Stella Artois claims to have the oldest logo in the world. Its horns reference the Den Hoorn brewery which opened in Leuven, Belgium, in 1366. In 1708, Sebastian Artois bought and renamed the business, and “Stella” – Latin for Star – was added to the name in 1926, when it released its first seasonal beer, the Christmas Star. To tap into the storied history of the company’s branding, Buenos Aires-based creative agency GUT decided to search through historical artworks on the chance that the beer’s logo could’ve made an appearance all those centuries ago.
“We developed an algorithm that analyzed each painting, and, based on variables such as the year when it was painted, geographical location, the type of glass, and the color or the liquid, we cross-referenced that data with the brand’s extensive historical records, resulting in a percentage that indicates the with a probability the presence of a Stella Artois in those paintings,” Haroldo Moreira, copywriter at GUT writes.The resulting campaign, created in partnership with the Bellas Artes Museum and dubbed “The Artois Probability,” yielded a series of print ads and outdoor billboards.
“All masterpieces, whether high or low probability, are now part of our campaign, hoping that you think of Stella Artois every time you see a beer in a painting,” adds Moreira
