Top companies are always the first ones embracing new technologies and leading industry revolutions. In the last article, we have shared with the cases that Nespresso 3D printed two incredible oversized milk splashes to celebrate their new Vertuo machines, and BelVita 3D printed trophy depicting the scale figures of their fans as gifts. Here we’d like to show more splendid applications of how 3D printing is applied in the company’s promotion campaign.
Emporio Armani 3D printed a model walks out of the billboard wearing her new shoes.
To show the design of their newly published sneakers, Emporio Armani 3D printed a sneaker and part of a leg of the model and embedded them on the billboard. It looks as if the model is walking out of the billboard and heading to the real world.
The Ads & Promotion team of Emporio Armani believes 3D printing technology is the best choice to make out the ideal effect: it has a quite short lead time with comparable low cost, and owns the ability to precisely create complicated objects.
The 3D printed sneaker is much larger than the actual size. It took 19 hours to print, measuring 6.22 × 3.2 × 1.64 feet (2.1 × 1 × 0.5 meters) and weighing 20 kilograms, reaching the weight limit of airline checked luggage. Emporio Armani cooperated with a 3D printing service platform Colorzenith that can offer giant 3D prints.
“We are excited to help Emporio Armani create such a compelling piece,” said Aldo Neri, CEO of Colorzenith. “It is vibrant and the engaging approach excites trainers. It adds another dimension to advertising and attracts consumers’ attention. ”
PepsiCo released a limited edition of Black Panther cans featured with 3D printed masks.
The special cans were part of PepsiCo’s promotional kit which also contained a Samsung tablet, comic books, behind the scenes photos, a light-up carton with smart LEDs. Each can be fitted with a 3D printed mask that featured the main characters of the movie Black Panther.
“Much of this kit was inspired by the costumes and characters from the movie,” said Andrew Phinney, R&D packaging engineer at PepsiCo. “This was an exciting opportunity for us to incorporate new technologies to develop unique textures, graphics, dimensional elements, and lighting to bring the kit to life.”
PepsiCo just planned to make 250 pieces of the promotional package. Phinney and his R&D team overcome the challenge of producing a complex shape economically at a low volume as 3D printing is the most appropriate method for low-volume manufacturing.
They have tried desktop FDM printer in the early stage when making prototypes, and then tested printing through SLS and Multi Jet Fusion, decided to choose the last one. Multi Jet Fusion is always preferred by its low cost, high resolution, and excellent surface finish.