A deodorant for eleven friends

  • Personalization in Digital Direct-to-Metal Printing – Implementation and Impact

What seems simple at first glance is actually highly complex to execute: How does a standard product from a global brand become a relevant limited edition?

This presentation offers a behind-the-scenes look at an extraordinary project. What are the brand’s requirements? What regulatory and technical production specifications must be taken into account? How does this give rise to a viable creative idea—and how can it be technically realized?

Together with the agency Alvons Design, Unilever has broken new ground: flexographic printing combined with digital direct-to-metal printing—and all for one of the most emotionally charged topics: soccer! Using the example of the REXONA special edition for the 2026 World Cup—featuring players from the German national team—we’ll show how the brand and agency worked side by side on a highly exciting project. In this article, they present it together: This is what winners look like (…scha la la la la la!).

  • Ulrike Quirmbach
Senior Artwork Production Specialist, Personal Care, Unilever
After completing her training as a typesetter and studying printing and packaging technology at the Bergische University of Applied Sciences in Wuppertal, she began her career at international print management agencies. There, she worked with well-known European brands at the intersection of brand design, artwork creation, and packaging printing. When she moved to Unilever in Rotterdam, she took on responsibility for global brands in the Foods (KNORR) and Personal Care (REXONA, DOVE, SIGNAL) divisions. In her current role overseeing the deodorant division, her responsibilities include design implementation, artwork, and print management, as well as the execution of innovations. She combines in-depth printing technology know-how with comprehensive expertise in global packaging, print, and supply chain processes.
  • Uwe Dierking
Managing Director, alvons Branding
Uwe Dierking, 49, lives in Hamburg with his wife and two children. After completing his training as a hotel manager and earning a degree in business administration through a German-French program in Bremen and Marseille, he entered the design and branding industry through an internship at Landor in Paris. He has been working in this field for over 20 years now. After working at Landor Paris and Lothar Böhm in Hamburg, he founded alvons design in 2012, an agency specializing in packaging design. With a team of five employees, he serves clients such as Unilever, Homann, Bel Deutschland, and Klinge Pharma. alvons design’s approach: combining the quality of large agencies with the flexibility of a small structure.

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