Coley Porter Bell has created a summer of 2012 limited edition souvenir bottle for Beefeater Gin that goes beyond conventional imagery to celebrate the energy and diversity of the real London.
The message in the bottle is that if you want to see the real London this summer you have to take a deeper look. It makes the point with a shrink wrap in Beefeater red, which also happens to be the red of London Buses, phone boxes and pillar boxes. (In the UK the bottle is printed for regulatory reasons). A transparent panel in the shape of a Beefeater provides the conventional tourist view of London.
But if you want to see the real London you have to take a moment to look inside the bottle. On the inner surfaces of the shrink wrap is a montage of images celebrating the diversity of contemporary London life and its creative culture. There are punks and models in Vivienne Westwood skirts, a lamp post, cups of tea, guardsmen, Bollywood dancers and Pearly Kings and Queens.
They all go to emphasise Beefeater's positioning as the authentic London Gin. Beefeater is London's oldest gin, first distilled in Chelsea in 1820. It is still made in London today at the Beefeater distillery in Kennington - the only major London Dry Gin distilled in the capital.
"We wanted to create an interesting souvenir for those coming to London this summer and we wanted to stand out from all the other memorabilia," said Coley Porter Bell design director Stuart Humm. "We thought that the idea of 'being in the know', giving an insider's view of London, was a compelling way to communicate Beefeater's London credentials. It was a logical step to put the images of London on the inside of the packaging. It adds intrigue, stands out on shelf and is very different."