TOKI BLACK
When Innovation Meets Heritage
When the House of Suntory set out to launch Toki Black, its first super-limited-edition expression of Suntory Whisky Toki, Wonderworks was invited to help bring the story to life on a global stage. Our challenge was to capture a new, smoky refinement while preserving the harmony and craftsmanship that define the Toki brand. From retail theatre to brand education, we designed a launch that embodied Suntory’s spirit of Old Meets New Japan — a campaign built on balance, precision, and creative depth.
Global Activation Strategy | Retail Theatre | On-Premise Experience Design | Serve Imagery & Content Production | Brand Education & Advocacy | Activation Toolkits | Creative Storytelling
The Challenge
Balancing the Blend
Limited editions often risk diluting the masterbrand they’re built upon. For Toki Black, the challenge was to elevate a new expression without overshadowing the clarity, accessibility, and optimism that define Toki Core.
The Suntory team wanted to showcase creativity and innovation while preserving harmony, ensuring that Toki Black felt like a natural evolution of the drinks brand, not a departure from it.
The APPROACH
Finding Harmony Between Innovation and Heritage
We began with a deep audit of successful limited editions across global spirits brands, uncovering how leading names sustain equity between core and special editions. These insights guided our creative strategies and brand activation framework, ensuring Toki Black thrived as both an individual expression and a powerful extension of Toki.
The creative territory — Old Meets New Japan with a Smoky Twist — became the heartbeat of the campaign. It inspired every visual cue, material texture, and storytelling rhythm, from design to education, activation to content, across the drinks industry.
The SOLUTION
From Shelf to Serve – Bringing the Story to Life
Bringing the Story to Life
In retail, stand-alone and dual-brand displays and merchandising assets were designed to create impact through restraint — blending black and white washi textures, minimal Japanese typography, and “Limited Edition” cues that complemented, not competed with, Toki Core. In on-premise experiences, Toki Black was introduced through The Toki Listening Bar, an immersive experience inspired by Tokyo’s iconic record bars, where guests discovered the whisky through music, ritual, and craft.
The serve programme brought the liquid’s smoky sophistication to life through cocktails like the Toki Ginger Sour and Tokyo Night, each styled, shot, and shared as part of a new visual content library — capturing the beauty of smoke, light, and liquid in motion.
Together, these activations turned every touchpoint — from shelf to serve — into a moment of cultural storytelling for the drinks industry.
Empowering Markets to Activate with Confidence
Behind the scenes, we equipped global teams with the tools to bring Toki Black to life consistently and confidently.
A comprehensive activation toolkit provided markets with adaptable assets, playbooks, and production specifications — balancing creative precision with executional ease.
To deepen brand advocacy, we developed The Toki Brand Education Bible, a trade-facing guide that unpacked the artistry behind Toki Black’s blend, its new components, and its sensory experience. From flavour breakdowns to cocktail rituals, it transformed brand education into storytelling, giving ambassadors the confidence to share the brand’s smoky story in their own markets.
Together, these tools ensured Toki Black launched not as a campaign, but as a movement — uniting teams around one vision of Japanese harmony, craftsmanship, and innovation.
The WONDER
The Toki Black launch embodies Wonderworks’ expertise in turning brand nuance into multi-channel storytelling.
By balancing bold creativity with commercial clarity, we helped the House of Suntory evolve its most approachable whisky into a new symbol of refined innovation.
This project reflects what Wonderworks does best — blending strategy, culture, and design to create stories that move seamlessly from the bar to the shelf.
A celebration of craft, collaboration, and the quiet power of smoky harmony for the drinks industry.
Get in touch with us today!
As a creative drinks agency, we’re here to help. If you’re looking for support to develop a fresh retail experience and strategy for your drinks brand, then please reach out to a member of our team. We’d love to chat!