Time well spent at the 19th hole: Ballantine’s x Malbon swings into gear in Korea travel retail

SOUTH KOREA. Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail is building on Ballantine’s collaboration with lifestyle golf brand Malbon with a multi-location campaign in South Korea, led by a hero pop-up at Jeju International Airport with JDC Duty Free. It launched 1 August and will run for two months.

The ‘Time Well Spent at the 19th hole’ installation at Jeju International draws on the visual language of the golf course, featuring green astro-turf, flag sticks and a rotating golf ball display.

Travellers can browse the Ballantine’s x Malbon fashion capsule collection and play a game of mini golf. Afterwards, they can sample the Korean travel retail-exclusive (TREX) Ballantine’s 21 Year Old which launched across Korean duty free in mid-June.

The expression features a higher proportion of Glentauchers Single Malt, selected for its delicacy and precision. It is available at the activation for tasting neat or as a highball serve.

The Ballantine’s 23 Year Old is also showcased at the installation.

The campaign is also running at four high-profile promotions across Incheon International Airport terminals 1 and 2, alongside an Out of Home and digital media campaign spanning both the Jeju and Incheon locations.

Exclusive gifts with purchase (GWP) underpin the campaign. Travellers purchasing two bottles of Ballantine’s at the Jeju pop-up receive a clip-on plush version of Malbon’s ‘Buckets’ character. Meanwhile, passengers at Incheon who purchase three bottles or more receive a Ballantine’s x Malbon branded golf ball case.

The campaign is being amplified across Naver and Instagram through a collective of Korean travel, lifestyle and golf influencers.

In addition to the whiskies, the partners have created a limited-edition capsule collection of apparel and accessories, alongside a Ballantine’s 17 Year Old expression developed specifically for the Korean domestic market. The fashion range features Scottish-inspired prints, contemporary reinterpretations of traditional golf motifs and a reworked version of the Buckets logo.

In addition, the Ballantine’s 21 Year Old Travel Retail Exclusive Limited Edition is being displayed – but not sold – at Malbon flagship stores in Dosan, Seongsu, Bukchon and Jeju, as well as its Hannam store. This generates crossover synergy between domestic and travel retail and signposts consumers to their nearest duty-free stores where the whisky is available, the company said.

Time Well Spent at the 19th Hole forms part of Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail’s wider strategy to rejuvenate the Ballantine’s brand image in South Korea and introduce its prestige blends to a younger generation of Korean travellers.

The partnership underlines Ballantine’s longstanding association with golf while using Malbon’s fashion and lifestyle credentials to present the Scotch whisky brand to a broader, younger audience.

JDC Duty Free Director General Bruce Son commented, “The Ballantine’s x Malbon pop-up store at Jeju International is a collaborative project between Pernod Ricard and JDC, designed to combine the strengths of both companies and deliver a prestige brand experience to customers.

“Through this store both parties expect to enhance brand awareness and customer satisfaction, and we plan to expand various marketing initiatives through continued collaboration moving forward.”

Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail Director, Prestige Brands and Champagne Andrew Bardsley said, “From the launch of these special liquids and the capsule collection in June to the staging of these coordinated activations from August onwards, we are bringing Ballantine’s into the heart of Korean culture and lifestyle while solidifying our positioning in golf as our strategic passion point.

“Along with our friends at Malbon, we believe the game’s real value is in the moments shared not the score, so we look forward to welcoming travellers to our outposts across Korea Travel Retail for some true Time Well Spent.”

Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail Director General Manager Asia Pacific Antonio Duva added, “We extend our heartfelt thanks to the teams at Malbon and our partner retailers for supporting us with this ambitious activation programme.

“The golf-themed installations look fantastic and the 360 campaign engages travellers at every touchpoint of their journey: pre-trip and in-trip through social media and dominating visibility in-airport with 261+ OOH and digital panels.

“Ballantine’s is already the number one blended Scotch whisky in Korea travel retail, but this fun and convivial blend of fashion and sport means a whole new audience will look at the brand for the first time through a contemporary lens.”

As reported, in addition to the Jeju and Incheon locations, the Ballantine’s x Malbon 21 Year Old was also showcased at Gimpo and Gimhae international airports and at the Jungmun Tourist Complex in Jeju Island with Jeju Tourism Organization (JTO) in the first phase of the roll-out in mid-June. ✈