UK Packaging News Awards toast the Impress Beer Keg

The Heineken Beer Keg, manufactured by Impress, won Metal Pack of the Year at the 2010 UK Packaging News Awards in London, on 3 November. Winning the Metal Packaging category sponsored by the Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association (MPMA) takes the total count of awards received to 8, since its launch in 2008 - when the Beer Keg won the President’s prestigious award “Best of the Best” handed out by the World Packaging Organisation.

The Beer Keg which typifies the modernity and convenience of metal packaging, pushes the technical boundaries of innovation to limits which are un-rivalled by any other packaging substrate. Impress has improved the consumer experience with Heineken by creating the world’s first 3-piece can to use Thermo-chromic printing on the design. Through this innovation, Heineken has been able to add a “cold indicator” to the packaging (label) which changes colour when the beer has reached the correct temperature for consumption. 

Impress Business Development & Marketing Manager, Michael Dick, said that the Beer Keg had been extremely successful since its conception and demonstrated the power of innovation in partnerships with customers: “Impress has been involved with Heineken from the very start of the design stage and a high level of trust and co-operation exists between the two groups. By constantly seeking to improve the product with innovations such as temperature reactive inks on the design, we are ensuring that the packaging continues to evolve for the benefit of the consumer. Earlier this year, the metal 2-piece food can was voted iconic packaging of the year by Packaging News and we believe that the Heineken Beer Keg is another modern packaging icon.”

Impress is a global market leader in the consumer metal packaging industry. It is the largest supplier of: seafood cans (worldwide), aerosol cans (Europe and Australasia) and cans for paints and coatings (Europe). Impress is also the second largest supplier of heat processed food cans in Europe and Australasia. Impress is based in Deventer, the Netherlands and had worldwide sales of approximately €1.8 billion in 2009.