The Belgian-Brazilian group AB InBev, which owns, among others, the brands Corona, Stella Artois, Hoegaarden and Leffe, has created a series of 644 bottles of Budweiser beer with a label printed directly on glass.
The series celebrates Lionel Messi's record for Argentinian Barcelona: at the end of December, the Argentinian footballer scored his 644th goal for Barcelona, making it the record for the most goals for a single club in the history of professional football.
Direct printing made in Belgium
Each bottle has a unique number from 1 to 644 to represent each goal scored. The labels in this series were produced by direct printing on glass. This technology, which gives the bottle a no-label look and full-surface printing, was carried out in-house at the Group's research and development centre, the Global Innovation & Technology Center (GITEC), based in Leuven, Belgium. This technology also allows a kind of digital embossing, which provides a tactile effect, the group says.
"This project shows the important role of direct-to-subject printing in the creation of true limited editions and premium bottle designs - each one is unique and almost impossible to reproduce, said Gregory Bentley, AB InBev's International Director of Packaging Innovation. The team did an excellent job making these 644 unique bottles in a matter of days in our digital print lab, all within covid-19 restrictions and social distancing."
And the brand has pushed the concept to the point of sending these 644 bottles to every goalkeeper against whom Messi scored. Gianluigi Buffon, David de Gea and Jan Oblak, who had fun with it on social networks, seem to have taken the joke well.
. @budfootball ... thanks for the beers.? I'll take it as a compliment. ? We have great battles over the years! Congratulations on breaking the 644 record #Messi ! it really is an unbelievable achievement. Cheers! #BeAKing #ad pic.twitter.com/Rvz2kSv23B
- Gianluigi Buffon (@gianluigibuffon) December 24, 2020
"Although technology is still in its infancy on a large scale, things seem to be accelerating in digital printing technologies and we are still learning. These special, one-off projects that highlight cultural moments, such as Messi's incredible world record, are very much appreciated by us."
By 2019, Gitec had also used its in-house direct-printing capabilities to launch the Beck's Artist Series, a series of 200,000 bottles in nine versions. "This new process could one day replace plastic labels and offer potential environmental and economic benefits." he said at the time.
