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Love teams up with Chinese illustrator for new Johnnie Walker packaging designs

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

October 4, 2012 | 2 min read

Creative agency Love has collaborated with Chinese artist Chen Xingxing on its latest packaging for Diageo’s Johnnie Walker whisky - a limited edition design to mark the harvest Moon Festival being celebrated by the Chinese this month.

Keen to give the traditional story behind the festival a contemporary twist, Love commissioned Xingxing, an artist and graduate from the Tsinghua Academy of Arts & Design, to work up an illustration.

The intricate design shows Johnnie Walker's recognisable striding man becoming part of the lunar story as he takes a step towards the moon.

Dave Palmer, creative director at Love, said: "Our brief to Chen was to capture the traditional essence of the moon festival design with a youthful, contemporary eye. Her work stood out as it had the premium quality that we were looking for as well as being highly detailed and vibrant.”

Four differently coloured variants of the illustration have been produced to run across the Johnnie Walker packaging: Gold Label Reserve, Platinum Label, Black Label and Red Label.

As part of the packaging a pocket sized booklet has also been designed to continue the story telling theme with details of the Walker family story and the launch of their whisky.

This is Love's first collaboration with a Chinese artist since the agency, originally from Manchester, launched its Shanghai office last March.

Jing Lien, general manager of Love's Shanghai office, said: “Local talent, local insight and an understanding of Chinese culture are key to the success of projects such as this and we are looking forward to developing other such creative collaborations over the coming months.”

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