Imagine walking into the liquor store on a Friday night. You look past the brews you’ve already tried for something new. You spot a silver and gold capsule of a can, with a strange goggled figure on the label. The copy tells you this beer was formulated to fuel your journey through the multiverse, and it contains a sci-fi album as the soundtrack. To get the album, there’s a special hashtag. By tweeting it, you’ll receive a message telling you what you’re doing right now in a parallel reality, and a link to the music. Curiosity piqued, you bring it home, crack it open, take out your phone, and experience audio, visual, touch and taste in a single moment in time.
The T.R.I.P. album release beer is the first time a new studio album has ever been released on a beer can. The challenge that prompted the unique project was to figure out how to get people buying new music again, while helping a small indie band reach new fans. The solution: Pair the band with a brewery and turn the beer aisle into the next record store. The Lights Out wrote an album about traveling through parallel realities, and Aeronaut Brewing Co. developed a beer to pair with the songs. “A lot of the same people who once walked the music store aisles every weekend are now going to the beer store at least that often, with the aim of discovering something new. Most beer decisions happen in front of the cold case. The opportunity for someone to discover a band there caught our curiosity,” says Adam Ritchie, owner of Adam Ritchie Brand Direction and guitarist for The Lights Out.
T.R.I.P. used design in a creative way to solve a decades-old music industry problem, give consumers a complete sensory experience with visual, touch and taste, and restore music fans’ physical relationship with new music. The campaign resulted in a new way for music to be discovered, generated international attention and caused the product to quickly sell out. “Adam’s team created a tremendous launch experience which completely transcended the ordinary and set a new standard for how these things should be done,” says Aeronaut Brewing Co. co-founder Ben Holmes. “It’s a game-changer that succeeded beyond our wildest expectations.”
C-P Flexible Packaging (C-P), a leader in the flexible packaging industry, is proud to introduce Intelligraphix Systems—a new division specializing in prepress, platemaking and color management services designed specifically for flexographic printers. To ensure precision and efficiency from design to print, Intelligraphix Systems offers a comprehensive suite of prepress services, including art file optimization, extended gamut preparation, flexographic platemaking and optimization, color management, press profiling, file management and advanced quality check systems.
Michigan State University celebrated the opening of the newly renovated MSU School of Packaging building on April 20, following a fundraising campaign that raised more than $10 million. “This significant expansion of our facilities, enabled by the generosity of donors and stakeholders, will reinforce MSU’s longstanding leadership in packaging education,” said MSU Interim President Teresa K. Woodruff, Ph.D. “These improvements anchor our commitment to the excellence of our School of Packaging and will help us prepare the next generation of leaders in packaging science.” Established in 1952, the MSU School of Packaging was the first school of packaging in the United States and now is the largest packaging program in the country, with over 600 undergraduate and graduate students.
Kimberly-Clark announces it has made the difficult decision to exit its business in Nigeria after almost 15 years, due to recently refocused company strategic priorities globally as well as economic developments in the country. Kimberly-Clark will close its manufacturing facility and commercial office in Lagos and will no longer manufacture, market, or sell its Huggies and Kotex products in the country. Consistent with Kimberly-Clark’s value of care, the company’s top priority will be to fulfil its obligations and ensure that employees and partners are treated with fairness and respect.