Pernod Ricard uncaps new bottle designs

-- Packaging Digest, 3/1/2007

Spirits maker Pernod Ricard, Paris, recently worked with O-I (www.o-i.com) on a new glass package requiring cross-functional coordination and a special design for its Wild Turkey American Honey bourbon/honey liqueur blend and Russell's Reserve small-batch bourbon.

Both come in 375- and 750-mL flint glass bottles. Instead of obtaining the glass bottles through a distributor, the liquor company worked directly with an O-I new-product-development team from North America and Europe to provide the distinctive containers. Wild Turkey American Honey was launched in September 2006. Its sleek bottle has a tall, square shape with beveled edges and contemporary labeling, which met Pernod Ricard's design and capabilities requirements. The bottle for Russell's Reserve addresses a manufacturing challenge to create a thick base. O-I manufactures the bottles at its plant in Holzminden, Germany, which is equipped to modify molds and can accommodate short runs. The applied ceramic labeling (ACL) decoration was coordinated through decorators StanPac, Inc. (www.stanpacnet.com) and Quebec's Sérigraphie Richford (www.serigraphierichford.com). The Wild Turkey bottle is labeled front and back so that a silhouette-style image of a turkey on the back panel shows through the front.