This is Tigerol, this is how all success stories must begin, “We, Zazen practitioners, are descended from Heracles: we never retreat and never give up.” This New Year’s Eve story is no exception. 300 Spartans are just a piece of cake compared to our 100 Tigerols.

If you want it in advance get ready for breaking deadlines. We got together to brainstorm the New Year’s gifts for clients back in early fall. We were so tigerly creative in anticipation of the year of the Tiger, planned out everything, found a decent product, gladly tested it, and designed packaging, but rrrr… It was supposed to be a completely different product, but—on the eve of the order—the manufacturer reneged on the deal.

Then we looked for an alternative product and alternative ideas but found a new idea, a new product, a new manufacturer and… got rejected regarding another batch of our product. In this episode, we began to understand the typical plot twists in our partnership with clients when the packaging is almost ready as a turnkey solution, while the product is still in progress.

Not for nothing the word ”tiger” comes from the word “arrow”. If we’ve decided to hit the target, we have to look for opportunities. A new day brings a new idea: Tiger + Aperol = Tigerol. Six of us painted the blue caps in black using an airbrush (when it just started to rain) and glued the black glossy oracle strips (we now know that the plotter tends to crunch up velvet self-adhesive paper). Oh, we also printed neck hangers twice because paper—like the Orient—is tricky as well.

But now each bottle has its own DNA. They finally found their addressees. As usual, we’ve become more zen and raise a glass of Tigerol for you.