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coating has definitely had a lot of attention.”If there’s one sensory relationship that’s well understood, it’s that fragrance has a huge effect on taste. In the past Ball has added scented microcapsules to the tabs of beverage cans, so that they are activated when touched and allow consumers to “preview” the taste of the beverage in the shop. Crown has tried a different take on the topic, pioneering the “360End”, which allows consumers to remove the entire top of the can, turning it into a drinking cup and allowing the scent of the drink to play a greater part in its taste. It was originally developed for the 2010 World Cup, Gailly says, but recently there has been “increased interest from craft brewers [looking to] differentiate their brand”. The technology allows the advantages of a can — it’s quick to serve at a bar, feels cold and is recyclable — to be combined with those of a cup.As costs for specialised packaging come down, there is a ripple effect, Spence says: when one company tries something new, others will follow. And there is a particular incentive to innovate in Europe, Joeressen points out, where “there is traditionally a stronger need for differentiation in all areas” because “we have lots of smaller brands that compete more intensely.”So are we heading towards a future in which every can is going to be variably shaped, coated with tactile bumps, and capable of making interesting sounds when the seal is cracked? While there will always be brands with basic packaging that compete on price, it’s certainly going to be in the interest of packaging designers to become more informed about the psychological effect of the various sensory aspects of their designs, and to base these designs on genuine research, not just fads or guesswork. “Too often,” Spence says, “people just say, ‘Let’s create something that’s different.’ That’s it.” They’re missing a trick.n Bottom The 360End allows the sense of smell to play a bigger part in the drinking experience (bottom right) When Coca-Cola introduced a white can in 2011 consumers thought the taste had been changed ‘TACTILE FINISH CREATES AN IMPRESSION OF CONDENSATION… BUT ALSO GENERATES AN IMPROVED GRIP AND PHYSICAL INTERACTION’ NOÉ GAILLY, MARKETING MANAGER, CROWNSENSORY PACKAGING08 EUROPEAN CAN MARKET REPORT 2016