19 Crimes
The pervasive under $25 bottle for cool wine label lovers everywhere. Named after the 19 crimes an English subject could commit to earn them the sentence of “transportation” (getting sent to a penal colony in Australia), I was given the task of relaunching brand social. The goal was to make it feel less “puffy-shirt-sepia” and lend it a more modern edge without leaving its heritage behind. We dove deep into the historic core of the brand, telling genuine stories of the real convicts featured on each bottle, doing dark times justice as best as we could. We also revived the social vibe tonally, showcasing tasting occasions modern audiences could relate and aspire too.
WORK
19 Crimes
Acura
AT&T
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Bright Health
Clayton Homes
Lyft
Microsoft
Popsockets
Southern California Edison
St. Huberts
TaxAct
QuickBooks
“…the judges, instead of being, as they ought to be, impartial between the Crown and the prisoner, are more the advocate for the Crown than impartial judges of the case… I ask you simply to pass sentence on me, and give me nothing in the shape of advice or lecture, for I assure you, it would be lost upon me.”
Guilty. Charged with high treason. Cornelius Dwyer Kane was paying for his part in the 1867 Fenian uprising. As he stood trial, he knew the verdict had already been decided before he entered the courtroom. These were courts loyal to the crown and he had acted against the monarchy. It didn’t matter what they charged him with, or what was even true or not. His fate was in hostile hands.
All he could do was remain silent about what he did know, his co-conspirators. The brethren he had acted with in an attempt to establish an independent Irish Republic. No matter the sentence, Kane wouldn't give them up.
And with that, Kane was sentenced to 10 years of penal servitude in Western Australia for treason. He was separated from his family, home and country, sent to build the colony, brick by brick. His sentence would later be conditionally pardoned in 1871, but he was forbidden from ever returning to Ireland or to his wife and children. He settled in Queensland where he became a civil servant and part of a new, transplanted culture of freed but banished convicts.
Kane's story is the inspiration for our rum aged wine, The Uprising. Let's raise one for him. "
Charlotte Badger was sentenced to seven years of penal servitude in New South Whales for stealing a silk scarf and some money. After five and a half years, she cut a deal to serve out the rest of her sentence as an indentured servant in Tasmania. Of course, she had other plans.
While traveling aboard the Venus, Badger and her co-conspirator Catherine Hagerty coerced the sailors into mutiny. They seized the ship from the captain and set a course for Bay of Islands, the northern tip of New Zealand. Badger may not have known it at the time, but her mutinous deeds made her the first Australian female pirate.
Legend has it that she settled in Rangihoua, while the rest of the mutineers took the ship and continued a life of piracy. Many of the men were caught, tried and hanged. But not Badger. She became a ghost that disappeared into the veil of history.
Some years later, an American ship that stopped at port in Vava’u reported rumors of an English woman who was able to speak Maori fluently and could communicate in Tongan. She had been traveling with a whaling ship headed to America.
The end to Badger's story is a mystery. Maybe she ended up in America. Maybe she never left Rangihoua. Maybe found herself in a watery grave. What is certain is that she was never caught.