Italian company P.E.T Engineering said an embossed date shows the Amstel brewery’s foundation year (1870), while the label design uses a gold background “representing the high quality and excellence attained over the years by this slow-brewed beer”.
Amstel is targeted at men aged 30+, who in P.E.T Engineering’s words, “are both beer amateurs and connoisseurs, appreciate the quality that comes from a slow-brewing process and love spending quality time with friends, far away from the pressures of daily life”.
Who doesn’t, for that matter? No doubt this anodyne marketing speak formed part of the Italian firm’s brief from Amstel. Anyway…
“Labels, shape and engraved decorations enhance one another to create a unique visual language that helps the product stand out and makes Amstel different from its competitors,” P.E.T Engineering said.
PET with the glamor of glass
Speaking to BeverageDaily.com about the broader trend towards glass-like design cues in PET, in this podcast recorded at DrinkTec 2013, Elisa Zanellato, marketing and communications director at P.E.T Engineering, told BeverageDaily.com that her company had worked with Spanish firm Novapet to develop a special resin that allowed brands to create such effects using PET.
N.B. Heineken's Amstel bottle is not a result of P.E.T's collaboration with Novapet*.
“Such bottles can be used instead of glass – they are cheaper and lighter, but they look like glass, very beautiful," she said.
“It's a very good solution for bottlers with a PET filling line who would also like to enter the glass market – hotels, restaurants and catering. This is why we chose to develop this kind of bottle," Zanellato added.
“It’s very difficult for some markets to understand that this can be used precisely like PET. We’re trying to help markets understand the cost savings and the greater eco friendliness," she said.
P.E.T Engineering's other clients include PepsiCo, Nestle Waters, Carlsberg, San Pellegrino and AB InBev.
*Article altered to include this clarification (11/7/14).