Rexam New Horizons

Design Agency: Dragon Rouge
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Rexam
Location: UK

Launching Rexam’s Value Added Range

Ever wondered who makes that Coca-Cola can you’re drinking from or that ice-cold can of Heineken you’re pouring? Behind the scenes, Rexam, a leading global beverage can maker creates some of the world’s most iconic cans for much loved brands.

Rexam offers a range of cans in various sizes with different print finishes and closures. In a highly competitive market with new innovations launching regularly, Rexam approached Dragon Rouge because they felt that there was an opportunity to showcase their expertise in can making in a more creative and inspiring way.

From Rexam’s impressive spectrum of choice, Dragon Rouge was asked to focus on making the most of Rexam’s portfolio of inks and decorative coatings. This includes inks that are tactile, glow in the dark, change colour at different temperatures and even appear to sparkle.

Dragon Rouge understood that Rexam’s clients and their own sales team wanted the print and ink technologies to have a real ‘wow’ factor. Using their extensive knowledge of canned drinks consumers as a starting point, Dragon Rouge created a set of cans that beautifully highlight the stunning effects available to Rexam’s clients.

“Together with the Rexam team, we decided that the can designs should reflect Rexam’s global nature and its cutting edge innovations. Our work is a set of different horizons, from cityscapes to mountain passes, oceans to beachfronts that bring their ink technology to life in a way we can all relate to. Each design was individually illustrated, but also works as part of a coherent set. We had a lot of freedom to play with the designs and we’re very excited to see them launched.” – Steve Irvine, Creative Director, Dragon Rouge

To support the sell in of the new technologies to Rexam’s clients, Dragon Rouge has also created print ads, a new sales animation, a series of animated gifs and a special exhibition design for the launch of the new cans.

The effects and horizons are:

Tactile varnish – A blue whale raising its flukes and creating a bit of a splash off the coast of Australia
Bright white – A layered view of Tokyo
Thermochromic – Snow-capped Andes Mountains
Single state sparkle – An unpolished and polished diamond in Africa
Light state photochromic – British beach huts in the sun
UV light off – Fireworks decorating Paris
Registered matt OV – A painted field of poppies in Flanders
Registered HD – A colourful kaleidoscope of butterflies in South America
Registered glow off – The choppy sea at night off the west coast of the United States

“We are all delighted with the ‘New Horizons’ work. It is fresh, bold and creative and shows off our innovative ink and print technologies in a really engaging way. It’s been great fun working with Dragon Rouge on the project and our sales teams are excited to be using the new cans and animations.”- Ana Neale, Director of Marketing, Rexam