CHIVAS 12 JAPAN
HI-BALL SERVES
CLASHING JAPANESE CULTURE WITH FLAVOUR-NOTES OF THE BLEND
WE CLASHED JAPANESE CULTURE WITH HI-BALL FLAVOUR NOTES
LOW-FI JAPANESE POSTER- GRIT MET SCOTTISH HERITAGE
the breakdown
overview
Chivas tasked Thumbstoppers with reimagining the Chivas Hi-Ball for a globally aware, culture-first audience.
The challenge was to balance Scottish heritage with Japanese influence, reframing the serve as contemporary, premium, and socially fluent. This was not about a static drink shot. It was about building a visual world that could live natively across social platforms while honouring provenance.
Stage 1 focused on pressure-testing bold creative territories capable of scaling into motion, paid media, and global roll-out.
execution
We developed three distinct creative routes, each exploring the duality at the heart of the Hi-Ball: Scotland and Japan, tradition and modernity, craft and energy.
Hi-Ball World
An abstract Japanese dreamscape anchored by the hero glass. Cherry blossoms, bilingual ticker typography, and Shibuya-inspired crossings fused with Scottish symbolism and the Luckenbooth. A strong vanishing point drew the eye directly to the serve, creating depth and scroll-stopping composition.
Tokyo Hologram
A hyper-modern cityscape where the Hi-Ball appears as a towering hologram billboard. Crowds gather beneath it, merging street culture with premium codes. Inverted Scottish Highlands framed the skyline, visually reinforcing the cultural collision. Black and gold dominated the palette, amplifying status and impact.
Bubbles
This route elevated carbonation itself as a brand device. A 3D orb suspended the Hi-Ball within a golden, effervescent world. Floating Luckenbooths and abstract forms created a playful yet premium environment. The bubble became both metaphor and visual asset, owning the lightness that differentiates the serve.
Each concept was designed with motion in mind, ensuring strong potential for animation, paid amplification, and modular social deployment across formats.
outcome
Stage 1 delivered three bold, ownable visual territories capable of repositioning the Hi-Ball for a new generation.
By treating culture as architecture rather than surface detail, the work reframed the serve as globally fluent rather than traditionally formal. Heritage remained intact, but the aesthetic language shifted toward contemporary energy and digital intensity.
Thumbstoppers and Chivas proved that serve-assets dont have to be mid.