Ballantine’s

Working closely with the world’s second biggest selling blended scotch whisky brand, Ballantine’s, on multiple projects throughout the years, we have been able to truly understand their positioning, consumer market and their brand ambition.  

Ballantine’s first approached Strange Hill to come up with ways to support Ballantine’s Finest blended whisky to target a new demographic, converting beer drinkers to whisky drinking in mid-energy moments of consumption. Strange Hill developed a collection of solutions, including pre-batched punches, bottled or kegged for bar-top serves. We then perfected the production logistics and serving rituals, delivering the drinks at a major launch event. 

Strange Hill also supported Ballantine’s rebranding and relaunch of their premium blended whisky, Barrel Smooth, amongst other SKUs. We devised a sales and marketing strategy to focus on the key attributes of the whisky when brand ambassadors and sales teams presented, including a playbook and toolkit for education sessions. We also developed a drinks strategy centred on highlighting key flavour elements in the whisky; we mapped these combinations and built rituals and supporting POS to create the centrepiece of a series of promotional events.