further enhance the popularity of the drink among the young adult target sector. And that means more and more of the 90-plus countries served by Jägermeister worldwide can hope to enjoy this latest RTD innovation. In true Jägermeister tradition, both variants are made with entirely natural ingredients. “People love the unique Jägermeister taste and want to enjoy it in new ways,” says Michael Bouda, Australien brand manager for Jägermeister. That the two scene drinks first hit the shelves in Australia and New Zealand should come as no surprise: By per-capita consumption, Australia is the biggest RTD market in the world.
Bella figura With a svelte 58 mm (2.3 inch) waistline and five percent less weight but not a drop less “Thè San Benedetto” inside, the new 33 cl (11.3-oz.) aluminium Sleek Can is sure to garner some admiring whistles. Acqua Minerale San Benedetto, a leading Italian drinks producer, is the first to use Ball’s light Sleek Can. The sleek can format embodies health, youth and freshness like no other package. Add the brilliant detail provided by Ball’s high definition printing process, and the lemon, peach and green tea flavors, Thè San Benedetto has found the perfect packaging choice. Thè San Benedetto is highly popular with Italian families, with some 10.3 million consumers citing it as their favorite choice for the family (GfK, September 2010). The Sleek Can with its tall format stands out on the shelf, giving San Benedetto a competitive edge at the point of sale.
Lasered tab France’s Kronenbourg brewery is giving its brands a makeover. An ideal opportunity for Ball to demonstrate its expertise and creativity in can technology. For Kronenbourg’s 7.2 Blonde and 7.2 Ambrée Ball produced a new kind of end. Etched with a laser ingram, the pull-tab has been turned from a merely functional component into a branding medium. The innovation can also be used for prize draws and for individualizing cans. Importantly, the extra laser operation can be seamlessly integrated into production.
2-2012 p Can courier p 13
D
ale’s Pale Ale has an exciting anniversary to celebrate: It has been 10 years since beer lovers in the USA first enjoyed the handcrafted beer from the foot of the Rocky Mountains in beverage cans made by Ball. At the time, Oskar Blues and Ball were pioneers in the craft-beer-in-a-can movement. The “mini barrel” is now the packaging of choice for high-quality beer. Back in 2002, the award-winning Dale’s Pale Ale – an American pale ale with a hearty flavor – was the first craft beer to be sold in a beverage can. “A Canadian bottling company, Cask, gave us the idea. Then we visited Ball’s can plant and were excited right away,” recalls Chad Melis, Marketing Director at Oskar Blues. Ball made an impression on the craft brewers by listening carefully and making an offer tailored to the requirements of Oskar Blues. The relationship between the two companies has evolved into a very special one that is still going strong 10 years later. Oskar Blues now cans nine beers in four different sizes – 12-oz., 16-oz., 19.2-oz. cans and 16-oz. Alumi-Tek bottles, with many other American craft brewers also using Ball’s beverage packaging. “We are delighted to have pioneered and helped lead the development of the canned craft beer market. At the same time, we have built up a wealth of experience and know-how, helping us to give additional support to craft brewers,” explains Mariko Yamanouchi, Product Manager at Ball Corporation. Cans guarantee the taste integrity of these sophisticated craft beer products, protecting the beer from both oxygen and light, keeping the CO2 level constant and allowing rapid chilling. A particular advantage for small breweries is that images and text can be printed on the entire surface of the beverage can, offering a 360-degree brand billboard for creative design to catch the customer’s eye in the highly competitive American beer market. Experts on the other side of the Atlantic have also been won over: At a tasting in Germany of six American craft beers packaged in Ball cans in early 2012, German brewers were particularly impressed by the quality of craft beer in cans.
Success in a Can 14 p Can courier p 2-2012
Markets
Size Matters: Vive la différence! V
isitors to this year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo., experienced a special kind of première: The first American craft beer in a 568 ml (19.2-oz.) can. Beer in 568 ml cans was previously sold only to British, Polish and Irish customers as a “royal pint.” US brewery Oskar Blues selected this unique size of can, manufactured by Ball, in honor of the tenth canned beer anniversary of Dale’s Pale Ale. And with demand for a wide variety of different can sizes constantly growing, this makes Oskar Blues bang on trend. “New and different types of packaging and packaging sizes attract consumers’ attention to products, even existing ones. They are ideal for launching new products or repositioning existing brands,” explains Mariko Yamanouchi, Product Manager at Ball. Ball provides the largest portfolio of cans in North America, 20 different sizes ranging from a small 5.5-oz. (163 ml) can to a large 32-oz. (946 ml) can, as well as resealable Alumi-Tek bottles, for different markets such as coffee, juices, energy drinks, teas, water, wine, CSDs and Beers. In Europe too, Ball offers customers a diverse range and produces 13 different sizes of can, from 15 cl (5.1-oz) to 568 ml (19.2-oz.).
There is a good reason for this: “Individualization is the factor that has the greatest influence on change in society, daily life and consumer behavior in the western world,” explains Rob Miles, Senior Vice President, Sales, North American Beverage & Global Accounts. “New technologies in a range of markets enable consumers to find the variety and customization they demand. To see this trend, just look at the proliferation of choices consumers have in music, ondemand TV, or even beverages at a convenience store.” To meet this rising demand, Ball is leading the effort to deliver new and innovative beverage packages for brand owners to leverage. All these are just a few examples of the growing demand for custom cans: specialty sizes produced by Ball. Vive la différence!
2-2012 p Can courier p 15
Boosting
Innov
J
Faster, better, greener: Modern innovation management delivers a triple bonus. Because just being part of the game is not enough, Ball Packaging Europe retuned its innovation process.
INNOVATION
ust an internal organization change, then? Up to this question, Olaf Joeressen has stayed concentrated, unruffled and, consequently, very persuasive during the entire interview. Now, though, Ball’s director innovation for Europe vigorously shakes his head. “We have two prime aims: To work more intensively at customer needs and to be faster to market.” One thing Joeressen and his team emphatically don’t aim for is to mimic Gyro Gearloose, the famous inventor character from the Donald Duck cartoons whose genius—a constant fount of new ideas—goes along with a chaotic streak and an untidy workshop making him both physically and intellectually a loner. The vital spark—Gearloose’s genius—is of course something the 25 engineers and other specialists in the team are happy to have around. But there is no place for his eccentricity: With all technical creativity and originality of a team of 25 engineers in Europe, how does Ball reliably filter out which projects are worth the investment in time, money and staffing? “This is where our new innovation gate process comes in,” says Joeressen. Launched this summer, the new process links up the innovation team with other key functions such as marketing, customer technical service, legal affairs, controlling and production. The final ‘go’ or ‘no’ for a given innovation is the outcome of close collaboration between all of these functions. At the same time, the process helps everyone think beyond functional boundaries to gain a better mutual understanding. The deciding question: Does an innovation deliver real added value, both for customers and for Ball? Or will that added value fizzle out before the product hits the market? Is this an improvement consumers are waiting for or just a gimmick? When it comes down to it, people are sometimes just happy to solve a problem and create something, not really caring whether
ation
2-2012 p Can courier p 17
How does innovation happen at Ball?
Innovation is for the whole Ball workforce, not just the 25 members of the innovation team. Customer Technical Service sees every day what goes on in our customers’ filling operations and where improvements can be made. Marketing picks up trends and consumer desires that our customers ought to be targeting. And everyone uses cans. So we all can and should contribute ideas. To gather them, we have online collaboration where employees can put in ideas and discuss them. We also have a Web page for consumers and outside inventors to submit ideas — a kind of passive innovation sourcing. We collaborate on specific innovations with customers and suppliers. In the future, we additionally plan to use professional innovation platforms like www. ninesigma.com. Last but not least, our new innovation process sees to it that we pick out the right ideas—the ones that add value—and quickly and purposefully bring them to market.
Is there still room for genius ? Three questions to Olaf Joeressen, Director Innovation at Ball Packaging Europe GmbH
The market of course is the measure of any innovation. What incentive is there then for engineers to come up with out-of-the-ordinary, truly new ideas? Every conceivable incentive! Thinking out of the box is still fully encouraged. Ultimately that is our competitive strength. The innovation process helps in selection; it guides us swiftly to better results. Aside from that, there is ample scope for innovation and creativity on the road from the initial idea to the end product. What part is played in the innovation process by cooperation between engineers and specialists with other functions such as marketing? In my view this is very decisive. Working closely together from an early stage can only benefit all involved. Better mutual understanding is just the first step. The point is that it is only by working together that we can create the best products and services for customers.
Olaf Joeressen briefly leans back: “The aim of all these efforts is so that we spot the innovations that are really important and focus on them with all our resources and creativity.”
18 p Can courier p 2-2012
INNOVATION others share their enthusiasm. And sometimes others are unaware that a challenge existed in the first place, and have no need for a solution to it. The new innovation process counters all this by subjecting every innovation to review five times over. The first question an idea faces is whether it is worthy of setting up a project. Even at this early stage, each idea is assessed for technical feasibility, cost, market demands, sustainability and whether it fits with Ball’s strategy. Ideally, a team is given a budget and up to three months to develop the idea. The resulting, more in-depth, elaborated plans must then pass gate number two, where more strict criteria apply across the board. In place of estimating a cost, for example, a detailed business plan is now discussed. A higher level of feedback is sought from customers and consumers. This leads to a decision on whether to invest in a pilot plant to trial the innovation at an industrial scale. “These systematic tests and checks are important to ensure that our inno-
vations meet with real market and consumer demand and that we can implement them at market prices,” explains Joeressen. “Only then can innovations fulfill their most important purpose—generating added value for our customers and for Ball.” The third gate is where the production capacity is approved or turned down. A key requirement here is substantial interest in the innovation from Ball customers. Gate number four is the ‘go live’ point: The idea has been turned into a product that Ball can supply to customers. At the fifth and final gate, the entire development process undergoes critical review and full responsibility is transferred to production. After all, standing still means going backwards, so every innovation process goes hand in hand with the question of what we can do better next time. Olaf Joeressen briefly leans back: “The aim of all these efforts is so that we spot the innovations that are really important and focus on them with all our resources and creativity.”
2-2012 p Can courier p 19
Lunch Break in Paradise
In 2010, a biotope was created on the cover of a rainwater retention basin at Ball’s Bierne, France, plant. The whole site can now contain any incident of accidental pollution. The result: An award-winning miniature paradise.
D
Sustainability Innovation
ragonflies dance above the orchard and birds twitter. For some 250 employees at Ball’s Bierne plant, in the far north of France, this is an ideal place to spend their lunch break each day. The biotope was created in 2010, the year of the plant’s 20th anniversary and is located next to the buildings where three modern production lines produce 33cl steel cans for the European and North African markets. “At the time, we were obliged by the authorities to build a rainwater retention basin,” recalls plant manager Valéry Loth. Simply installing a gray concrete basin in the landscape was not on the agenda, however. Instead, they found a solution that provided a twofold benefit for the environment. The underground retention basin collects rainwater in inclement weather conditions and then discharges it to the local sewage system under flow control. Professional landscapers from CPIE, a local environmental NGO, and the Université du littoral planted a miniature paradise on the cover of the basin. It features rare grasses and shrubs, regularly spaced fruit trees, woodpiles, artificially created rock formations and nest boxes, to give biodiversity a helping hand. After just a short period of time, the artificially created biotope had become extensively used and inhabited by animals and insects. 21 species of birds, some of them rare, now nest in the trees and rock crevices. The 80 species of grasses and plants are alive with a host of critters, ensuring that the biotope continues to thrive in a completely natural way. “The biotope gives us the opportunity to explain to our employees, as well as to plant visitors, the kinds of environmental efforts that we at Ball are making,” says plant manager Loth. This is well received, even by critical environmental initiatives. The biotope project has already garnered a raft of accolades, including the Trophée des performances environnementales presented by the Lille Chamber of Commerce, the environmental prize awarded by the French Ministry of the Environment.
A biotope in Bierne: The underground retention basin collects rainwater – a miniature paradise was planted on the cover of the basin.
2-2012 p Can courier p 21
Cover Story
It’s all in a name Awareness, recall, recognition – that’s what brands are about. The competition for customers’ loyalty begins with the choice of the right product name.
S
“I noticed three similarities between the companies that skyrocket vs. the ones that sputter out. Here are three ingredients that will fortify your brand for immediate growth. 1. Be memorable 2. Be scalable 3. Be shareable” Philip Davis,
pare a thought for the automotive industry. Scarcely any other sector has a bigger reputation for failure in the search for the ideal product name. Every marketing trainee soon learns why the Mitsubishi Pajero is called Montero in Spain—namely because no self-respecting Spaniard would drive round in a four-wheeled insult. The Mazda Laputa sounds like a practitioner of the oldest profession, and the Chevrolet Nova eponymously casts doubt on its own fitness for purpose. No va: It doesn’t work! “The automobile industry is just the most prominent example of a trend that affects the whole naming business,” says Werner Brandl, creative naming director at Munich-based naming experts Werner Brandl. “More and more
President of Tungsten Branding
2-2012 p Can courier p 23
“New brands always prompt uncertainty because they are not yet communicatively charged.” Sybille Kirchner, Managing Partner, Nomen International Deutschland GmbH
“A name is a goodwill ambassador, a herald, a promise, the first thing that a consumer hears about a firm or its product. That first contact often determines the consumer‘s attitude toward the firm or product the name identifies.”
Cover Story
Henri Charmasson, a patent and trademark attorney and member of the San Diego name-consulting firm ALIAS
companies are going for international names.” The quest is for the one name that accurately and recognizably goes with the product, fits in with the producer’s corporate identity and also meets the requirement of being usable everywhere in the world. “That makes it easier to match the name, packaging and promotion strategy for a product across all markets,” Brandl says. There are also lucky breaks, where an apparently cranky name makes the grade. Like the Cologne house number from Napoleonic times that became a global player in perfume: 4711. Or there can hardly be a stuffier-sounding word in the German language than ‘Jägermeister’— ‘master huntsman’ comes close as a translation—yet the Jägermeister after-dinner drink today is a cult brand that even New York lounge patrons know how to pronounce. And the Karlsberg Mixery premixed range is readily understood among its 16-to-29 target age group all over Europe, despite the English-language branding (while parents go on brooding over what’s in the beverage). “A name is a goodwill ambassador, a herald, a promise, the first thing that a consumer hears about a firm or its product,” analyzes Henri Charmasson, a patent and trademark attorney and member of the San Diego name-consulting firm ALIAS. Anyone who doubts the power of a decadesold, global brand name will pause for thought at the names listed in Interbrand’s Top 100 Best Global Brands. In 2011, Interbrand put the value of Coca-Cola at $71.86 billion (€55.11 billion), making it the polar star all product namers look to. “Professional brand development always starts by asking what the name is meant to achieve,” says Sibylle Kirchner, managing partner at naming agency Nomen International Deutschland GmbH. Is it a new, standalone mono-brand or a sub-brand piggybacking on an established umbrella brand? Once that’s decided, the creative part begins. For each naming assignment, between 1,000 and 1,500 ideas are put forward, mulled over and rated. There is no golden rule for success in brand naming. But there are fashions. At one time, abbreviations were all the rage—take HP or IBM. In the 1990s, marketers had a romance with the Latin language.
2-2012 p Can courier p 25
Typical
The mistakes companies can make when naming products
The quest for just the right name is his business: Dr. Bernd M. Samland is founder and director of Endmark GmbH, an agency dedicated to the cause of name marketing.
Where can companies go wrong when naming new products? We need to distinguish strategic from operational mistakes. Operational mistakes can mostly be avoided if we abide to clear rules—for example always checking if existing rights stand in the way of a chosen name, or if the name means something undesirable in a market-relevant foreign language. Strategic mistakes are more tricky. People often forget that the name is the most important building block of a brand. You can change logos, colors, slogans and even the positioning of a brand, but change the name and all past investment in a brand is lost. This means it is important for a name to be different from others. Good names do not follow trends, they set them. One of our first names, 20 years ago, was both different and a trend-setter at the same time: VOX, the German TV station. Its Latin de-
rivation (vox, vocis, f.: voice) is all very nice, but far less important than the fact that it was the first true ‘name’ in a segment dominated until then by abbreviations (ARD, ZDF, RTL, MTV and so on). The principle went on to be copied by VIVA, ARTE and PHOENIX and many others. What held 20 years ago is all the more true today. Today’s automobile market, to take one example, is dominated by such a panoply of artificial names that consumers are mildly confused, unable to say for sure if an ‘Agila’ is an Opel, a Suzuki, a Renault or a Toyota. In the face of this we are proud to have developed and seen through the name ‘Mokka’ for the latest Opel model. This name stands the world over for ‘small, powerful and stimulating’, and whether or not you like the product, the name is far easier to remember and associate than all the other names for cars.
Endmark With offices in Cologne and Vienna, Endmark is Europe’s leading naming agency for brand consulting, brand naming, slogan creation and brand research. Endmark’s own correspondents supply input and expertise from all relevant markets. Founder and director Dr. Bernd M. Samland studied political and media sciences in Germany and the USA. He lectures at the University of Cologne and the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and has authored a number of textbooks. www.endmark.de
26 p Can courier p 2-2012
Does that mean associative names are better than purely artificial ones? Not at all. It always comes down to the market and the purpose. We are behind the name of one of the most successful children’s brands, TOGGO. The word previously had no semantic meaning. The rationale is that TOGGO is a license brand spanning products from cycles to lollipops and T-shirts. In a case like this, an established, constraining meaning would only get in the way. How do you avoid strategic mistakes in naming? There is no single answer. It often takes some courage to go for a name that sounds unusual to begin with. Critical mistakes often go hand-inhand with wrong-headed market research. Had you asked consumers in a survey if they thought Diesel a good name for fashion goods or Apple for computers, the world today would be short of two highly successful brands. Incidentally, what applies for the consumer market here applies equally for the business-to-business sector. There is no essential difference between a consumer’s brain and a manager’s. In just the same way, we apply the identical principles to umbrella brands as we do to product brands. Names evoke mental images, no matter whether they are new or established long ago. We can influence these images, but we can’t stop them. In the end, you have to be different to get noticed, and only the ones who get noticed avoid being in the crowd.
Apple
Up-toDateGmbH
Sustainability Cover Story
Ball
Kirchner puts names into three groups. The first, descriptive names, relate to direct effects or properties of a product, like Easy Wring & Clean for a spin mop from Vileda. Names like this are quickly found and easily understood. Their major handicap is that they cannot be registered as a brand or monopolized. Any rival producer can give its products the same name, and bang goes product differentiation. The next group consists of associative names. On the face of it, there is no link between a Jaguar and a car. But speed, elegance and aggression are attributes any carmaker would be happy to associate with its automobiles. Very often, though, symbolism of this kind simply passes consumers by. Why ‘Montblanc’ should stand for fine writing instruments or ‘O2’ for a phone service is obvious to no one.
But that does no harm to the success of a brand. The names are etched into people’s minds. The third category relates to artificial names, like Sensodyne for toothpaste or Haägen-Dazs for ice cream. Compared with descriptive or associative names, artificial names are the easiest to defend legally. But what they evoke for consumers is something no one can really control. Getting an artificial brand name firmly established among consumers takes a huge communication effort and expense. Once a name is found, the legal experts, linguists and pollsters weigh in. This is when the newborn brand name is registered worldwide, tested for pitfalls in every language and qualitatively surveyed to see what consumers associate it with.
Pea r
E-ComLinkProducts
“Whether survey respondents actually like a name is not decisive. Many strong brands do not come out on top in testing or are even rejected, and that doesn’t surprise me. New brands always prompt uncertainty because they are not yet communicatively charged,” says Kirchner. The main thing is to harvest first impressions for the upcoming marketing campaign — to identify sources of both potential and interference. Commissioning a professional name finder for a product launch is expensive and the process takes several months. But this is time and money well spent, because it cuts the risk of a worldwide flop to the minimum. As the Romans said, nomen est omen: It’s all in a name.
“‘Apple’ can be registered as a brand name for a computer but not for a food.” Bettina Berner, German Patent and Trademark Office, Munich
2-2012 p Can courier p 27
Light as a feather, tough as ever
Ball Packaging Europe’s ongoing high investments into research and development have been rewarded: The new generation of Ball’s 33 and 50 cl cans are the lightest cans technically possible – and a big step forward in terms of environmental protection.
28 p Can courier p 2-2012
L
ess is more! Ball expects a substantial material reduction on its larger-volume beverage can sizes – 33 cl and 50 cl (11.3 and 16.9-oz.). Which is first of all a good deal for the environment. Changing Europe’s entire 33 cl (11.3-oz.) can production to this new can generation would save more than 6,000 metric tons of aluminum a year. That’s the weight of more than 30 jumbo jets. The weight reduction from 9.9 g to 9.45 g for an 33 cl aluminum can marks a quantum leap in ‘lightweighting’—
the continuing quest to find new ways to make cans with less and less metal. The new, lighter cans recently went on trial with major customers. The result was a marked — and lasting — improvement in their environmental footprint. The body of a regular third-of-a-liter can (11.3-oz.) today already weighs in at less than 10 g (0.4-oz.). The thinnest point is about where the thumb makes contact halfway up the can. At that point, even a sheet of copy paper is thicker than the 0.090 mm (0.0035 inch) metal wall of this can. This is the most recent success in Ball’s efforts to lightweight its beverage cans. Ironically, all these efforts have one prime goal: That neither the consumer in the grocery store, nor the customer with a completely standard filling line processing some 800 million cans a year should even notice the change. That goal has been achieved: The new lightweight can looks and performs just like any other.
INNOVATION
At 6.2 bar, these lighter cans still withstand the same pressure as a full-size truck tire. The axial load capacity— the can’s crush resistance when stacked in multiple layers—is also the same. “What we have achieved here is to optimize the weight while keeping modifications to existing plant to a minimum,” says Olaf Joeressen, director Innovation for Ball in Europe. By customer request and, as expected, the lighter can works with the CDL can end, which is approximately 12 percent lighter than a standard end.
has been positive across the board. The only question now is which of Ball’s plants will be the first to start production of the 33 cl (11.3-oz.) lightweight can. The “lighter” version of the 50 cl (16.9-oz.) can will follow shortly afterwards. For the Ball team, this is another positive step in a development process with no end in sight for many years to come.
By a hair’s breadth From just under 100 g (3.5-oz.) for the very first can, the weight of a can went down in stages to 83 g (2.9-oz.) for the 35 cl (12-oz.) can of 1951, 38 g (1.3-oz.) for the 33 cl (11.3-oz.) tinplate can, and finally to 21 g (0.7-oz.) for steel cans and now under 10 g (0.35-oz.) for the aluminum cans available today. The can wall of a new, lightweight 33 cl (11.3-oz.) can is just 0.090 mm (0.0035 inch) thick. That is about as thick as a single human hair. The CDL end is about 12 percent lighter than the standard end. With the conversion of our end lines in North America to the lighter CDL end we save more than 11,500 tons of aluminum annually in the US, equivalent to more than 127,000 metric tons of CO2 or removing approximately 25,000 cars from the road.
Similarly, users of the innovative ultra-light cans continue to have the same wide range of graphic design options that are available on conventional cans. The new, lighter-weight cans have been tested on customer canning lines, first in small production runs and then on an increasingly large scale. “The last thing we wanted with a lightweighting project was to end up producing more scrap,” says Joeressen. Ball’s engineers paid close attention to wear and tear on cans. On the seamer machine, cans are sealed by overlapping the can end with the top edge of the can body. This cold-forming process applies massive stresses to the metal even in a small production run, and all the more so at a normal throughput of some 2,000 cans a minute. The new, lightweight can passed this test with ease. The response from premium and large-scale customers
2-2012 p Can courier p 29
Markets
P
eter Mertes from Bernkastel-Kues on the River Mosel is one of the first German wineries to adopt Ball’s premium Protected Quality seal wine can. Can Courier spoke with Michael Willkomm, managing director of the tradition-steeped winery. How would you describe your company? In just short of 90 years, the business started by master winemaker Peter Mertes in 1924 has grown to become Germany’s largest winery. Today, Mertes processes some 100 million liters a year—that’s 10 to 15 percent of the German harvest. We remain a family business with a 300-strong workforce and retain our focus on wines of select quality and regional character.
„Yes, we canned“ 30 p Can courier p 2-2012
Where does City Secco in cans fit into your range? From September 2012, retailers in Germany sell four creations from our winery in cans from Ball: Two sparkling wines under the City Secco label in white and rosé, and two wine premixeds: City Hugo, combining Secco with soda and a hint of elderflower and lime, and City Sprizzer, or Secco with a hint of bitter orange. With these products, we aim to gain a new, long-term consumer segment with young urbanites in the 18 to 35 age group who have a modern lifestyle orientation. Why the premium, Protected Quality seal wine can from Ball? We consider the 20 cl can ideal for this young, mobile consumer segment. The can is light and handy, and it is well suited for consumption on the go. The special seal assures the quality of our Mertes City Line whenever and wherever people go. The special interior coating and lid, and the extra-thick wall—the three key attributes that make up the Protected Quality seal—are features we found compelling.
Wine in cans is now also available in the United States. Denver, Colo., winery “Infinite Monkey Theorem” is now packaging its product in 250 ml (8.4-oz.) cans and, just as the US presidential campaign was heating up, the brand adopted a claim from Barack Obama’s campaign slogan of four years ear-
“Our premium wine can was specially designed to meet the exacting quality standards of producers like Peter Mertes.“ Daniel Etchemendy, Sales Manager, Ball Trading Germany GmbH The Protected Quality seal The 20 or 25 cl aluminum Slim Can has a special interior coating, a special lid and an extra-thick wall. These features combine with all the normal benefits of beverage cans, which are light-proof and oxygen-tight, enabling them to safeguard the taste and properties of a beverage for a long time. Mertes has eagerly adopted the new cans. In August, the company even brought its own canning line into operation at Bernkastel-Kues on the River Mosel. The KHS line fills 300 premium wine cans a minute. Mertes had assistance in the project from Ball’s CTS team and wine specialists from the Ball Technical Center. For companies without their own canning line, Ball is able to connect them with French contract canners Cacolac. Cacolac satisfies the highest standards for canning wine and is also authorized to apply the Protected Quality seal.
Market forecasts project sales of some 200 million cans of wine in Europe by 2013. That represents 10 to 15 percent growth. Nearly two-thirds of this quantity relates to sparkling wines like our City Secco, which incidentally we make exclusively from German grapes. How do you plan to win over City Secco fans to Mertes’ classic wine products? Here again we can make use of features provided by Ball with its wine cans. Smart phone users can scan a QR code to go straight to our website and learn more about the history of Peter Mertes, and also about our current top-quality products.
SeCCo To Go Germany’s biggest winery, Peter Mertes in BernkastelKues, has chosen the Ball premium wine can for its City Secco line.
lier. Slightly modified, of course. Infinite Monkey launched its wine in a can in June 2011 with a reworking of the iconic Barack Obama blue-and-red “Hope” poster, with the tag line: “Yes, we canned.” Also appearing at Aspen Food and Wine Week 2012, the Denver winery presented three styles prove to be particularly – and increasingly – popular among younger consumers. Members of this demographic
have developed a taste for wine since it became available in practical beverage cans, notes Infinite Monkey owner, Ben Parsons: “The cans are consumer-friendly, recyclable and break down the psychological barrier that sometimes prevents young people from choosing wine. And, even after a year on the shelf, the wine maintains its entire characteristic flavor.”
2-2012 p Can courier p 31
Getting the clicks
2013
Next summer’s great promotions
F
all is the season of a thousand ideas. This is the time when plans come together for next year’s events and promotions. At Ball, inspiration comes in a can—especially for the coveted young consumers target segment. Cans combine real refreshment and grab attention online to lasting effect. This year’s Europe Cup soccer tournament and Olympic Games supplied prime examples. Cans are the ideal beverage container for outdoor and sporting events. More major sporting events are on the calendar for 2013. There are virtually limitless possibilities for directing the public’s attention to a brand. How about a limited edition for the Super Bowl in New Orleans, specially branded six-packs for the UEFA Champions League final in London, or an innovative augmented reality design for a prize draw during the Tour de France? As to inspiration, Warsteiner, Karlsberg and Bavaria show the way:
Warsteiner and Nike on the Can Catwalk
When Nike released its much celebrated limited edition “Air Yeezy 2” by Hip Hop star Kanye West, Warsteiner supported the launch with a limited edition beer can. This was given to long waiting fans (who lined up for more than five days in advance) at all release shops in Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Zurich. Just like the shoes, the cans were offered in flashy color combinations – black/pink and grey/ orange. The unique design created a huge online buzz on Instagram and Facebook, even bloggers and fashion magazines like “Hypebeast“ (more than 40,000 Instagram followers) picked up and presented the fashion queen of all cans. On ebay, the Warsteiner limited edition cans were sold (together with the shoes) for 705 Euros plus (924 $).
Markets
Rock ’n’ roll, baby!
Dutch beer brand Bavaria 8.6 makes use of cans to extend the brand experience into the online world. This time the way to go is rock’n’roll: A web radio lures thousands of fans a day to www.86rockradio.com, where they can hear classic tracks rarely played by other stations. Fans of the beer brand and the wellcrafted guitar solo can also upload their own performance. Armed with a webcam and a Bavaria can (lacking a webcam, a computer mouse will do), fans can catch notes on the screen. Every note makes for one musical tone. Guitar greats like Norbert Krief (a.k.a. Nono) and MattRach feature in the promotion and show how it is done in videos, with visible success: Bavaria records more than 206,000 visitors to the promotion website—per day! On top of this comes nearly 20,000 Facebook likes and just under 300,000 Google hits. The promotion will be running from December 2012 until February 2013 in France, UK, Spain, Italy and Canada.
And what can we invent for you? German Beer meets Australian Hardrock
One of Australia’s claims to fame is its heavy-metal rock band AC/DC – and one of Germany’s is its beer. And now all beer lovers and hard rock fans can indulge their passions in unison: with Premium Pils from Karlsberg in an AC/DC-branded can from Ball. The band’s inimitable heavymetal mix is reflected in the uniqueness of the can’s design with its red AC/DC lettering set against a jet black background. The cover of their successful album “Black Ice” completes the look and makes the handy can into a real eye-catcher. So there you have it: 568 ml (19.2-oz.) Premium Pils corresponding to the typical Australian pint “tinny,” with 5% vol. alcohol, brewed in line with Germany’s “beer purity law”! AC/DC Premium Pils came on sale in Germany and throughout Europe in summer this year, and because the launch was so successful, “AC/DC beer” in a can is now set to be marketed on a worldwide scale. Let There Be Rock!
2-2012 p Can courier p 33
Can World
Gold on sand For the second time running, Ball Packaging Europe was the official soft drinks sponsor for this year’s Smart Beach Tour. That also made Ball a supporter for the Olympic champions in beach volleyball: Just before the German Beach Volleyball Championships at Timmendorfer Strand, Jonas Reckermann and Julius Brink scooped gold in London. The top title for event sponsor went to Ball. Visitors relaxed on loungers with a refreshing drink from the Fresh Up Kiosk. Guests settled their tab with the world’s hardest currency, Pay with a Tweet, raising awareness of beach volleyball by posting on Twitter, Facebook and Mobile Photo Station. Five custom rickshaws also plied their trade around the Ahman Hager Arena. Fans could choose between games of virtual free kick duel against German goalie Manuel Neuer, having their photo taken as rock stars, designing a can on their trip round the arena, programming their very own can song, or immersing via QR code into the world of Dosionair — of course always with a canned soft drink for refreshment. More on the award-winning Fresh Up Kiosk on page 5
Summertime is can time The season’s best events with Ball as sponsor and initiator What a summer! After a rainy and chilly start, August at last brought sunshine, barefoot fun and hot events across Europe. Not to forget cool refreshment in a can—lightweight, with no risk of broken glass, quickly chilled to drinking temperature, and able to keep its cool longer than any other container.
Low-flying beanbags The Crossboccia World Championships in Duisburg: Fabric pouches of beads for boules, 20 minutes a session and bags of fun every time! The updated version of boule saw over 100 players lobbing for victory in Duisburg at the end of August. Ball sponsored the event for the second time. The youthful sport attracts a young public, and young people love canned drinks. Organizer Timo Beelow made the initial contact through a blog posting on www.dosionair.de and was delighted with the exclusive kit and supplies made available for the event. Players and onlookers at the Crossboccia World Championships were provided with refreshment in the form of flavored water and a cranberry energy drink in Crossboccia design cans. All of the empties were scrupulously collected, of course. After all, they are endlessly recyclable without any loss of quality.
34 p Can courier p 2-2012
Off to Belgrade for a beer The 10th anniversary Belgrade Beer Fest 2012 enticed over 700,000 visitors to the Serbian capital for six days of live music free of charge and some 100 domestic and international beers. Ball took part once more with a campaign to encourage recycling.
Taking a walk Ball Packaging Europe supported World Walking Day in Warsaw with a Slim Can specially designed for event sponsors TAFISA (Trim and Fitness International Sport for All Association). Featuring a sports motif and the slogan “Can recycling protects the environment,� the can was exclusively available for the day. At 17 other events across Poland, Ball handed out to walkers a total of 20,000 cans containing a refreshing isotonic drink.
2-2012 p Can courier p 35
QR code: mobile bookmarking A QR code enables you to bookmark a web page with your mobile phone quickly and easily. With a QR code there is no need to type the full URL into your phone, instead you simply scan the image. Your phone reads it, converts it back into the URL and stores it as a bookmark. Then you can use your phone to go online to that page. What you need • A mobile phone with a camera • A mobile phone with internet access if you want to go straight online • A QR code reader installed on the phone There may not be a QR code reader for some models of mobile phones. Downloads of readers We suggest you try these two websites, although others may offer a similar service: www.reader.kaywa.com www.quickmark.com.tw
Ball Europe GmbH Leutschenbachstr. 52 CH-8050 Zurich
www.ball-europe.com