Huge Norwegian soft drink bottle to set sail in March

OSLO, Norway and SANTA CRUZ, Spain – The maker of Norwegian soft drink Solo has embarked on an extraordinary project to introduce the beverage outside of Norway – by advertising it through a large bottle that will set sail from the Canary Island on March 13, at 11.30am at Marina San Miguel, Tenerife.

About 26-feet long and 2.5 tonnes, the floating bottle will carry a case of Solo and a 12-square-metre letter.

“We believe Solo is the best soda in the world, but unfortunately not enough people outside of Norway have had the chance to taste it yet. Deciding who should be the lucky ones to get a taste was too heart-breaking, so we decided to leave it to the ocean currents,” says Joakim Sande, CEO of Solo.

The project also involves polar explorer Jarle Andh?y and the owner of Koeningsegg supercars.

B?rd Eker, the co-owner of such companies as Hydrolift, Koenigsegg and Eker Design Group, has been in charge of creating the huge bottle. It has insurance and the required navigation lights for a drifting object in international waters, not to mention solar panels, satellite-connection and tracking technology. A 140-litre fresh water tank with remote controlled nozzles will clear the lenses of the custom-made camera which will upload a picture every 8 hours. “It just might be the greatest bottle ever made...probably the most expensive one too,” says Mr Eker.

The journey of the Solo bottle can be tracked via Facebook.