Overview
For the North Carolina State Series — a limited Wood Finishing Series release celebrating 90 years of the state’s ABC — Maker’s Mark needed a full suite of launch visuals that could be developed quickly, meet brand standards, and drive commercial impact.
With a narrow window and no agency capacity, I led concept, copy, and production directly — delivering a complete POS and social toolkit that launched on time, elevated the release in market, and upheld the craftsmanship and warmth that define the brand.
The project ultimately strengthened local engagement, improved sell-through at retail, and proved that smart, efficient creative can perform on both a brand and business level.
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Create a localized extension of the Perfectly Unreasonable platform that could drive awareness, visibility, and sales for a regional Wood Finishing Series release — while reinforcing the craftsmanship and quality that define Maker’s Mark. The work needed to:
Build anticipation and buzz in-market through premium, high-impact creative.
Support distribution and display sell-in with ready-to-execute POS.
Convert awareness into velocity by pairing local storytelling with national-level design standards.
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Keep the story focused, authentic, and grounded in place — a North Carolina-specific extension of Perfectly Unreasonable built to feel both locally relevant and commercially sharp.
The creative needed to be clear, confident, and immediately shoppable. Every element was built around the bottle — clean hierarchy, minimal clutter, and tone that felt warm but premium. The hand-drawn wood-grain map of North Carolina created a visual bridge between state pride and Maker’s Mark’s craft of wood finishing, tying the local story back to the brand’s larger idea of purposeful detail. Copy stayed tight and human, keeping the focus on flavor, craftsmanship, and authenticity — no fluff, just clarity.
By handling creative direction, copy, and production internally, the work moved faster and smarter — delivering an agency-level result on a compressed timeline, ready for sell-in, display, and social with zero rework.
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The toolkit was designed to move fast, scale easily, and perform in market.
I developed a full suite spanning print, digital, and social — each piece built from a unified visual system for consistency across channels.
The case stacker (16"×32") and poster (18"×24") were delivered in two versions (with and without the 90-Year ABC seal) to fit different retail layouts without losing impact.
The State Series Stamp served as a subtle brand signature that could flex into POS or merch applications without feeling heavy-handed, and the social assets (in-feed and story) were optimized for quick market deployment.
All assets were delivered fully final and ready to execute — giving the commercial team immediate, plug-and-play tools to hit shelves during a key holiday sales window.
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The program is rolling out now across North Carolina, with early response from distributors and field teams pointing to strong retail visibility and smooth execution. Built to drive buzz and sales during the holiday window, the toolkit gives teams flexible, premium assets they can activate instantly — setting the stage for measurable impact as the release gains traction in market.
More broadly, the work demonstrated how Maker’s Mark can bring localized storytelling to life quickly and efficiently — creative that looks as refined as it performs.
