Gold
Design
Craft: Art Direction Campaign

Whisky is a matter of personal preference, and consumer purchasing decisions are often determined by brand name, place of origin, and price.

In Japan, the market has been uniquely shaped by widespread popularity of the highball (whisky and soda), which has been aggressively advertised by many whisky producers.

This has created a highly polarised market, sharply divided between premium brands and mass-market products. It is within this context that whisky brands have traditionally competed for the attention of Japanese consumers.

Our work was a major branding project for Nikka Whisky in Japan.

Overseas, Nikka’s premium whiskies are highly acclaimed, but most Japanese are unaware of this, and of the company’s long history. In fact, Nikka’s founder was the first distiller to make pot still whisky in Japan.

And despite initial local resistance to the taste of whisky, he firmly believed that Japanese people would — and should — eventually learn to appreciate rich flavour of genuine whisky.

We developed a new brand story based on the founder of Nikka Whisky’s belief that ‘whisky is not just a drink, but a spirit that inspires people to celebrate the joy of life’. We stripped away all labels — from the product, and from the people who consume it — and depicted a life unbound by conventional perceptions about age, gender, and social status.

Through dramatic use of silhouettes, we created a new visual storytelling language that does not rely on the name of the product or people’s faces to deliver its message. By illuminating the essence of whisky itself, we redefined whisky culture for the consumers of today.

To maximise impact, we also eschewed separate brand communications for individual products. Instead, we unified communications under the concept of a ‘Nikka Master Brand’, that encompassed the diversity of ways in which whisky can be enjoyed. In our visuals, we also deliberately avoided the use of the ‘sizzle’ imagery commonly used in alcoholic beverage advertising, and adopted a more artistic style to spark the imagination of our audience.

And instead of mass marketing, we strategically launched our campaign from Tokyo’s Omotesando district, an area that is home to many upscale fashion and lifestyle brands, and targeted early adopters and influencers who could help drive top-down message dissemination.

Our campaign transformed Nikka’s image from ‘staid and old-fashioned’ to ‘innovative and sophisticated’, leading to a 112% increase in sales*1 of Nikka western-style wines and spirits.

Customers at the flagship bar exceeded targets by 150%, earning media exposure valued at 380 million yen*2 and a 524.5% improvement in brand image.*3 In an era of declining alcohol consumption, the campaign resonated with younger, non-traditional whisky drinkers, generating buzz on social media that extended beyond alcohol to lifestyle products, further embedding Nikka into modern culture. By launching in Omotesando, we moved beyond traditional mass-market whisky advertising and redefined Nikka’s place in the contemporary luxury market.

The domestic success of this initiative also led to discussions about rolling it out in global markets from 2025 onward. Through it all, we transformed the Nikka brand and consumer perceptions of whisky, redefining them beyond labels, conventions, and expectations.

*1 112% sales increase based on 2024 global sales of Nikka brand western-style wines and spirits (excluding Japanese shochu and sake).

*2 JPY380 million media exposure value (approximate) based on highest single-day Flagship Bar customer traffic. *3 524.5% improvement in brand image based on a survey of Flagship Bar patrons and non-patrons asking if they felt Nikka had a ‘youthful’ brand image.