The Contest
Back in 2009, the New Zealand vodka brand 42 Below may have just entered the Chinese market, and quietly launched an art contest on Douban (豆瓣) — the online community then known for its indie spirit and creative crowd. The campaign was titled “Because We Can,” but it was disguised an illustration submission project (插画征集活动) — calling for entries that responded to the open-ended theme.
Thousands of Doubaners participated. The winners were chosen by public vote. My work received the second-highest number of votes out of more than 1,200 submissions — which, at the time, left me disappointed. First place came with a prize. Second place came with a bottle of 42 Below, which I still haven’t opened to this day.
The 41 Personalities
I was a university student at the time, doodling daily. For my submission, I made a piece using a cartoon character I’d created, illustrated in 41 different expressive personalities. Some were emotional, some confused. Some religious, some rebellious. All carried their own postures, expressions, and attitudes. I arranged them in a neat six-row grid. In the bottom right corner — the space for the 42nd personality — I simply placed a bottle of 42 Below. The caption read: Because we can be ourselves.
After graduation, I drifted into broader fields within Communications — marketing, investor relations, public relations. I never entered advertising, and I never returned to drawing consistently. In a recent conversation about creativity and forgotten passions, this campaign came up — so I looked it up again.
Rediscovery
I found my work, buried deep in a forgotten corner of the internet. While many of the links from that campaign no longer work, fifteen years later, it still reminded me: self-expression doesn’t need a campaign. Sometimes, we create things just because we can.
2009年，42 Below这个新西兰伏特加品牌在中国豆瓣社区发起了一场名为“Because We Can”的插画征集活动。那时候我还是个每天都在涂鸦的大学生。当时的年轻人还没有江小白，这家调性一向大胆不羁的伏特加品牌，以创意活动的方式接近青年社群。
我用自己创作的漫画角色风格，呈现了 41 种不同的性格与状态。第 42 个性格，则留给了 42 Below —— 以“个性”为答案，完成了 “Because We Can”（因为我们可以）这个命题。
这个活动由豆瓣用户投票决定名次，我的作品在超过1200份投稿中获得了第二高的票数。虽然有些失落，但那次经历也成为我创作记忆中重要的一笔。
这些年来在更广义的传播行业游走，做过市场、公关、投资者关系，却从未真正进入广告行业。
近期的一次关于过往对话，让我意外地在互联网的角落找回了当年的作品。
特此留念。
