Budweiser has something new for its loyal fans—the UK launch of Budweiser ‘66’ lightly carbonated  beer with a touch of sweetness for a smooth, easy taste at 4% abv was announced back in April 2010, and now the alcohol brand is happy to present its new product in packaging designed by jkr agency. The bottles and cans’ look retain Budweiser’s iconic visual authenticity, still some of its features was a bit adapted to the modern tendencies.

Unilever unveils two new designs developed by the prestigious Argentinean agency, Pierini Partners, for Rexona, one of most popular products on the global antiperspirant market. The visualities for the brand’s new lines, Rexona Teens Music Fun and Rexona Adventures, encompass the spirit of active life and young generation with their vibrant palette and smart graphics.

We recently attended a technical packaging seminar where a diverse group of industry representatives gave a 20 minute presentation on the virtues of packaging specific to their individual areas of expertise. The focus for the night was the role of Packaging Design. It was a broad topic, which I had anticipated speakers across areas such as structural form, material innovation, print technology and brand identity. I was disappointed.

Heineken UK’s leading lager Foster’s has unveiled a radical branding redesign that emphasizes its Australian personality and accentuates the quality and modernity of the brand. The new branding builds a strong point of difference for Foster’s in a market where most lager brands use heritage as a selling point. The new design clearly presents a progressive and positive attitude with its Australian stance—communicating sunshine, fun, informality and inclusiveness.

Pearlfisher has designed the artwork for food packaging and restaurant menus for new chain Otarian, already open in New York and coming to London on August 18. Otarian, a new boutique fast-casual restaurant chain, is changing the face of the London and New York food scenes by becoming the first global chain, which comprehensively reduces carbon footprint of every item on its vegetarian menu to internationally recognized standards.

Every week the brand and design news seems to feature yet another online campaign, social networking competition or launch of a new hub as brands compete to capture the attention of an exponentially growing virtual audience. But, just as we (consumers) are continually warned of the dangers of identity theft and fraud—with another story this week detailing how successfully phone Apps and their data can now be compromised—are brand owners heeding the very real threat of creative piracy as we become ever more of an e-commerce culture?