O-I Glass highlights its O-I Expressions digital printing, which allows brands to create custom, colorful glass packaging at affordable prices and high speeds

Ceci Johnson had seen her artwork on a Valdo bottle of wine before, but never like she was presented with in the fall of 2022 on a prototype using O-I : EXPRESSIONS digital printing on a bottle of “Paradise Rosé” wine.

“I vividly remember when I saw the first prototype from O-I, when they took this design and we modified it to fit into the printing area, it looked so good I was literally begging the Valdo team, ‘We have to do this. It’s so, so fantastic,’” said Johnson, who runs the creative studio Ceci New York.

Soon she was back in the studio reimagining the possibilities for a new underwater world come to life on a Valdo wine bottle. The collaboration of Valdo, Ceci New York, and O-I Glass to create “Aquarius” was just one of many success stories shared during the “O-I: Unveiling the power of personalised packaging” webinar, hosted by O-I Glass.

“When we talk about the role of packaging design, we know that packaging is the face of the product,” said Diana Goff, Foresights Manager at O-I Glass. “It not only needs to secure shoppers’ attention from the shelf. We tend to drink with our eyes, so packaging needs to really communicate the story of the company and the product. However, it is very important that the story is delivered with passion and shows the personality of all that went behind creating that brand.”

And with glass packaging from O-I, brands can deliver their brand story and stand out on the shelf. Whether brands utilize O-I’s end-to-end new product development support or have a design agency collaborate with O-I’s designers, O-I can bring those visions to life. O-I’s designers excel at creative reality – meaning they understand the glass manufacturing process and have the technical expertise to ensure the concept is manufacturable.

‘Impressive’ and ‘Premium’ Design on Valdo Aquarius Wine Bottle

O-I : EXPRESSIONS, enabled by digital printing technology, is an O-I Glass innovation that allows brands to create highly personalized and customized glass packaging at flexible volume, industrial speeds, and affordable value, with an unprecedented range of color and design possibilities compared to traditional decoration solutions.

During the webinar, industry leaders shared how brands have already used the technology to create unique and exciting new glass bottle designs, as well as exploring the potential for future applications of O-I : EXPRESSIONS that have yet to be realized.

“Aquarius,” the extra dry sparkling wine by Italian winemaker Valdo, has already captivated audiences across Europe, with a successful launch in the United States to begin 2024.

“When you take the bottle in your hands, it’s impressive because it seems really like decorated glass by hand or something really premium,” said Matteo D’Agostino, Global Marketing Manager for Valdo.

Added Johnson, “The hair on the mermaid or the tail, those details that were in my original art, we outlined and created another dimension of glass that was on top of the artwork, so it created a very tactile dimension in the experience which was very cool.”

Revelis Telling Brand Story, Winning Awards with Glass Bottle by O-I : EXPRESSIONS

Another example of O-I : EXPRESSIONS at work is the bottle for Revelis, a wine by French winery cooperative Terres Secrètes that was awarded the top honor for wine packaging design by “The Drinks Business.” Printed on a dark bottle, the constellation design gives the effect of nighttime.

“We were just wowed by this,” said Patrick Schmitt, the publication’s Editor-in-Chief. “The quality of the printing, the tactile qualities of 3D effects. Basically what it represents is the night sky, as though you were standing in this vineyard in Saint-Véran in Burgundy.”

Schmitt also praised Terres Secrètes for taking such a stark departure from traditional packaging for white burgundy wines, which are almost exclusively packaged in burgundy bottles with paper, typographic labels.

Standing Out on the Shelf to Consumers with Standout Designs

Xavier Ritton, the Export Commercial Director for Terres Secrètes, said that his company saw an opportunity to do something different with O-I : EXPRESSIONS and reaped the benefits not only in a standout design but also in production volume.

“The big advantage is of course to stand out at the final project, to have something that gives a lot more volume, much more possibility than a specific label,” he said. “Because a label usually is very strict in terms of area of printing so you cannot play on all the area of the bottles, which is the case with the digital printing. The result is outstanding compared to what you can do with the classic presentation of global wines.”

Schmitt spoke to the importance of packaging in the drinks space, as consumers buying a product for the first time must “drink with their eyes” before ever taking a sip. That is why strategic design at O-I is rooted in market and consumer insights, paired with science-backed research on driving forces behind consumer behavior, ultimately representing brands in a way proven to resonate with audiences.

One way that this is happening with O-I : EXPRESSIONS, members of the O-I design team Paul Harris and Taylor Smith explained, is with the nearly endless capabilities for variable combinations with digital printing, allowing for brands to quickly produce many different designs to incorporate collectible or limited-edition bottles.

The technology is there, and brands are only scratching the surface of different ways they can use O-I : EXPRESSIONS to create truly unique packaging that will make consumers want to drink before tasting.