I came across this idea and supporting experience design in my interweb travels and it struck me as brilliantly executed. The design work along is beautiful and memorable. Sid Lee, the agency behind the work, crafted a boutique experience with a dual goal. 1. Promote Absolut’s new flavor, Elyx, and 2. Help put a dent in the safe water crisis. Here is there short description:
For 1.8 billion people (yes, billion) safe water is an unattainable luxury. For the rest of us, it’s literally on tap. Absolut Elyx is a luxury vodka made with real integrity. But they believe it’s not enough to be made with integrity, they must act with integrity as well. So Absolut Elyx partnered with Water For People, the global water charity, on a five-year mission to bring safe water to 100,000 people, for generations to come. And they asked for our help. We had an interesting proposition: Let’s help solve the global water crisis one copper pineapple at a time. So we created The Elyx Water Truck Boutique — a vintage truck we transformed into a bespoke pop-up experience — and hit the road during the holiday gifting season. Its goal: Spread hospitality and compel allpassersby to do the same. Over nine days in NYC, LA and Miami over 5,800 guests stepped inside the truck to experience the eclectic hospitality of Absolut Elyx firsthand. Inside, they enjoyed Absolut Elyx-inspired water cocktails and shopped the Elyx Copper Pineapple drinking vessel — our modern interpretation of the symbolic fruit of hospitality. With each one sold, the partnership donated a month’s supply (560 liters) of safe water to people who need it most. The activation resulted in 350 Elyx Copper Pineapples sold, 258% over our goal, which helped provide 2,226 people with sustainable access to safe water.
The subtle touches of copper on the facade do little to prepare you for the onslaught of gorgeous copper on the inside. Draw all the metaphors you want, but it’s simply beautiful and powerful. I’m not 100% on board with the giving back part. I think with something as big as safe water, a brand should either be a part of it, or let it go. Attached it to a promotional moment seems cheap and ploy-driven. Beyond that nitpick, the design work and idea are fantastic.
Created by Sid Lee
Executive Creative Director: Dan Chandler
Associate Creative Director: Ryan O’Keefe
Senior Art Director: Andre Gidoin
Designer: Thorbjørn Gudnason & Jessica Marak
Type Design: Thorbjørn Gudnason
Design Director: Verena Michelitsch
Producer: Oscar Pere & Kat Kim
