Dispatches from Brau Beviale
Crown launches Cottle can, as beverage brands seek packaging differentiation
The format – pictured above – draws on the Crown sleek range for the body, but narrows at the top of the can. It can be used with Crown’s 360 full aperture end – an end where the entire lid (and not just the tab) can be removed when the beverage is drunk.
Matt Twiss, marketing and business development director for Crown Bevcan Europe and Middle East, told BeverageDaily.com differentiation is as important as ever for beverage brands.
“What we’ve identified is the fact that brand owners out in the market place are really looking for some differentiation,” he said. “Consumers love cans, but there’s also a move towards having different packaging formats in place.”
Crown used Brau Beviale this week as a chance to ask visitors how they think the Cottle fits in the beverage market.
“What we’ve seen is a huge variety of different opinions, that can range from whether or not it would be more suitable for carbonated soft drinks or energy drinks or maybe beers and lagers, or whether a 15cl application rather than a 33cl, or maybe a 25cl,” said Twiss.
“There’s a huge variety of different opinions and that’s the reason why we wanted to come and show the product here, to try garner some views and market feedback to try and understand from a consumer perspective and but also a brand perspective, what does the market really want.”
Full aperture end
The Cottle can be used with a traditional tab end, or Crown’s 360 full aperture end. For craft brewers, the design of the latter encourages the beer’s aroma to emerge from the can. However, the interest is not limited to brewers, said Twiss.
“The 360 end is a Crown patented technology where you take off the whole end of the end, the top of the can, which enables a full aperture,” he said. “So you get a similar drinking experience to maybe as drinking from a bottle, or indeed a glass. What that does is allow the aroma of the product inside the can to come out.
“Now you may say that’s more suitable from a beer perspective, but what we’re seeing now is more and more carbonated waters, and also non-carbonated drinks, where the aroma of the product is essential in relation to the taste.”
