Ballantine’s 12, part of Ballantine’s (the world’s number two whisky), wanted to own an engaging PR property that would help its markets generate PR at a local level. Synergy’s challenge was to develop a PR property, newsworthy and appealing to global markets, to bring to life Ballantine’s 12 creative territory of “…leaves an impression by taking you BEYOND”.

For Ballantine’s 12 we unveiled the first ever 'Art of BEYOND Bar' at an event designed to combine a media launch with a whisky education for all guests.

By commissioning a series of 6 top European artists and designers (from the countries of the brand’s key markets such as Bulgaria, Poland, France & Spain), different elements of a bar were created; the bar itself, bar stools, flooring, wall decoration, whisky glasses and lighting culminating in the Ballantine’s 12 Art of BEYOND Bar.

The Art Bar was unveiled exclusively to the brand’s guests and international media at Nettie Horn Art Gallery in East London. The experience included the creation of Ballantine’s 12 Year Old cocktails inspired by the work of the artists, developed by Ballantine’s 12 Year Old ambassador Fredrik Olsson. All six artists involved attended the event and took part in press interviews.

Synergy’s responsibilities included creating the concept, developing a list of potential artists, commissioning and managing the artists during the design phase and installation process, guest and event management during the unveiling and creating a PR activation toolkit to send out to markets to inspire them to create their own Art of BEYOND events locally.

As well as press coverage of the event, an extensive library of stock photography and video footage was secured, enabling markets to generate coverage in international media around Europe.

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