Martens Brewery goes direct print on PET again

Direct Print Powered by KHS™ is the name of the technology behind Bocholt, Belgium-based Martens’ notable initiative with its PET bottles. By eliminating labels, the brewery arrives at a more visually appealing and premium look that says “cool” while also scoring sustainability points with the elimination of extra packaging components.

“We are driven by innovation in new technologies, processes and products,” says Jan Martens of Martens Brewery. “Direct Print technology replaces the label of our standard Pils, and we are now creating a more premium look and feel for our own brand.”

With the packaging change for Martens Pils PET bottles, the Belgian brewer is taking its innovative approach to marketing one step further. In the summer of 2015 Martens introduced Dagschotel beer by breathing virtual life into its high-quality digitally

printed PET-bottles with the help of a specifically developed smartphone app. The app recognizes pixel patterns on the decorated bottles to bring enhanced virtual reality to packaging with animated bottles. Single bottles printed with characters from the Flemish TVsitcom “F.C. Kampioenen” brought some fun, and then scanning two bottles together brought lively exchanges between the movie characters printed on the bottles.