Presidente hits a home run with shrink-sleeve technology

Presidente, produced by Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana, is the Dominican Republic’s most popular and most heavily distributed beer. Presidente owns 70 percent of the Dominican Republic’s beer market, and during 2006, the company exported more than 1.6 million cases to 11 states in the U.S., including Florida, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington and Georgia. Nowadays, thanks to Presidente, the Dominican Republic is the Latin-American country with the third-highest percent of all the beer bought and sold in the U.S. Presidente is also exported to several islands in the Caribbean, including Saint Marten, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Aruba, Curacao, Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos. Last year, Presidente started to reach more of the European market through countries like Spain and Andorra. Thanks to its success in the international market, Presidente’s worldwide sales increased 14 percent during 2006.

Presidente, produced by Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana, is the Dominican Republic’s most popular and most heavily distributed beer. Presidente owns 70 percent of the Dominican Republic’s beer market, and during 2006, the company exported more than 1.6 million cases of the beer to the U.S.

Now, Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana has teamed up with Karlville Development Group (www.karlville.com) to celebrate the most popular sport in its country. This year’s campaign is all about Hurrah Baseball. As part of the project, the brand has had unexpected presentations and events that were secretly organized to shock the market.

While there have been design changes to Presidente cans in the past for campaigns similar to this one, this is the first change for the trademark Presidente bottle. Presidente and Presidente Light, with the expertise and equipment from Karlville Development, have been introduced with a new shrink-sleeve label that totally covers the bottle and displays intricate baseball designs. Not only is it a first for Presidente, it is also the first thematic bottle with such a label in the Dominican Republic beverage market. It is a clear sign of both companies’ commitment to innovation.

For this particular project, Cerveceria selected Karlville’s Sleeve Pro 400 shrink-sleeve labeler to apply the new labels to the bottles. With its servo-motor-driven cutting and sleeve-shooting system, the Sleeve Pro 400 has an average speed of 300 containers/min with full-body sleeves. This mid-production-level machine is ideal, when looking at the shear volume that Cerveceria had intended or hoped to produce. Along with the Sleeve Pro 400, Cerveceria acquired two Steam Pro 300 tunnels to shrink the sleeves onto the bottles.

Presidente and Presidente Light have been introduced in a new shrink-sleeve label that totally covers the bottle. With its servo-motor-driven cutting and sleeve-shooting system, the shrink-sleeve labeler, above, selected for the Presidente bottles has an average speed of 300 containers/min.

Once again, Presidente follows international tendencies and has introduced the first bottle with this kind of label in this country,” says Karlsville vp Rafael Melo. “To Dominicans, the combination of our brand with the baseball season is already a tradition. As the official beer of this sport in the Dominican Republic, it was time for the Presidente bottle to join the collection and invite the public to enjoy a baseball game with friends; to celebrate the victory and live the excitement of their national sport, always with Presidente.

All of these changes are just a part of Cervecería’s commitment to innovation. Other development projects include new, fully enclosed multipacks, Presidente 7-ounce and 1-liter glass bottles and the new 16-ounce presentation in aluminum.”

More information is available:

Karlville Development Group, 305/533-1051. www.karlville.com.