Johnnie Walker
JOHNNIE WALKER x TRISTAN EATON
- Packaging Design
- Activations
FEATURED IN
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The Drum
It's Nice That
Johnnie Walker needed a gift pack concept to connect with younger luxury consumers. We saw street art as the brand’s next step.
THE CHALLENGE
Johnnie Walker is one of the world’s most iconic and enduring brands. However, shifting codes of status and challenges from American bourbon and Japanese whisky meant it was struggling for relevance with younger consumers. We started with a brief to create a new Johnnie Walker gift pack, but the real objectives were more ambitious: bring fresh energy to the brand’s Striding Man icon and capture the attention of the contemporary luxury crowd.
OUR RESPONSE
We knew connecting Johnnie Walker with street art culture could unlock an exciting new world for the brand, but the choice of artist had to be just right. We found the perfect collaborator in LA-based mural artist Tristan Eaton, a renowned creative whose bold, vibrant and intricate style could reflect the beauty and complexity of this celebrated whisky.
Tristan took inspiration from the heritage of Johnnie Walker and the liquid’s range of flavours and aromas to create a series of bespoke paintings, rich in layers of colour and character. We created a unique design for each of the brand’s trademark whiskies and turned the ordinary tin gift boxes into highly collectible ‘spray can’ packs. The campaign was brought to life in markets around the world as unmissable full-scale street murals.
THE DELUXE RANGE
For the deluxe range – Green, Gold and JW18 – a bold abstract crop of the artwork was hidden on the inside of the pack. This carried on through the top and bottom of the outer carton, contrasting beautifully with the crisp white outer to create real shelf stand-out.
REDEFINING LUXURY
Blue Label, the pinnacle of the range, came in an outer carry bag housing a luxurious inner box. This contained a limited-edition 75cl bottle and a smaller tester bottle carrying Tristan’s Blue Label artwork. The inner box was adorned with a specialised paper, embossed and clear foiled to create a more luxurious finish, with highlights of Tiffany hot foil.
The mini bottle had collectors and connoisseurs alike scrambling to add it to their collection. Tristan painted his original artwork on to a large canvas to reflect the stature of Blue Label as a work of art.
FROM BULGARIA WITH LOVE.
The project saw Tristan travel to local markets and create works that celebrated progress in the region. The artist’s interpretation of the Statue of Sveta Sofia, a monument known to represent power, wisdom and change, was poignantly created in the spot once occupied by a statue of Lenin during the Communist era.
Coverage in international style titles
100+
Global consumers reached through coverage
3000000+
