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Work — Pernod Ricard · BFS Studio, Ho Chi Minh City

Ballantine’s— Every Scale a Chevron

Client
Pernod Ricard
Industry
Spirits & Wine
Services
Packaging DesignTết Packaging
Market
Vietnam — Hà Nội · Đà Nẵng · Hồ Chí Minh
Year
2023
Credits
BFS Studio
The Ballantine’s Tết 2024 pack standing on deep blue, chevron tessellation across the front
( 01 )

THE BRIEF

A Tết 2024 special edition across two tiers — Ballantine’s Finest and Ballantine’s 18 The Glenburgie — that had to feel like the Year of the Dragon without the pack turning into a dragon illustration. Ballantine’s guidelines are strict about the chevron: it is lifted from the bottle itself, and it does not get decorated.

( 02 )

WHAT WE DID

So the festivity is not applied on top — it is built out of the brand’s own geometry. 2024 was the Year of the Dragon, and a dragon is scales; a chevron is a scale. Three moves, in order: the tile at brand scale, the facet that releases it into light, the face that resolves it into a dragon. One object is allowed to break the tessellation — the wax seal. The 18 keeps the same construction and swaps material: gold hexagons, botanicals, a kumquat that reads as Glenburgie citrus and as Tết at the same time.

( 03 )

OUTCOME

Delivered for Tết 2024 across both tiers of the range, with the pattern built from the brand’s own chevron rather than borrowed seasonal ornament.

( 04 )

THE WORK

The two packs side by side — Ballantine’s Finest and Ballantine’s 18 The Glenburgie
Ballantine’s Finest and Ballantine’s 18 The Glenburgie
The Ballantine’s bottle, the chevron visible in the shoulder of the label
The bottle — where the chevron comes from
The core Ballantine’s logo with its chevron device
The core logo
A bar interior with the chevron built at architectural scale in neon
The chevron at architectural scale
The pack front — a dragon formed entirely from chevron tiles, every scale a chevron
Every scale a chevron
Element one — the chevron tile at brand scale
Element 01 — the tile
Element two — the facet, the tile released into a lit plane
Element 02 — the facet
Element three — the face, chevrons resolving into the dragon’s head and the seal
Element 03 — the face
The chevron held at full width across the pack as a window onto the pattern
The chevron held at full width, as a window
The wax seal — the one object allowed to break the tessellation
Element 04 — the wax seal, the one break in the tessellation
Three colourway routes shown together — white, Ballantine’s blue and metallic silver
Three colourways — white selected
The production dieline with the tessellation running across every panel
Production dieline
The flank panel with the vertical wordmark
Element 05 — the flank
The finished pack front
Front
The pack back carrying the mandatory print
Back, mandatory print
The pack opened with the bottle inside
Opened, with bottle
Ballantine’s 18 The Glenburgie artwork — gold hexagons and botanicals on dark ground
Tier II — Ballantine’s 18 The Glenburgie
Element — the gold hexagonal frame
Gold hexagonal frame
Element — the kumquat, read as Glenburgie citrus and as Tết
The kumquat — Glenburgie citrus, and Tết
Element — leaf and blossom botanicals
Leaf and blossom
The 18 pack opened with the bottle
Opened, with bottle
Both tiers side by side, showing the same shape at two temperatures
Two tiers, one shape
Next Aberlour — A Door, Not a Colour
( 05 )

NEXT PROJECT

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( 06 )

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