The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“SPIRIT ANIMAL” NORM: An old-school Brown Spirits code connecting the brand to a particular animal — and that animal’s characteristics (e.g., strength, ferocity, wildness).

“SPIRIT ANIMAL” FORMS: “Too good to keep cooped up” (Wild Turkey); “Swarm” (Jack Daniels T Honey); “It was worth every sting” (Jim Beam Honey); “Give ’em the bird”.

From a 2016 study of the PRIDE IN TRADITION space — within the Brown Spirits category.