<The Challenge>

The Problem Project was a global BBDO challenge with an unusual brief: instead of solving a client’s problem, find a business problem they may not yet know they have.

Using the same AI agent, trained on insights from 400 anonymised real-world briefs and around 60 interviews with the people behind them, 66 teams across the BBDO network took on the challenge. Working as a two-person team with a strategist, we chose Jack Daniel’s in Japan.

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<The Contradiction>

We chose Jack Daniel’s because something about its apparent growth already made us curious. The brand was growing, but was that growth telling the whole story?

That question came first. Then we looked beyond topline growth, exploring how, where and why people were drinking the brand.

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<The Hypothesis>

GROWTH HIDES DECAY.

Our hypothesis was that apparent growth could mask a gradual erosion of brand value.

Our hypothesis suggested that growth was increasingly driven by convenience-led drinking occasions, while deeper emotional connection and the rituals traditionally associated with whiskey could be weakening underneath.

The question became: What if today’s growth is hiding tomorrow’s problem?

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<Our Approach>

The starting point wasn’t AI. It was a human intuition that something about the brand’s growth didn’t feel quite right.

We used AI and data to investigate that instinct, challenge our assumptions, and sharpen it into a business hypothesis worth asking.

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<The Result>

The idea progressed from 66 teams worldwide to four global finalists, before being presented to BBDO Global CEO Nancy Reyes and Global CCO Chris Beresford-Hill.

Growth Hides Decay was selected as the GLOBAL WINNER of the BBDO Problem Project 2026.

Following the win, we were invited to present the thinking at BBDO’s Global Leaders’ Meeting to CEOs and senior leaders from across the network.