The latest creative and effective uses of print, from greeting cards for the blind, a music legend returning to print and pop-worthy packaging. 

The King Of Marketing

Budweiser has brought together two of the top uses of print in a Colombian marketing campaign to create ‘BudMag’, a unique blend of packaging and magazine. Printed on the inside of 100,000 12-packs distributed throughout the country, BudMag is a mini-magazine designed to support four emerging musicians in Colombia: Nath, Kapo, Benú and Sai.

“Budweiser and music have always gone hand in hand,” explained Joca Oliveira, Global Marketing Director at Budweiser. “With BudMag, we are bringing this relationship to a new point of view, leveraging our scale and reach to build an unique visibility opportunity for upcoming artists. More to come in this direction.”

M&S Release Braille Greeting Cards

Marks & Spencer has added a series of braille greeting cards to its range. Developed in consultation with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the three cards covering different occasions are made of FSC-certified paper and fully recyclable. In addition, the retail brand has released a braille gift card that features an embossed outer sleeve to communicate the ‘Happy Birthday’ message and an embossed gift card enclosed within.

“The rollout of M&S’s braille range will make such a difference to their customers who are blind or partially sighted,” said Ali Long, RNIB’s Director of Consumer and Business Services. “This is a really positive step in making shopping and the giving of cards an inclusive experience for people living with sight loss.”

NME Back In Print

Legendary music publication, the NME, is returning to print. After stopping its print version in 2018 and going online only, the brand will publish a brand new bi-monthly print edition with fresh design and content, including interviews with the world’s best new artists and bands alongside expert reviews of the latest music, TV, film and gaming releases.

“Print has always been a cornerstone of the NME brand and we are thrilled to announce the return of an icon,” said Chief Operating & Commercial Officer of NME Networks Holly Bishop. “Our new global magazine will curate the very best of NME; championing emerging artists and bands and serving as the definitive voice in pop culture.”

Pot Noodle Makes A Stir

The staple food of students across the nation, Pot Noodle is trialling paper packaging, which will see 500,000 chicken and mushroom flavour Pot Noodles repackaged in a paper pot and sold in Tesco stores across the UK. In a bid to cut down on 4,000 tonnes of plastic every year, the new FSC-certified paper pot will be fully recyclable in existing cardboard and paper streams, with the shift to paper-based packaging said to be the biggest change made to the brand’s pot since its launch in 1977.

“Pot Noodle has been a loved British brand for over 40 years and we’re always challenging ways to make our products and packaging better,” said Andre Burger, General Manager Foods (Nutrition) at Unilever UK & Ireland. “We are committed to reducing the plastic in our packaging and to a paper-based future for our pots.”

Once You Pop, You Can Recycle

The iconic Pringles tube has received an eco-friendly makeover and is now 90% recyclable. As well as a plastic lid, the tube has traditionally had a steel base, which has made recycling difficult. But the Belgian engineering and R&D teams at brand owner Kellogg’s have developed a paper fibre alternative that makes the tube fully compatible with paper recycling streams once the lid has been removed. Fully airtight, the new packaging offers a 15-month shelf life for the contents prior to opening.

“We have worked hard to improve our environmental footprint,” said Johan Van Batenburg, Director of the Pringles factory in Mechelen, Belgium. “The Pringles recyclable tube is another step towards sustainable packaging. We learned from a test carried out in 2020 that consumers approve of the new paper tube.”

Read more interesting articles like the above in the latest edition of The Page here!

Join the community

By signing up for the Two Sides newsletter, you join 70,000 industry professionals getting up-to-date sustainability news from across the print, paper and paper packaging industry.

Sign me up!