So, about the Heinz x Absolut pasta sauce

So there is it, everybody is doing it, so why can't I?

Everyone is - and rightly so - speaking about the Heinz x Absolut vodka pasta sauce. In case you can log to this link here, you'll get all the info. Well Heinz is fresh from the triumph that even AI understands Ketchup as its own distinctive branding (here) or that in 2021 when people were asked to draw ketchup it invariably was Heinz that was drawn (here). 

Well, Heinz admits it is late to the game, but well, they did catch up indeed offering all kinds of pasta alla vodka, as well as cocktail recipes and the list continues. The ads above by Wunderman Thompson Spain were inspired by 80s Absolut vodka ads - and before anyone says anything, no I could not locate the originals for all my research. I mean yes, it is obvious they resemble classic Absolut ads from the heyday but also I could not locate which.

Now considering I am very biased towards old ads I find these speak to me personally, and yes I like the retro element in them (you might like these links as well - here, here or some fine samples here), which go back to the time when to misquote that Smirnoff ad which I cannot find anywhere "the bottle was more important than the vodka" but I guess I am doing the cardinal sin here of mentioning a competitor...

Dyva Vodka. Too many words leave me speechless

I guess it takes no genius to figure out that whomever did the "(G)Old Cask" whisky ad, is the same person who did this one (here). The first indicator is "celebrate with 329000" - at today's black market rate that would be 7,83 USD. The other indicator is the 6 or 7 different typographies present. And the obnoxious amount of information present (I suppose whomever did it skipped the "single minded" lecture). So anyhow, for that amount of money you get 2 bottles of Dyva Vodka - 1 LED, and 2 free hyper energy drinks. There is even a website at the bottom of the ad (here) which is surprisingly not half bad as a presence. "Reveal your other side"... ah well... 

Blue lace vodka - another spirit dropped at the end of the year

Remember I already spoke about how new alcohol brands suddenly appear at the end of the year (here), add Blue Lace vodka to the list (here). I have an unfounded feeling that Blue Lace and Blak whisky are somehow related (same distiller? same importer or distributor?) because somehow there at least some creative thinking behind both - naming, branding, packaging, and yes both are getting ads (apparently black as I said got some TV media whereas Blue Lace is just OOH (out of home) and digital).

Blue Lace is going with the idea of "break the ice" - all right, this is a little stretching the double meaning - but it goes both ways as in "getting to know people" and "well, breaking some ice to add to the alcohol cup" (which in the visual are more like icebergs).

New Lebanese gin and vodka named after endangered species

How about a naming branding/masterstroke?

Leave it to Mink to come up with incredible names for two varieties of gin and vodka which are locally produced in Lebanon by Double Shake. Their thinking was oblique to say the least. The two most endangered species in Lebanon are the Wagtail bird and the Loggerhead Turtle. And here we are - from endangered species to alcoholic drinks! Obviously, the packaging is rockstar as well.

Seriously, I am impressed. Whomever came up with the naming has done a tremendous job and whomever translated it visually also deserves respect.