3D Printing Is A Marketing Weapon Of Mass Construction

It is expected that 3D printing will explode in 2014. A few key patents are going to expire this year. It will provide ability to use the materials which had not been available for use freely for 3D printing. That will create broader possibilities to use 3D printing to manufacture parts for final products introduced to the market.

In other words, new 3D printing opportunities will provide a possibility to use more materials for production. That means that the fact that some parts of the product are 3D printed will give additional value to it. This leads to a wide field for marketing and advertising.

However, there are a bunch of examples of worldwide known companies using 3D printing for marketing already. We have presented you a great example of it earlier. CGTrader invites you to meet a few more examples of 3D printing becoming a marketing weapon of mass construction.

Nike 3D Printed Cleat

Nike presented its third football cleat built using 3D printing technology this February. This one is called Nike Vapor HyperAgility Cleat. It succeeds Nike Vapor Laser Talon Cleat which was released on February, 2013 and Nike Vapor Carbon 2014 Elite Cleat released this January.

This cleat is 3D printed using Selective Laser Syntering (SLS). It is a 3D printing technology that uses high-powered lasers to fuse small particles of materials into a 3D shape.

This technology allows designers to make lighter cleats or update them within hours instead of months.

3D Controlled

Personal computers and video game consoles are strongly connected with new technologies. Therefore, a 3D printed controller should not be a big surprise. Valve created a The Steam Controller which prototypes were 3D printed and presented at the 2014 Game Developers Conference. The entire casing of this controller was 3D printed. This device includes two diamond-patterned buttons.

The casing of this neat device was made using an SLA 3D printer.

3Disney's World

Marketing was adopting 3D printing even almost 2 years ago. Back in May, 2012 Disney World presented D-Tech Me. All girls ages 3-12 could 3D scan themselves and make a 3D printed princess copy with their faces on it.

It takes approximately 10 minutes to capture multiple angles of a guest's face which will become a face of the 3D printed princess. And it takes 5-6 weeks for completed 7-inch Disney Princess figurine to be delivered to the customer.

Walt Disney International made a possibility for sci-fi fans to fulfill their dream to become one of Star Wars characters as well. Due to D-Tech Me campaign, they could put a scan of their face on one of star troopers and 3D print it.

The Key To The Future

Are you a die-hard fan of The Lord of the Rings? Then you probably have watched The Hobbit. In that case, Microsoft and Warner Bros have something to offer for you. They offered 3D blueprints of the Key to Erebor in December, 2013. It started as an advertising campaign for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. All fans of this epic movie series can use a 3D printer to make a copy of the key for themselves.

Nokia. Connecting And 3D Printing

Finnish communication and information technology multinational corporation Nokia stepped into 3D printing with simple though attractive marketing campaign. Last year, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia placed two MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printers and created an opportunity for their clients to make a personalized phone case for Nokia Lumia 820. A customer just needed to tweet @Nokia_Connects with a hashtag #Lumia820 for a chance to win such a case.

Customizable? Build A Phone Of Your Own

A customizable mobile phone - that is something talked about for a while now. Imagine that - you can change the parts of your mobile just like parts of a LEGO constructor. Now, imagine that those parts are 3D printed. Motorola unveiled Project Ara last October and it seems that they want to make this kind of idea a real thing.

Get Up And Win A 3D Printed Trophy

belVita, a brand of morning biscuit by Kraft Foods was incorporated into marketing campaign which was based on 3D printing. Twitter was included in this as well. belVita and experiential agency Fake Love have selected their favorite tweets from people who shared with @belVita on Twitter using #MorningWin hashtag. Then they sent custom 3D printed goodies that remind little morning wins to the selected winners.

Two Cookies And A 3D Printer Between Them

belVita is not the only one confection which has been involved in marketing with 3D printing and Twitter. Worldwide known cookie brand Oreo is behind a campaign which started only a month ago. The final product of it is 3D printed cookies. Oreo prints them in a shape of what is trending on Twitter at the time. They had printed a Grumpy Cat, for example.

Whiskey In The Jar? 3D Print It

There is a song "Whiskey In The Jar" by Metallica. And... we are not going to talk about it further. In the end of year 2013 Caskstrength Creative and global drinks giant Diageo collaborated to create a marketing campaign. It was the first time when 3 whiskies have been blended together to form a unique recipe. Every bottle of this 3D scotch whisky contains a label with a QR code. It links to a website where a 3D printable model of a bottle container can be found. Therefore, a customer can 3D print it at home.

3D Or 3B?

There is another whisky distillery which used 3D printing for their marketing campaign. Well, we should say 3B printing, as it does not use a 3D printer, but uses a workforce of 80,000 bees. Dewar's distillery made honeycomb vase to promote their new product - Dewar's Highlander Honey scotch whisky. After that they made a honeycomb bottle. It was called "A 3-B Printing Project". It is a clear allusion to 3D printing.

With so many examples of using 3D printing for marketing during the last two years, it is more likely that year 2014 will be even more interesting to follow the ideas that will be presented to the market.