Rexam repackages drink in resealable aluminium

Jolt, an energy drink originally marketed in 1985, is being re-launched in an innovative new aluminium beverage package from Rexam Beverage Can North America.

Jolt's parent company, Wet Planet, claims that the "Jolt Battery Bottle" is the industry's first re-sealable 23.5oz. aluminium container to hit the marketplace.

The decision to re-launch Jolt in a new re-sealable aluminium package reflects aluminium's flexiblity and ability to add value in packaging. Beverage packagers are turning to aluminium because it offers guaranteed freshness, good carbonation retention and long shelf-life. It also offers filling economics and high recycling potential.

The new Jolt Battery Bottle features a power gauge printed in thermo chromic ink that changes colours when the beverage is chilled. As the beverage is consumed, the ink returns to its original color showing the consumer how much beverage is left.

The slogan on every bottle reads "Positive RE-inforcement."

"We worked closely with Wet Planet to understand what they wanted to do with their brand and bottom line, and then we helped them build a proposition across their entire value chain," said Harry Barto, president and CEO, Rexam Beverage Can North America.

"It's about more than just creating and delivering a new package. We're helping our customers determine the appropriate filler and distribution sequence. We're anticipating consumer response. The result is a great beverage, newly-positioned in an innovative aluminum container that will really pop on retail shelves."

Available exclusively through Rexam, the new JOLT Battery Bottle is made possible by combining Rexam's 23.5oz Monster can body with Cap Can closure technology. The 23.5oz aluminum can body is produced and printed on one of Rexam's high-speed can manufacturing lines and then transformed into a re-sealable container by seaming on a Cap Can end and closure developed by Dayton Systems Group (DSG).

DSG developed this patented concept, including the forming process and equipment technology to manufacture the Cap Can closure assembly. ARCO Aluminum will be the single-source supplier of coil aluminium sheet for production of the dome and decorated cap components of the can.

Wet Planet also worked with Rexam's Graphic Art and Printing Plate Operation to set the color and graphic tolerances for perfect brand reproduction on the Jolt Battery Bottle. Rexam has the only company-owned, integrated graphic art and printing plate operation, complete with a manufacturing pilot line, to set these standards before mass production.

"Jolt is a cultural icon permanently sewn into the American fabric," said CJ Rapp, Wet Planet Beverage president. "As America's most powerful cola with 'twice the caffeine,' Jolt proved that people wanted more instead of less. What came as a result is a trend referred to as value-added, and Jolt was the catalyst to an emerging category now called New Age Beverages."