Johnnie Walker Launches Blue Label ‘Cities Of The Future 2220’

Johnnie Walker celebrated the whisky’s 200th anniversary in 2020, and now the brand is looking to the future for a utopian vision of world cities 200 years from now.

A recent collaboration with digital artist Luke Halls finds Johnnie Walker exploring what’s described as themes of geoengineering, AI empowerment and future technology in a new collection of 10 limited edition designs for the Johnnie Walker Blue Label line.

Emma Walker, Johnnie Walker’s master blender, said in a prepared statement the Johnnie Walker journey is 200 years in the making. “And since those early days when our founder John Walker first threw open the doors to a small grocery shop in rural Scotland in 1820, we’ve always looked to the future with a defiant optimism and a firm belief in progress. Luke Halls’ illustrations are the exciting embodiment of this ideal.”

These new bottle illustrations feature Halls’ interpretation of Mars 2220, and envisions humanity as a multi-planetary civilization with bustling colonies on the red planet. Earth and Moon appear in the skies above, which he said is a powerful reminder not only of how far humans have come, but that when people walk forward together, they can achieve anything.

Luke, who has worked with artists such as Adele, Rihanna, U2, and Beyonce, said, “The idea of continued collective progress in the world really fires my imagination. I love that Johnnie Walker is so forward-looking in its approach.”

“That’s why thinking about how these cities might look in the future is so interesting to me. What excites me is the chance to bring this to life with the same dedication to craft that the team brings to Johnnie Walker Blue Label.”

The new Blue Label collection features the cities London, Hainan, Taipei, Mexico City, Seoul, Sydney, Bangkok, Berlin, Singapore, and Mars.

And those getting a bottle can be transported into Halls’ worlds of 2220 by scanning an NFC on the front of the bottle with a smartphone.