Carlsberg has introduced an innovative new packaging solution for its six packs: The Snap Pack.

The Snap Pack replaces the plastic wrapping traditionally used around six packs with a pioneering technology that glues the cans together, reducing the amount of plastic used by up to 76%. Three years in the making, the Snap Pack is one of a number of Carlsberg’s sustainable packaging solutions launched in September 2018.

The innovations represent the first of a series of consumer-facing manifestations of the Carlsberg Group’s sustainability programme, Together Towards ZERO, which include ambitions of a ZERO carbon footprint and ZERO water waste. They were first applied on the flagship Carlsberg brand to drive constant reappraisal and refinement.

This helped to further substantiate the iconic tagline of ‘Probably the Best Beer in the World’ in a meaningful way - giving consumers a great tasting beer that also helps them reduce their environmental impact.

Plastic shrink-wrapping and rings are used to hold together multipacks of canned drinks, particularly beers.

This has been an industry-wide standard packaging device for more than 50 years, but they have become an environmental scourge – contributing to the growing ocean plastic pollution and posing a threat to marine life and to the image of the world´s global brewers.

The Snap Pack is a sustainable packaging solution that “sticks” the cans together in a multipack form - allowing users to easily “snap” them apart when required.

As part of an overall commitment toward energy neutrality and a zero carbon footprint, Carlsberg wanted to show consumers and other breweries that it is possible to reduce the plastic waste and environmental impact of the brewing industry, because more than 40% value chain carbon footprint comes from packaging.

Fundamentally, the strategy was based on creating an innovative product and packaging design, that would make the world talk.

One of the main insights was a huge discrepancy between the intent to buy sustainable products and the willingness to pay a premium. Intent dropped about 70% if the price was just marginally higher. So the premise was to create a sustainable option at the same price point.

The PR strategy for the launch of the Snap Pack was also based largely on early endorsement by key stakeholders with credibility in the sustainability area.

The final Snap Pack design, the result of years of product research and development in collaboration with KHS systems, launched in September 2018 across three major markets, Denmark, Norway and in UK at the end of the year.

The design stripped away all superfluous shrink-wrap, reducing plastic packaging by 76%, and replacing the notorious six pack rings with tiny dots of glue. This new kind of six pack had a sleek, minimal design, and is set to reduce Carlsberg’s plastic waste by 1200 tonnes a year (the equivalent of 60 million plastic bags).

The new design was supported by various campaign materials, and simple posters across airports and retail with a simple philosophical thought: “Can we reduce plastic waste if we stick together? Probably.”

Aside from the substantial 1200 tonnes of plastic waste Carlsberg is set to reduce annually, the Snap Pack design has been a very visible and tangible spearhead of brands ongoing sustainability initiatives by putting their commitment in the hands of consumers.

The design and campaign have earned more than 1.5 billion earned media impressions and counting, with unanimously positive coverage across the globe from journalists at CNN, BBC, Forbes, The Guardian, The Independent and institutions like WWF and World Economic Forum.

Since the launch in Denmark, Carlsberg has seen a 19% increase in the sales of six packs. In the UK, the country’s largest retailer, TESCO, has now started selling Carlsberg, because of the packaging. Since launching the Snap Pack last year, Carlsberg has seen a 6% increase in global growth.

To date, Carlsberg has sold over 30 million litres of beer in Snap Packs.