Sign up for Packaging Digest newsletters
Absolut Solves a Warhol Mystery
Rediscovered artwork translates into iconic, limited-time packaging for the Swedish vodka brand.
7 Slides
Already have an account?
Absolut
At a Glance
- The striking packaging design launched in airport duty-free shops ahead of a broader roll-out.
- Andy Warhol’s “blue” painting is reinterpreted on the spirits bottle using multilayer screen printing.
- Colors in the package graphics were carefully matched to Warhol’s paint and chalk colors.
Pernod Ricard’s Absolut Group is continuing its tradition of artistic limited-edition vodka bottles with the launch of Absolut Warhol.
The limited-edition packaging launched exclusively in the global travel retail (airport duty-free) channel on July 1, 2024, with sales in airports ranging from London Heathrow to Dubai International.
Starting in September, the bottles will roll out to retail and on-premise customers in 50-plus global markets. The limited edition comprises 2.2 million bottles in 700-ml and 1-L sizes.
The inspiration for the bottle’s striking graphics was an Andy Warhol product portrait, Absolut “blue,” which reappeared at auction in Stockholm in 2020. For decades, the artwork’s whereabouts had been unknown; its very existence was questioned.
Warhol produced “blue” in 1985, the same year he created “Absolut Vodka,” an image of a boldly decorated black Absolut bottle. “Absolut Vodka” subsequently became iconic, but “blue” fell out of sight.
“On hearing the news about Absolut ‘blue’ appearing at auction and realizing this might be the rumored second painting, The Spritmuseum, which houses the Absolut Art Collection, set about to verify if it was a Warhol original,” says Deb Dasgupta, vp marketing, The Absolut Group.
The museum found the original contract with Warhol and proved the work’s provenance: Absolut had commissioned both pieces. Absolut “blue,” now part of the Absolut Art Collection, will be unveiled at Stockholm’s Spritmuseum in October 2024 as the centerpiece of a new Warhol exhibition.
Through a licensing agreement with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Absolut obtained the right to create package graphics based on the colors and imagery in “blue.”
Screen printing à la Andy.
Ardagh Glass Packaging, Absolut’s bottle supplier, screen prints the package graphics directly on the bottles using a multilayer technique that requires six screens and five colors of glass-based enamel for each finished print.
The layering approach is similar to Warhol’s own screen printing technique, and all the Absolut Warhol screens are handmade. The colors are shades of blue and the same white that Warhol used in his chalk outlines in “blue.”
The product name, Absolut Warhol, is printed on the front of the bottle and “blue”-inspired imagery on the back. Ardagh prints the bottles at its plant in Limmared, Sweden.
“The graphics have been designed so that key elements, such as Warhol’s portrait and the Absolut ‘blue’ painting, are magnified by the Absolut Vodka within the bottle,” says Gavin Boland, marketing manager, portfolio and innovation, The Absolut Group.
“This is all then brought together with some other complementary design elements, such as Warhol’s signature in clear glass, details about the collaboration, and a screen-printed QR code for consumers in engage in even more beyond the bottle,” Boland explains.
To match the colors of the package graphics to those in “blue,” Absolut worked with Ardagh and Brand Union Stockholm, a design and brand development studio. The team analyzed the artwork and through trial and error matched the bottle’s glass-based enamel colors to the Pantone colors Warhol used.
“We dissected the painting and reimagined it [for] our bottle, making the painting the hero, brought to light by the magnification of the silky smooth vodka within,” Boland says.
Filling and labeling.
Bottle filling and final decorating touches occur at Absolut’s facility in Åhus, Sweden. Absolut applies a circular medallion label to the front of the bottle and a label with percent alcohol and other product information to the back.
The circular label, with a tactile surface that simulates brush strokes, displays Warhol’s interpretation of Absolut founder L.O. Smith.
Additionally, “as with all Absolut bottles, Absolut Warhol bottles have a tamper-resistant shrink neck label,” Boland says. “For this collaboration, the label is printed with Andy Warhol’s signature in the same off-white chalk color as the front logotype, for a seamless consistent design.”
In some countries, bottles sold at airport duty-free shops will also need a duty-free stamp or sticker. But if the stamp is on the back or neck of the Absolut Warhol bottle, it should not distract from the layered package graphics.
Duty-free bottles sold in the United Kingdom will definitely not suffer, as that country recently repealed its alcohol duty stamp regulation.
Warhol’s original “Absolut Vodka” painting was the first of the company’s bottle-centric commissions. Between 1985 and 2004, more than 550 artists created some 850 artworks portraying the Absolut bottle.
About the Author
You May Also Like
