Retro Packaging in Vintage Style at Capri-Sonne, Coca-Cola & Co.

Corporate or product anniversaries are appropriate opportunities for breathing new life into product packaging with retro-style special editions. In the beverage industry we have seen not one but several of such retrospectives of the early days of a success story over the past few years.   

This year is still young – “Capri-Sonne” is not: for half a century the stand-up pouch with a practical hole for the included straw has been popular the world over and not just with children.

To mark its 50th anniversary tradition-rich Capri Sun company re-introduced its former “lemon” flavour into the range for a limited period of time. And what’s more: for the campaign period the Swiss company will also change the Capri-Sun logo on the packaging launched in 2017 back to “Capri-Sonne”.

The success story of the soft drink started in 1969 with its lemon and orange flavours, followed later on by apple. Like the current packaging the limited edition is also made of a lightweight, three-layer composite film consisting of aluminium, polyester and polyethylene and holds 200 millilitres.

Logotype and font on the silver packaging very much echo the original design from 1969. In addition to the special-edition packs retro metal plates will be displayed as eye-catchers at the PoS and prize draws organised on social media.

At present, Capri Sun is available in some 120 countries worldwide. The anniversary editions will only be sold in Germany.

Another popular drink is celebrating this year – in Austria. Here the first Coca-Cola bottles appeared in 1929. From March 2019 thirsty consumers, collectors and fans of this brand can acquire re-designed 0.33 l glass bottles in a retro design. To make sure nobody misses the campaign just under 3,400 posters in almost 1,000 locations all over the country will advertise the anniversary.  

Already in 2015, the contoured Coca-Cola bottles turned 100. Back in 1915 a competition was organised for the glass packaging that remains so unmistakeable until this very day. The brief read: the bottle has to be recognised immediately even blind-fold. It was a coffee bean that finally gave the winner the brilliant idea. 1961 saw the Coca-Cola bottle being registered as a trademark itself. The reason being that according to a survey 99% of Americans felt they could identify the brand by the shape of the bottle alone.  

Over the years the bottle was developed further and its material and design adapted to trends of the age. Even renowned artists were inspired by the shape including Andy Warhol, who created his “Coca-Cola Bottles” series in 1962.

The company celebrated the anniversary with special editions of the contoured glass bottles with different retro-design labels around the globe. Particularly well received were each of the ten bottles in the limited collector’s edition – one for each decade including past campaign motifs. On top of this, the envelope was also pushed in terms of the personalisation of motifs: not only the name but also shoppers’ own portrait could be printed onto Coke bottle and cans for a limited period of time.

Pepsi Cola has been sold since 1898 - which means twelve decades to be celebrated! This is why the US company started a marketing campaign in 2018 re-launching, among other things, their original Pepsi Cola can under the heading “Pepsi Generations” in a total of 55 countries around the globe. In the USA this limited edition in retro-design packaging made it back to the shelves in 12-ounce cans, 20-ounce bottles and 2-litre bottles comprising the complete Pepsi product range.  

Fanta also lived up to its “fantastic” name: in 2015 the packaging designers of the new or rather old reusable glass bottle for “Fanta Klassik” received the award “Packaging of the Year” from the German Packaging Museum. Back then the 75^th brand anniversary of the popular orangeade triggered the re-design of the non-slip “looped bottle”. The timeless shape was designed by Frenchman Raymond Loewy in 1955.

An exquisite beverage in an exquisite gift box – this may have been the designers’ idea when they created the special edition of the 1l Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whisky bottle in 2016. To commemorate the brand’s 150^th birthday they conceived exclusive packaging for this limited rarity for which the alcohol content was increased from 45% to 50% by way of exception.