Embossing: succeeding under pressure

Ardagh Group | The challenge of replicating the distinctive flutes of Jupiler’s glassware in an embossed can has led to tooling innovations that enable the global supplier of metal and glass packaging to render embossed designs with greater definition, creating new branding opportunities for its customers.

The Luxembourg-based company is a leader in the embossed can market, first created an embossed design for the Jupiler brand in 2014, producing 33cl and 50cl cans that were debossed on their lower halves. The success with which these cans echoed the glassware’s characteristic ribbing, which is a key part of the brand’s identity in the Benelux countries, was reflected both in Jupiler’s sales, and its invitation to update the design for 2019.

The latest version features debossed flutes that not only mirror the design of the Jupiler glassware more closely but also provide a functional benefit: research produced by AB Inbev in collaboration with Diabatix, a Belgian company that specialises in generative thermal design, showed that, by reducing the surface area in contact with the drinker’s hand, the recessed relief of the full-length flutes lowers heat transfer, and so keeps the beer colder for longer.

The finishing touch, meanwhile, lies in the design’s sparing use of colour. Rather than being printed with a solid red as first intended, the Jupiler cans exploit the highlights and reflections of their bare, embossed aluminium to create a premium feel and a striking appearance that stands out among retail shelves.