The 2024 programme sees a return for Andy Warhol, 39 year’s after the visual artist’s first design for Absolut. Around 2m units of a ‘blue’ painting-inspired pack will go on sale worldwide this week, initially as a global travel retail exclusive for two months.
A further 50+ domestic markets will stock the bottle from September.
Warhol, who passed away in 1987, was the first artist to collaborate with Absolut two years prior to his death. Since then, the brand has partnered with a raft of other artists and designers for an annual, limited-edition pack run. This year’s design was chosen after a previously-unknown piece of artwork by Warhol featuring the Absolut bottle went up for auction in 2020. The Absolut ‘blue’ painting confirmed that the original contract with the artist had commissioned two paintings.
“This launch will be of huge significance to the evolution of Absolut in travel retail … ,” said Pernod Ricard’s VP of global marketing in GTR, Liya Zhang. “We are delighted that through this partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation, we can … delight existing fans whilst also recruiting new generations of consumers.”
Available in 70cl and 1-litre bottles, the Andy Warhol Limited Edition of Absolut will retail for US$22 and $24, respectively, in GTR.
In results for the six months to the end of December – Pernod Ricard’s fiscal first half – Absolut delivered a 2% dip in year-on-year sales as volumes declined by 10%. The group will report its figures for fiscal 2024 on 29 August.
