Every year, Absolut brings out a limited edition bottle. In 2018, the brief was to create one around the theme of love that both resonated with Absolut’s target audience and made a positive impact to the world. The budget was £400,000, but the scale of the project would only be determined by how many of Absolut’s global markets wanted the limited edition bottle on sale in their own country. In this respect, the campaign exceeded expectations and was sold into virtually every market available in a large variety of different locations. From airports to supermarkets. Overall, there were more than two million bottles produced for over 80 different countries.

To help champion love on the Absolut limited edition bottle, our solution was to transform the very thing that counteracts it. Hate. Because still today, hundreds of hate groups spread messages of racism, homophobia and fear around the world. Hateful messages that prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community and minority groups. A demographic Absolut has progressively supported since the early 1980’s and the target audience for the 2018 limited edition bottle. This campaign aimed to transform those hateful messages into a symbol of love and hope. Absolut travelled to hate protests across three continents, collected their signs, and used a unique process called de-inking to extract the ink. That ink was then repurposed and used to print messages of love onto over two million Absolut bottles.

To transform hate into love, Absolut collected signs from: Neo-Nazis in Florida, The Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, the English Defence League in Doncaster, the Scottish Defence League in Edinburgh, the AFD in Hanover, the Pegida in Dresden, a Locov protest in Sofia and a right wing march in Melbourne. Every sign was then transported to a special facility in Alicante called Cadel Deinking where we extracted the ink and used it to print messages of love onto every ‘Absolut Drop’ bottle. The campaign was launched with a 60” social film that told the story of how the bottle was created along with print and additional social assets. A concise explanation of the project was also printed on the back of every bottle explaining how it was produced. Over two million bottles were sent to over 80 different markets; often to the very countries home to hate groups and propaganda.

The Absolut Drop bottle was the largest initiative for Absolut in 2018. The campaign helped to further strengthen the brands ties with the LGBTQ+ community and it’s mission for a more open and progressive world. The campaign was picked up by 14 different news outlets such as: The Metro, Pink news, Gaytimes and GCN. The campaign had 22.1 million media impressions and even encouraged over 11,000 consumers to share their own interpretations and experiences of love. As a result, the campaign not only created purpose and value for the brand, but equally helped empower a community that are so often prejudiced against. A further illustration of Absolut’s devotion and support towards them. Throughout the whole project the campaign and bottles reached over 80 different countries such as: Britain, Sweden, Poland, South Korea and Singapore. More than two million bottles were produced.