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Boxed set for vodka celebrates Stones' 50th

A boxed set commemorating the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary features Crystal Head Vodka presented on a stage-like platform and double doors outlined with a gold zipper.

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In celebration of the Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary, premium spirits brand Crystal Head Vodka has released a limited-edition commemorative gift set in a sturdy, rock and roll-inspired carton richly decorated with Stones’ symbology. Crystal Head Vodka was co-founded by comedian and actor Dan Aykroyd, who developed the brand to “unmask the alcohol and focus on its purity.” The Canadian-made liquor is filtered three times through 500-million-year-old crystals and uses as its primary packaging a glass skull, supplied by Bruni Glass, that represents the 13 quartz-crystal heads of legend.

Designated in 2012 as the officially authorized vodka for the Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary worldwide celebration, Crystal Head worked with Universal Music Canada, and the band’s licensing company, Bravado, to create the ultimate gift set for music fans. While Crystal Head provided the graphic elements for the gift set, the company selected ASG (AGI-Shorewood Group), a supplier with extensive experience in entertainment-related packaging, to design the carton structure and the layout of the graphics, as well as provide the final package.

Explains Mark Preece, Creative Director, Structural Package Design, for ASG, “Crystal Head wanted to take a step away from the traditional liquor packaging that you see in stores and come up with something special. They really wanted to capture the essence of the Rolling Stones.”

Adds ASG Senior Vice President of Sales, Consumer Packaging, Keith Kiedinger, “Fifty years is pretty significant, and at the end of the day, the direction was to make a very significant package that would reflect that.”

During the design process, artists at ASG’s creative services division, Spark!, sketched seven potential concepts for the structure, from which three were made into renderings. The winning concept—a carton with double doors on the front fitted with a gold zipper, and a platform inside suggesting a stage, to hold the vodka bottle—was then made into a prototype. “At that point, it was a matter of applying the graphics,” says Preece.

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