Diet Coke announces Jean Paul Gaultier as creative director for the brand
Diet Coke has announced Jean Paul Gaultier as its creative director for 2012, with the aim of amplifying the brand’s association with fashion.
As part of his new role, Gaultier has created a series of short films titled The Serial Designer, which will launch on Facebook between 8 March and 10 March.
Each film features one of the Diet Coke puppets, with Gaultier taking on the role of a therapist, a journalist and even a private detective as he helps solve their fashion emergencies.
Zoe Howorth, market activation director for Coca-Cola Great Britain, said: “We’re thrilled to have Jean Paul Gaultier on board as Creative Director for Diet Coke in 2012. Fashion is at the heart of the Diet Coke brand and this new partnership aims to further engage our fashion-forward, stylish target audience of young women. Gaultier’s avant-garde style offers the perfect match for Diet Coke, providing fashion must-haves for those with a ‘lighter approach’ to style and fashion.”
The designer will launch a range of limited edition cans and bottles, with an advertising campaign to follow later in the year.
Jean Paul Gaultier said: “The brand asked me to explore its fun personality and to style the bottle. I want to show people the codes and signatures I love. The bottles have the shape of a woman’s body, so it was great fun to ‘dress’ them. The Diet Coke motif is so beautiful I had to design around this. The finishing touch was to apply my logo to the bottle, like applying a fragile stamp – making it something special you want to touch.”
Other designers who have previously worked with Diet Coke include Manolo Blahnik, Patricia Field and Karl Lagerfeld.
Jean Paul Gaultier has combined his unique signature style and his fun light-hearted attitude to create the must-have fashion accessory of 2012. The collection themed ‘Night & Day’, pays homage to Gaultier’s infamous designs.
The ‘Night’ bottle has a sexy Rock Chick edge with a corset style reminiscent of Jean Paul Gaultier’s catwalk shows and iconic cone bra design. The provocative bottle is perfect for after dark – the lace and fishnet design highlights the female-like silhouette of the iconic bottle shape and adds a never-before-seen edginess to the Diet Coke limited edition collection.
The ‘Day’ bottle is inspired by Jean Paul Gaultier’s signature Breton stripes and captures his fun attitude. The iconic nautical-themed blue and white design showcases a stylish romantic everyday look. To complete the ensemble the shiny red bottle cap acts as a chic beret, and a star tattoo pays homage to Gaultier’s sailor muse.
Check out the official commercial for the launch here below.
The ‘Night & Day’ bottles are available across nine countries in Europe from April 2012. To complete the collection, a third limited-edition bottle will be launched later in the year. The exclusive ‘Tattoo’ design is inspired by Gaultier’s love of body art. Complementing the ‘Night & Day’ bottles, the ‘Tattoo’ design will be a nice collectors piece.