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Black & Mild

Make Wherever You Are
The Place To Be

Role

ACD / CW

Deliverables

OLV · Branding · Campaign Development

A different category, a different set of rules.

Cigars don't get talked about the way dip or moist snuff does — the ritual is slower, more social, more public. Black & Mild also carries something most tobacco brands never have to think about: real cultural weight, built up over decades in Black culture specifically. You can't borrow that. You can only earn it, or blow it.

Make wherever you are the place to be.

The line became a whole brand philosophy, not just a tagline — one that could hold a tagline anthem, a documentary series, and a product launch without ever having to repeat itself. Same idea, evolving instead of standing still.

You can have a cigar
or you can enjoy a Black & Mild.

The anthem. Three environments, one attitude — an alley, a lounge, a rooftop at golden hour. Wherever you actually are is the only place that matters.

Alley
:18Alley
Lounge
:16Lounge
Rooftop
:12Rooftop

Sounds of Enjoyment

The brand's voice matured from tagline to documentary — real people, real music culture, no super text pushing a line at you. A bus driver's day around Chicago. A record collector's crates.

Sidewalk Chalk
2:05Sidewalk Chalk
Egon & Alex
2:20Egon & Alex

Rhythm & Blues

The launch film for Taste & Aroma — a product line named after the same idea the brand had been building toward the whole time. Two things, combined, into something more elevated than either alone.

Rhythm & Blues
1:11Rhythm & Blues

MAKE WHEREVER YOU ARE
THE PLACE TO BE

Client

Black & Mild

Category

Cigars

Partners

ADs: Caroline Ross, Yi Ma