KERTIS has been a long time partner for Brown-Forman in many aspects. Through this work and more, we have become rooted in their history and modern brand goals. In 2020, as Brown-Forman was poised to turn 150, they brought us in to develop a campaign and activations for the celebration. This would include a 150th tribute book which would be sent to all 6,500 global employees, family members, investors, and other stakeholders.

Our Challenge

With 150 years of rich history and ‘unprecedented’ moments to call back on, the challenge was to organize the vast stories, voices, images, and archival material into a balanced and appropriate tribute to 150 years with 7 generations of family leadership and a roster of iconic brands. We needed to uniquely mark the milestone and develop digestible and enjoyable content for all stakeholders.

 The Approach

Brown-Forman had outlined a few requests and activations - including the need for unique campaign identity, a coffee table tribute book, a series of videos, a commemorative decanter, and many family and community celebration events. We were brought on to strategically guide the messaging and develop the identity for the campaign, as well as to advise on the book. We knew that we wanted to use the 150th as a celebration not only of the past, but as a catalyst to launch into the future. We developed a unique brand for the 150th ‘campaign’ including a logo mark and pattern. This was activated throughout the year on Brown-Formans campus and in global offices around the world.

The initial request was to advise on roughly 1800 words of copy that would go into a commemorative coffee table book. Due to our previous experience with Brown-Forman’s vast archives and our work in family storytelling, we extended that partnership into categorizing and developing the main chapter themes and sub-themes, as well as selecting images and accompanying quotes. Clocking in a 175 final pages, the result was a beautifully experiential artifact that, at its core, explains their culture as a corporation and as a brand.

 Results

For the logo, we wanted something that was modern and sophisticated, but still felt approachable and would stand out at a glance.. bonus points were if we could allude to music, food, and drink. The final product achieved all three: a stylized and memorable logo with an update to the colors to make them slightly more “grown up”, the dot of the “i” fitted as a wedge of citrus, and finally, everything encompassed within a circle reminiscent of a planet, and simultaneously nodding to the outline of a vinyl record.

To accompany the logo, we created three additional icons for the categories of music (a record), drinks (margaritas), and food (Galaxie’s famous wakatakas). We made sure that the design of these complemented the new logo, while still creating a distinct visual language of their own so that each could be utilized as a badge / icon, representative of its respective category. These brand signatures promise that when you visit Galaxie, you’ll enjoy consistency and quality, accessibility and affordability. And always, a unique experience.