Innovating Packaging with 3D Printing

Pepsi Co. and Marvel Studios were looking to leverage new technology and creative design to enhance an online campaign ahead of the premiere of Black Panther. The two companies launched a collaboration with the intention of creating a special limited edition promotional cartridge for the film. In addition to a tablet, comic book, photos from the shoot, it also included a set of five cans of the drink. Each can featured one of the film's main characters and featured a Black Panther mask printed on a 3D printer to match the design of the specific can.

PepsiCo's packaging development team, together with the company's design and innovation centre in New York, took the opportunity to apply new technologies to rethink the approach to packaging materials.

Most importantly, they figured out how to produce 250 pieces of a shape-complex replica of the Black Panther mask and obtain durable plastic pieces with a nice look and, most importantly, at a low cost. The shape complexity and a limited number of pieces quickly ruled out traditional injection moulding and 3D printing soon emerged as a suitable alternative.

They tested the initial design on an in-house desktop 3D printer using the most widely used FDM technology. However, this is unsuitable for the final application in terms of surface quality and production speed. The developers conducted short market research and included 5 additive technologies including Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Stereolithography (SLA), Polyjet, CLIP and Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) in the final decision. Finally, they had replicas fabricated on SLS, CLIP and MJF 3D printers to understand the fabrication efficiency and therefore evaluate the most suitable application for the project.

After comparing production costs, level of detail retained, surface quality and accuracy, the team decided on the HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer. One of the deciding factors was also the durability of the prints. It was assumed that the cans would become a valuable collector's item and therefore must last at least 10 to 20 years in the same condition. SLA or Polyjet technologies, for example, offered a higher level of detail and a smoother surface, but there was no guarantee that the iconic deep black colour would not fade after years. Prints made with these technologies are often subject to degradation due to environmental influences such as temperature changes and UV radiation.

After the parts were printed and mounted on the cans, final tests were performed to test for resistance to shipping shocks.

The entire project took 6 months from the initial idea to shipping the cartridge in time for the launch of the promotional campaign and the film's distribution. The result was numerous posts on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube with over 10 million impressions.