Milan Design Week may be held in Italy’s fashion capital, but it will have a bit of Dutch flair again this year as Heineken looks to ensure visitors get a glimpse of its branding.

The brewer, which is celebrating its 140th anniversary, has partnered with a few designers to create a new exhibit space in Milan – The Magazzini — leading up to the big April event.

Last year, Heineken created a pop-up nightclub for the event that was the creation of 19 young designers from around the world. The approach led crowdsourcing.org to name Heineken one of the “leading global brands to embrace crowdsourcing and co-creation.”

Moving forward with the crowdsourcing concept, the brand has now asked people to visit its Facebook page and use elements of its bottles, advertisements and labels from the past 140 years to “remix” them into a bottle of the future. The top 30 will be showcased during Milan Design Week, and a winner will also be announced that week.

The designer of the chosen bottle will also get to see their creation made and know that, for at least a limited time, beer drinkers worldwide are cradling their creation.

Heineken and its collaborators will also host a series of daily workshops at The Magazzini during Design Week.

Wrigley’s Orbit gum has jumped on the crowdsourcing bandwagon, inviting the public to engage with the brand from a design and customization perspective, via packpage designs on a Facebook app. Live through February, the app pulls data from a user’s profile and generates a custom gum pack design for every participant, “essentially making each person’s Facebook life a work of art.”

The contest leverages infographics technology and the design skillz of EVB (Evolution Bureau) digital artist Joshua Davis, known for building algorithmic systems, although anyone can now audition to be a digitally crowdsourced artist. Facebookers can solicit votes for their package designs and the winner could even hit store shelves in 2012.Continue reading...

Want to Buy a Friend a Beer? TGI Friday’s Has an App for That

Facebook is a place to promise to buy a friend a beer, but now TGI Friday’s is turning it into a place to actually make good on that promise. On its Facebook page, the restaurant chain now offers the option for users 21 and over to order up to five beers for a friend, who will receive an electronic gift card worth $5 for each beer, good for purchasing anything at TGI Friday’s.

The new app follows TGI Friday’s launch earlier this year of a new menu of craft beers and dishes meant to pair with them. For those who haven’t thought ahead for dear old Dad, the app’s launch comes just in time for Father’s Day.Continue reading...