Merchant's Heart is a new mixer brand from the Suntory Group. The brand wanted to launch in the UK with a beautiful, specialist print magazine about drink-making that could sit alongside the likes of Noble Rot or Apartamento in a quality newsagent. Merchant's Heart, together with its agency Earn Studios, has a very modern approach to marketing - the brand didn't need to be the focus of the editorial, but just wanted to be associated with a credible title, made by and for the drink's industry's best talent. That attitude gave Editor Katie Dailey and Art Director Carla Houston the opportunity to be very creative and open-minded about content and execution - in the knowledge that a great finished product meant much more to the reader than a very obvious piece of product placement.
We came up with features ideas we didn't think you'd find elsewhere - fashion shoots with master bartenders; interiors shoots in incredibly well-stocked home bars; a nerdy comic strip about the science of carbonation; a beautiful photo-essay on a Tulse Hill glass-makers; an incredible still life shoot of cocktails as works of art.