Packaging
Crown and Polar Beverages Team Up to Spread Pirate Lore
Monday 28. April 2008 - CROWN Beverage Packaging North America, a business unit of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCK) (Crown), announces that Polar Beverages, the largest independent soft-drink bottler in the United States, has adopted its advanced high quality print technology for the launch of the Black Jack Beverage brand.
The unique family of flavored teas and drinks represents the first commercial application of Crown’s high quality print technique in the Americas. This new pre-press to print process utilizes proprietary separation techniques and special, high resolution printing plates for improved dot spacing and superior reproduction of fine detail images and text.
The Black Jack beverage line consists of four tea varieties – Cannonball Black Iced Tea, Arrr Raspberry Iced Tea, Calypso Green Tea and Gunpowder Green Energy Tea, the newest addition to the line – along with two additional drinks: Portside Fruit Punch and Mango Mutiny.
Each 16oz beverage can has a distinctive design and color scheme that conveys the unique flavors associated with each variety. It also injects a healthy dose of fun and excitement for consumers, as the back panel of each container follows the adventures of Captain Black Jack Crowley and his faithful pet dog named Grog as they capture treasure and rare teas. The beverage cans are topped off with gold ends and black tabs for additional differentiation at point of purchase.
“Two trends drove the introduction of the Black Jack brand: the popularity of flavored teas and ‘big can’ beverages,” explains Gerry Martin, Vice President of Marketing for Polar Beverages. “To distinguish ourselves from the competition, we needed stand-out graphics that would add a unique personality to our products. Crown worked closely with us and our creative partner, Hughes Design, to produce images with a spectacular level of detail.”
The environmental advantages of metal were also a key factor in Polar Beverages’ decision to work with Crown. Beverage cans are lightweight, reducing freight and fuel costs, and excel in terms of recycleability. Cans are universally recycled with high return rates and the metals used in cans can be recycled infinitely with no degradation in quality. On average, today’s aluminum cans are produced with 50% recycled material.
“Polar Beverages is committed to being an environmentally-responsible corporate citizen,” says Martin. “We are continually exploring ways to reduce our carbon footprint and using metal packaging for the Black Jack brand supports that goal. Recycling rates in the Northeast, our primary market, are among the highest in the nation and Polar Beverages is one of the leading recycling companies, with an over 80% redemption rate.”
Black Jack beverages are currently available in retail outlets across the Northeast. Additional flavors are planned, as are exciting web adventures so younger consumers can follow the mystery of Captain Black Jack Crowley and Grog.