Ball · 140 Years Scroll
Ball / Newell Brands

140 Years of
Preserving
What Matters.

A brand film, a photography campaign, and a recipe book that functions as an heirloom.

The Challenge

140 years is a milestone. Make it feel earned, not ceremonial.

Ball Jar is one of America's most beloved heritage brands. The 140th anniversary was a chance to reaffirm that in a culture that has rediscovered making things by hand. The brief wasn't to celebrate the number. It was to celebrate what the number represents.

The Insight
The resurgence of canning, preserving, and home cooking isn't just a trend. It's a rejection of the disposable. Ball jars are artifacts of that rejection. They carry what matters forward. Strategic Insight
The Idea

Don't celebrate the anniversary. Celebrate what Ball jars make possible.

The film captures three generations of a family. A grandmother teaching her daughter, who is teaching her own child. The jar moves through time. What goes inside changes. The act of preserving and handing down does not. It's not a commercial about a jar. It's a film about memory, continuity, and care.

The recipe book is designed as an heirloom. Not a promotional giveaway. An object worth keeping, writing in, and passing down. Every layout decision, every paper choice, every typographic choice reinforces the idea that this is a book that gets better as it gets older.

The Photography

Shoot the jar where it actually lives.

No studio sterility. No hero-product lighting. The campaign library was shot in kitchens, gardens, pantries and around real tables, in the light those rooms already have. The jar is rarely the subject. It is the thing holding whatever the picture is really about.

Gardener in a striped apron smiling with a basket of peppers, eggplant, chard and a sealed Ball jar of dark preserves
On location. Real light.

In the Kitchen

Home cook in an apron reading the Ball Blue Book at a marble kitchen island, fresh strawberries and empty jars beside her
Hands opening the Ball Blue Book on a wooden board next to a basket of strawberries and empty Ball jars
Cook in a striped apron working from the open Ball Blue Book with fresh blueberries, honey and empty jars on the counter
Spoonful of dark berry jam held above a stack of balanced Ball jars on a white background
Sealed jar of red jam finished with a twine tie on a wooden work table
Hands tying twine around a sealed jar of red jam, fresh strawberries on an enamel plate
Herb seedlings potted in Ball jars on a garden table with twine and shears
Close view of Ball jars planted with young herbs, twine coiled alongside
Shelf of home-canned tomatoes, corn, peppers and peaches in Ball jars, backlit by a window

At the Table

Red jam and nut butter spread onto toast beside jars of crackers and nuts, grapes and oranges on a marble counter
Brunch table with almond and jam toast, open jars of dark preserves, honey and a glass of milk
Breakfast on a yellow tabletop, waffle with strawberries and cream, bacon, and a jar of red jam
Coffee poured into a Ball jar from above, jars of dark preserves alongside
The same brunch table with the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving laid open beside the jars
Outdoor place setting at golden hour with a Ball jar drink beside a yellow plate
Breakfast table with a strawberry and cream waffle, bacon, coffee and a Ball jar of red jam
Outdoor table set with flowers arranged in a Ball jar, lemons and limes across the cloth
Breakfast spread with the Ball Blue Book on the table beside a jar of red jam
Friends toasting with Ball jar drinks around an outdoor dinner table against a brick wall
The Blue Book, 38th Edition

A 140-year-old jar deserves a book worth keeping.

For the anniversary, we built the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, 38th Edition. Two hundred plus pages. Five hundred plus recipes, forty of them new. Updated to current USDA preserving standards. Designed as the heirloom version of an object Americans have leaned on since 1909.

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving 38th Edition cover
The Cover. 38th Edition.
More than 200 pages of know-how
200+ pages of know-how.
500+ recipes including 40 new
500+ recipes. 40 new.
The only canning guide you need
The only canning guide you need.
Fully updated to ensure safety and success
Updated for safety. And success.
Recipes, tips, and tricks for preserving
Recipes. Tips. Tricks.
Sunshine in a jar. Marmalade and seasonal preserves
Sunshine in a jar.

200+

Pages of know-how

500+

Recipes inside

40

All new for this edition

140

Years of preserving

Simple. Delicious. Rewarding. Take eating fresh and local to a whole new level.

The Photography, Continued

What a jar does after the canning is done.

The Party Set

Party spread using Ball jars as individual snack cups beside deviled eggs and oysters
Party table of jar drinks and small plates with deviled eggs and sliced peaches
Hand lifting a Ball jar drink from a crowded party table
Wide party table of jar drinks, deviled eggs, pomegranate and sweets
Hand resting on a Ball jar drink garnished with an orange twist, shot against a teal backdrop
Two Ball jar drinks with orange twists on a round wooden board against teal
Two Ball jars of a foam-topped drink with rosemary and pomegranate on a deep blue set
Drink poured into a Ball jar to a foaming head, pomegranate alongside on blue

Put Up and Passed On

Open pantry shelves lined with Ball jars of grains, spices and preserves
Pantry shelving holding jars of dry goods, a loaf of bread and baskets of onions and garlic
Refrigerator stocked with Ball jars of preserves and prepared food alongside fresh produce
Refrigerator shelves of Ball jars holding preserves, pickles and cut vegetables
Basket of peppers, eggplant, chard and garlic carried with a sealed Ball jar of dark preserves tucked inside
Gift basket of garden produce and a jar of preserves held against dense green foliage
Woven basket of peppers, squash, eggplant and chard packed around a Ball jar of dark preserves
What We Built

A three-piece system, built to outlive the campaign.

01. Long-Form Brand Film
A three-generation family story built around the act of preserving. Cinematic, emotional, designed to live beyond the campaign.
02. Lifestyle Photography
Campaign photography that felt like memory rather than advertising. Real kitchens, real light, real moments.
03. The Blue Book, 38th Edition
200+ pages, 500+ recipes, 40 new for the anniversary edition. Designed as the heirloom version of an object Americans have leaned on since 1909.
04. Campaign Strategy
Full brand strategy connecting the anniversary to the current moment in food culture and heritage preservation.

Heritage is only useful if it's pointed forward. If your brand has a story worth aiming, we'd love to hear it.

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