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By Elena Langlois
General apple Coca-Cola Bottling Company Kraft Foods Österreich Veuve Clicquot PonsardinOne of the sure signs of summer is dining al fresco. Whether it is a drinks-and-nibblies on a patio, a backyard barbecue or a picnic at the park, good weather, food and company are best enjoyed outdoors this time of the year. And thanks to the famed champagne house Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin of Reims, France, even enjoying chilled Brut outdoors was possible this summer without the inconvenience of lugging an ice-bucket around, thanks to clever packaging whereby a chilled 750-ml bottle of champagne is placed inside a neoprene-lined jacket—fitted with a well-hidden zipper—that keeps the bottle condensation-free, while eliminating slipperiness and the dreaded ‘ring-marks’ on the table.
The exterior of the form-fitted Ice Jacket2 is made from an iridescent woven fabric in the famed Veuve Clicquot yellow, with a smart brown leather strap embossed with the champagne house’s name securing the neck closed, and a matching window bearing a label for the contents inside. A very practical and classy bit of value-added, reusable packaging to tempt shoppers to splurge a little on the finer things in life.
While I normally tend to smirk at the touristy kitsch of souvenirs that get passed my way as ‘wish you were here’ mementos from traveling friends and family, I was quite taken in when my mom retuned from an early-summer excursion through Central Europe bearing a box of marzipan-filled chocolates purchased in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birthplace of Salzburg, Austria. Made by Kraft Foods Österreich, this 200-gram box of Echte Salzburger Mozartkugeln chocolates is something of an artistic masterpiece in its own right—using a high-end, gold-trim paperboard box ingeniously formed in the shape of a violin and bearing an attractive, regalesque image of one of Austria’s greatest national cultural heroes. Inside, a dozen gold foil-wrapped balls sit neatly in a molded plastic tray—each bearing the same famed cameo image—as well as a detailed information sheet describing the chocolate and making tongue-in-cheek references to the conventional, run-of-the-mill, square-shaped chocolate boxes that are typically used to package such a product.
Elena Langlois is a freelance writer living in Toronto.
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