Smirnoff collaboration with D*Face
The other day I managed to get my hands on a ticket to the launch event of a new limited edition bottle from Smirnoff in collaboration with D*Face. It all started with the invitation (below), a gold embossed hard black card with a bespoke gold coin-resting central to an emblem that crowned the script of the invitation. A lovely execution that unbeknown to me was a ticket to gold!
The event was held at Wilton’s Music Hall in East London – a beautiful venue with a lot of character. With a specially created Smirnoff cocktail in hand we walked through to the main room where we were faced with a huge concrete block that looked like it had fallen from the roof, smashing up the floorboards and interrupting the space dramatically. Peeking through the windows on either side of the block we were witness to a winding conveyer factory where minion-like workers applied layered details of graphics and colour to bottles travelling down the belt.
The bottle itself is unlike any limited edition I’ve seen. A Smirnoff Red encased in a block of concrete that serves as a canvas for D*Face’s iconic art. He is quoted saying, “the ‘art’ bottle is a path well trodden. It couldn’t be just another shrink wrapped bottle, [it is] critical to me that the end result stands out and the collaboration reflects that”. With Smirnoff it really feels like he has achieved his goal.
As the bottles made their way to the other end of the installation, they were packed up individually in a special briefcase handcuffed to the wrist of a worker who then took it to a ‘quality controller’. The QC looked to assess the quality of the art piece whilst tallying the amount passing through his watchful eye. From there it was re-packed and taken to the front room where they were given to special guests. I certainly wasn’t a special guest – I just had the right ticket!
The whole event was brilliantly put together and made a real drama out of the collaboration, one that you might come to expect from an inspiring street artist and a creative vodka brand. However, limited editions just aren’t limited anymore and too often we see brand collaborations just for the sake of it. We no longer seek out limited editions just because of exclusivity. Rather, we seek them out because they resonate with us emotionally. D*Face and Smirnoff have created a unique story together which they delivered to great effect.
In: Art, Brand communications, Brand Experience, Events, Food and Drink, New launches, Product design, Structural design · Tags: D*Face, limited edition vodka, Smirnoff, Street art, Vodka
on July 11, 2012 at 7:42 am
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I want one. Simple as that.