When it comes to branding for Millennials, the unexpected has become the expected.
And the beverage industry is really pouring it on.
In recent years, Coke and Absolut launched the trend of individualized packaging that’s now drawn Bud Light into the fray with the beer giant leveraging variations on 31 unique designs to create 200,000 different cans that the brand is making available to attendees of the Mad Decent Block Party music festival traveling the U.S. and Canada through September.
“We know [Millennials] want something unique and an unexpected experience,” Bud Light vice president Alex Lambrecht told AdWeek, “and I feel that they will be so surprised and inspired when they order a Bud Light and get these cans.”
According to A-B InBev packaging innovations manager Gina Bazigian, Bud Light was looking for an opportunity to amplify consumers’ experience with the brand and to put that innovation in their hands.
“That’s where the packaging came in,” said Bazigian. “So, we partnered with HP. Instead of printing these cans through conventional printing, we leveraged their HP Indigo digital-press technology, and what makes that significant is that we also used their HP SmartStream Mosaic algorithm.
The algorithm tweaks each can design based on parameters set by Bud Light. “Each time we’ve printed a label out they’re a little bit different, and that allows us to get 31 million possible label outputs from those 31 designs and ensures that no two cans printed are alike.
“And this is really tapping into the desire for millennials to have a unique experience,” he said. “All 200,000 cans produced will provide 200,000 different experiences.
With the initiative, Bud Light is testing whether consumers will get excited about individualized cans with Lambrecht saying, “There will be more initiatives in the future.”
We don’t doubt it. And one has to wonder how this individualization trend can extend beyond beverage packaging and apply to other brands, products and even services.
Is there a way your company can strengthen its brand through personalization and unique experiences?
At the very least, it’s something to drink on.
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