Pencil Group – never run out of ink

/ work

what the collective
has built.

From Vinamilk Optimum's community-led influence to Tiger Balm's viral hands, from HOZO Festival to Lady Triệu gin and homegrown publishing — this is culture, put to work.

Vinamilk Optimum × Pencil Creative

/ creative · advocacy · community

2025

Vinamilk Optimum × Pencil Creative

Every home has a mother — an influence built by the community itself.

/ problem
Some campaigns build influence through celebrities. Others create lasting influence by giving a voice to the community itself. Vinamilk Optimum needed a way to speak to Vietnamese mothers without borrowing someone else's voice.
/ insight
Not every mother can exclusively breastfeed her child — and that does not make her any less of a mother. Real mothers — single mothers, mothers of twins, women caring for multiple generations — are the most authentic voices this category can hold.
/ system
Pencil Creative built "Every Home Has a Mother" (Nhà nào cũng có mẹ) around real mothers instead of celebrities. At its centre sat the "Support Cabinet" (Chiếc Tủ Hậu Phương) — a unifying symbol connecting online and offline activations, standing for the quiet, unwavering support behind every mother's journey.
/ impact
  • —350,000+ social conversations generated
  • —#1 on BSI Top 10 Campaigns — October 2025
  • —A benchmark case for community-led influence in Vietnam
talk to the team that built it
Tiger Balm × Pencil Creative

/ creative · social · imc

2024

Tiger Balm × Pencil Creative

Tiger Balm for Vietnam's most hardworking hands.

/ problem
Despite being one of the groups most prone to pain and aches, office workers in Vietnam were barely aware of Tiger Balm — the world-famous brand for pain-relief plasters and ointments. Tiger Balm needed a fresh way to reconnect on both a functional and emotional level.
/ insight
Vietnam's most hardworking 'laborer' isn't a person — it's the giant stone hands that have held up the Golden Bridge for years. Turn a tourism icon into a symbol of hard work everyone relates to.
/ system
A social-first campaign from Pencil Creative — creative concept, key visuals, content system and community activation. Zero paid media.
/ impact
  • —0 spend on media
  • —+6.8M views · +118,000 engagements in 1 week
  • —+51% sales growth for Tiger Balm
talk to the team that built it
HOZO 2022 × Pencil Creative

/ creative · culture · city branding

2022

HOZO 2022 × Pencil Creative

Giving Ho Chi Minh City its international music festival identity.

/ problem
HOZO — Ho Chi Minh City International Music Festival — needed a visual and cultural identity that could hold its own alongside global music festivals while staying unmistakably Vietnamese and unmistakably Saigon.
/ insight
Saigon isn't a backdrop for the festival. Saigon is the festival. Build the identity from the city itself — its motifs, its noise, its optimism.
/ system
A campaign key visual system and creative direction by Pencil Creative — layered illustration language, characters and city iconography deployed across OOH, digital, stage and merchandise.
/ impact
  • —Official identity for the city's flagship international festival
  • —Adopted across on-ground, digital and broadcast touchpoints
  • —Set a new bar for public cultural events in Vietnam
talk to the team that built it
Lady Triệu × Behalf Studio

/ brand experience · packaging · craft

2023

Lady Triệu × Behalf Studio

A contemporary Vietnamese gin, dressed in botanical heritage.

/ problem
Lady Triệu is Vietnam's contemporary gin — distilled from local botanicals, named after a warrior heroine. It needed a brand world that could sit on a global bar shelf without losing its Vietnamese soul.
/ insight
The bottle is the shrine. Let every element — illustration, typography, colour, ritual — behave like a devotional object to Vietnamese botany and story.
/ system
Behalf Studio led the brand identity, packaging system, and brand experience — from bottle design and illustration to distillery collateral and on-trade storytelling.
/ impact
  • —Distinct shelf presence across premium bars in Vietnam and abroad
  • —Editorial coverage in international spirits and design press
  • —A brand system that scales across editions and rituals
talk to the team that built it
Timebooks × Pencil Network

/ publishing · ip · cultural business

2019 — present

Timebooks × Pencil Network

Publishing Vietnamese voices, one title at a time.

/ problem
Young Vietnamese readers were consuming translated bestsellers by the shelf-load while local authors, illustrators and cartoonists struggled to find a home for their work at scale.
/ insight
Culturetech isn't only apps and platforms. A publishing house is culturetech when it builds IP, community and commerce around Vietnamese storytelling.
/ system
Timebooks, incubated inside Pencil Network, publishes and grows homegrown Vietnamese IP — essays, illustrated books, comics and children's series — from acquisition and editing to design, distribution and community.
/ impact
  • —Dozens of Vietnamese titles published across essay, illustration and comics
  • —Homegrown IP including Thỏ Bảy Màu and Vitamin Mèo
  • —A recurring presence in Vietnam's largest book fairs
Timebooks Catalog
Vitamin Meo
talk to the team that built it