ABSOLUT VODKA debuts ‘Drinks,’ the latest work of a new generation of creative collaborators. Via a collaboration with some of the most exciting personalities on the planet, “Drinks” brings the cocktail world to life with renowned fashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth and critically-acclaimed actresses Kate Beckinsale and Zooey Deschanel to celebrate uniquely ABSOLUT drinks.
With the tagline, ‘Every Drink is an Exceptional Experience,’ the new ads are a tribute to those drinks that changed the playing field within the cocktail community and continue to have relevance among today’s vodka connoisseurs. The initiative underlines that every cocktail starts with a story – from the legendary lore of the Bloody Mary’s creation at Harry’s Bar in Paris to the legions of female fans of the otherworldly Cosmopolitan. “As the next iteration in the campaign, ‘Drinks’ is a witty interpretation of classic cocktails that pay homage to ABSOLUT VODKA’s legacy as a truly iconic spirits brand and the key ingredient in making these drinks an exceptional experience for consumers and bartenders,” says Tim Murphy, ABSOLUT Vice President of Marketing. “No other vodka has as much longevity within both the cocktail and creative worlds, and “Drinks” is the culmination of our 30 years of bringing collaborations to life, while showcasing the drinks that made the brand a back bar staple.” Known for her distinctly bold and playful adaptations of fashion and beauty photography, Ellen von Unwerth captures Kate Beckinsale and Zooey Deschanel’s characters as they are immersed in different cocktail worlds. The drinks profiled include the iconic cocktails that made the brand famous, like ABSOLUT Bloody, ABSOLUT Cosmo, ABSOLUT Twist and ABSOLUT Crush, as well as a new recipe to be revealed in the coming months.
Every drink is an Exceptional Experience IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD
a Vision from Kate Beckinsale & Ellen Von Unwerth
Explore more exceptional drinks at Facebook.com/Absolut
Absolut Vodka: Bloody base
Absolut Vodka: Crush
Absolut Vodka: Cosmo
Absolut Vodka: Swirl
Advertising Agency: TBWA, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Figliulo
Creative Director: Rob Baird
Associate Creative Directors / Art Directors: Kris Wixom, Hoj Jomehri, Thiago Zanato
Associate Creative Director / Copywriter: Alisa Sengel Wixom
Executive Producer: Matt Bijarchi
Director Art Production: Teresa Rad
Talent: Kate Beckinsale, Zooey Deschanel
Photographer: Ellen Von Unwerth
Production Designer: Kristen Vallow
Wardrobe Stylists: Nicola Formichetti, Kate Young
Hair Stylist: Jimmy Paul
Make Up Artists: James Kaliardos, Vasilios Tanis
Production: Moo Studios
Beauty Retouching: Box Studios
Retouching / Post-production: E-graphics
“Williams Murray Hamm has designed the bottle graphics for Absolut Flavor Of The Tropics, a new limited edition that will be launched exclusively in Duty Free/Travel Retail globally for a 6 month period. The product offers the travellers a new exotic vodka flavour that is not available in stores back home. Williams Murray Hamm, a leading packaging design agency in the UK, was tasked with putting an ‘Absolut twist’ on tropical fruit. From Florida and the Caribbean to Hawaii and the Seychelles, exotic fruits thrive in the humid weather of the sun-drenched tropics. Williams Murray Hamm’s design expresses the fruit through strikingly bright thermal images of the world map. It offers a brand new look for Absolut that captures this new exotic flavour and offers consumer the perfect souvenir from their intrepid journey.
“Absolut Tropics represents the first time we have been able to launch a brand new, innovative flavour exclusively to travelling consumers, people who are always on the lookout for something new and thrilling. For a leading edge, creative brand such as ABSOLUT, it’s crucial that we work with creative partners that can think laterally when answering a brief. The solution from Williams Murray Hamm lived up to our expectations and delivers something fresh and unexpected”
The newest special edition release from Absolut: "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD, you're with the band. To pay tribute to rock-and-roll — ABSOLUT is launching a limited edition bottle wrapped in a leather- and studs gift pack." Absolut collaborated with designer Natalia Brilli to create the leather and studded design.
========== IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD, YOUʼRE WITH THE BAND.
ABSOLUT VODKA presents a creative collaboration featuring visionary photographer Danny Clinch and Wolfmother to commemorate the launch of the limited edition ABSOLUT Vodka Rock Edition Bottle. Danny followed Wolfmother for several days in Los Angeles, shooting more than 4000 photos of the band and directing this documentary of the project. See more at http://www.absolut.com/rockedition.
======================== Check out the hour long movie: http://www.absolut.com/rockedition Documentary shot with rock photographer Danny Clinch in LA. To capture the viewer's attention with a fully immersive experience of hanging out with the band, Great Works has visually tagged all the footage with specific keywords that are searchable for an even more in depth interaction. Advertising Agency: Great Works, USA
Creative Director: Ted Persson
Account Director: Stefan Persson
Project Manager: Linn Tornérhielm
Production Manager: Marco Guzman
Creative: Jacob Åström, Fredrik Karlsson, Tor Rauden Källstigen & Jens Eriksson
Design: Fredrik Karlsson & Martin Löfqvist
Flash development: Fredrik Karlsson
Imagine buying movie tickets with kisses instead of cash, or repaying your local streetside violinist with embraces and not cold change.
ABSOLUT Vodka builds upon its "In an ABSOLUT World" campaign with "Kindness as Currency," a soul-warmy snapshot of a parallel universe where human contact is the end, not merely the means.
The charming piece is a jarring departure from past "ABSOLUT World" efforts .And, impressively, ABSOLUT's taking this particular worldview to real people.
“For the first time we dare to face the world completely naked. We launch a bottle with no label and no logo, to manifest the idea, that no matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that really matters. The bottle visually manifests our belief in diversity and our standpoint when it comes to sexual identities. Off course it is also a wonderful piece of delicate and minimalist design, a true collectors item” says Kristina Hagbard, Global PR Manager at The Absolut Company. ABSOLUT was one of the first commercial brands to openly embrace the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community and its ads have appeared in gay media since 1981. With this initiative, ABSOLUT is again showing its support for the LGBT community. “There are too many clichés associated with the LGBT community. LGBT people are often referred to as one homogenous group but when you think about it: does a 60-year old lesbian woman from South Korea necessarily have that much in common with a 20-year old gay man from Berlin, or a Brazilian transgender person of indeterminable age?” Kristina Hagbard continues. “By challenging labels and prejudice we want to explore problems around this subject, and at the same time promote a more diverse, vibrant and respectful world. The limited edition bottle will be launched globally in October 2009. It is the original ABSOLUT bottle, designed by Swedish designers Gunnar Broman and Hans Brindfors in 1979, but without the ABSOLUT logo and label. A discrete and easily removed sticker with the campaign manifesto encourages consumers to discard their labels and to visit absolut.com/nolabel – a blog discussing labels and prejudice associated with the LGBT community. ABSOLUT is also introducing a No Label fan page on Facebook, together with a Facebook app, which users can activate to show their support of a world without prejudice.”
Advertising Agency: Family Business, Stockholm, Sweden
Creative Director: John Lagerqvist
Designers: Mangus Lundgren, John Lagerqvist
Art Directors: Miki Grujovic, Christian Styffe, Fredrik Lindquist
Copywriter: Tove Norström
Photographer: Christoffer Edling
Released: June 2009
There is a lot
of talk about
BRANDING
these days
on the web.
I am not a
branding expert by any
means, but I know a good branding
campaign when I see one. One of the most
successful, most iconic AD campaigns in modern
history was done by Absolut Vodka. The campaign
transcended the reach of advertising, became part of
modern pop culture. To me, it was a showcase of art,
creativity and humanness at its finest. The 1500 or so
ADs made Absolut Vodka the most recognizable brand.
** “The Bottle Campaign” was way ahead of its time. **
ABSOLUT BOOK
“Absolut advertising is celebrated not just for its longevity but also for its ingenuity. Readers tear out the ads and hang them on their walls. Librarians have to guard their magazines from being de-Absoluted. College student actually collect and trade ads. A SoHo antique shop hawks copies of ABSOLUT WONDERLAND, while a Madison Avenue newsstand carefully razors the Absolut pages from its stock and sells them for a few dollars apiece (naturally, selling the magazines as well). What’s going on here?
Readers enjoy a relationship with this advertising that they have with few other advertising campaigns, especially in the print media. They are challenged, entertained, tickled, inspired, and maybe even befuddled as they try to figure out what’s happening inside an Absolut ad.”
-Richard W. Lewis, Absolut Book
I remember buying a magazine just for the Absolut Ad when I was younger. There’s a particular quality about the Absolut Ads that fascinated me. They were loud and subtle; worldly and intimate; retro and futuristic; aloof and sincere, abstract and explicit. Sometimes it seemed as if the whole campaign was a great art collection disguised as liquor Ads.
The Absolut campaign began in 1981, by TBWA. At the time, Absolut was selling 20,000 cases annually in the U.S., by 1995, the sales were over 3 million cases.
I recently bought my second copy of “Absolut Book.” The first copy I bought in the 90s got lost after a few moves. This time around, I’m actually taking the time to read the stories behind the campaign, rather than being lost in the art.
For Absolut fans, I strongly recommend this book and its sequel, fittingly named Absolut Sequel.
The book is written by Richard W Lewis, the TBWA account manager who oversaw the brand’s campaign. He gives great insights on the beginning of the Swiss Vodka maker, long before the popular phrase “Absolut ____” started. He also gives behind the scene details on each mini series.
ABSOLUT OBJECTS
ABSOLUT CITIES
ABSOLUT ART
ABSOLUT FASHION
ABSOLUT THEME ART
ABSOLUT FLAVORS
ABSOLUT EUROCITIES
ABSOLUT FILM & LITERATURE
ABSOLUT TAILOR-MADE
The “Bottle Campaign” has long ended. It effectively served the purpose of establishing the brand. Now Absolut Vodka has moved on to other Ad campaigns such as “In an Absolut World.
ABSOLUT SEQUEL
The ABSOLUT advertising story continues ...It’s been named one of the 10 best campaigns of the 20th century by America’s Advertising Age Magazine.
The iconic images of the ABSOLUT bottle - painted, deconstructed, reconstructed, dressed, undressed, decorated and transformed - have been created by some of the best-known and respected visual artists, wordsmiths and designers.
“The creative connections that the adverts in ABSOLUT SEQUEL portray are truly unique and sometimes surprising, from collaborations with rock stars to architects. Almost 10 years on from the launch of ABSOLUT BOOK, it is a timely follow-up on how the ABSOLUT brand’s iconic imagery has developed over this period and its continued advertising success,” says Michael Persson, Brand Director for ABSOLUT VODKA at V&S Absolut Spirits in Stockholm.
It’s this success that inspires Lewis: “Why are ABSOLUT ads so memorable? Why do collectors crave them? Why are famous artists and writers enthusiastic about creating them? The concept is easy and the execution brilliant. First, two simple words – and the first is always the same – second, a single stunning, image that complements the headline. Like a couple in love. It proves that advertising doesn’t have to be complicated; rather, advertising can and should respect people for their wit and intelligence. The most impressive, impfactful ads are often the simplest. This
knowledge is key to the ABSOLUT brand’s success.”
Absolut Vodka is one of the most recognizable and innovative brands in the world. Driven by their trademark Absolut ad publications. Absolut Vodka has taken a simple product, and created hundreds of different advertisements. Absolut has stayed ahead of the game with their unique ideas, and consistency within the brand. In this post, we will explore the consistent elements, the unique differences, and several different ad campaigns. Using their product as the star of the show, Absolut has created clever ad campaigns by using simple ideas, and great placement to build a fantastic brand.
Creating A Brand
We all recognize the advertisement when we see it, not just the logo but it’s full page of glory. Most companies put all their hard work into creating a recognizable logo and brand. Take Nike and McDonald’s for example, their logos are recognized world wide.
Absolut took a different approach to creating their brand. They didn’t just pour millions of dollars into the design of the logo, instead they focused on creating a recognizable brand for their product. Because of their their strong branding consumers worldwide recognize their logo, their product, and their ad campaigns. Seeing any of the design elements that are carried through the brand, we automatically know that we are looking at an Absolut ad.
From time to time, Absolut creates a collection or family of ads. These ads are usually found in the same publication, or found in a series of publications that relate to each other.
The Absolut Sin Collection is based on the seven sins; Absolut Seven, Absolut Gluttony, Absolut Greed, Absolut Sloth, Absolut Envy, Absolut Wrath, Absolut Pride, and Absolut Lust. Introduced in Australia, Summer 2001, the collection sticks together with consistent elements and layout. The traditional dark silhouette background, and the beautiful, clear, bottled product.
To keep the brand alive and fresh, Absolut Vodka has created some advertisements that don’t fit the standard brand. Absolut got creative with different respected musicians and artists. Not only this but used simple ideas and just placed their trademark vodka bottle in a very clever placement.
Good brands know when and how to take risks, and how to deliver time after time. How does a brand stay so strong by just working with a simple vodka bottle? Well Absolut has strayed away from the usual Absolut Bottle Spotlight ads from time to time. In An Absolut World is an ad campaign that stands alone, has no elements from their standard ad campaign, except for the font choice and product. These ads are much more creative and there is more of a story to be told with these ads.
\
