Released: 11 August 2009
BBH London has created a six minute film for Johnnie Walker, featuring the actor Robert Carlyle, who tells the story of the whisky brand while walking through the Scottish Highlands.
Written by BBH's Justin Moore, the tale takes the viewer through the entire history of the brand, which is narrated by Carlyle in one single shot of six minutes.
As he delivers the story, he passes objects relating to the tale along his path.
According to production company HLA, the film took 40 takes in total.
Ha Ha. The bagpipes don't stop until 38 seconds through - did you turn it off two seconds into the monologue? Pretty amazing production, but will the punter appreciate that?
i think most punters will turn over before the bagpipes finish just like me.
zzzzzzzzzcomezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzbackzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzbegbiezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzisurezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzmisszzzzzu
Once again we see the massive gap between how a brand wants to present itself and the reality of how they actually behave.
An ad emphasising the whisky's roots just as Diageo are trying to close the Kilmarnock factory.
Or maybe that's the point; Johnnie Walker, the man who walked out of Kilmarnok and into a cushy tax avoidance scheme in the Netherlands.
Agree Andrew. It is breathtaking that Diageo should put this out at this time. I bet it has gone down really well in Kilmarnock. Robert Carlyle has just alienated himself from most of Scotland.
Reminds me a little of the Barclays Samuel L Jackson ads. It's well produced, but with such a long time length i struggle to find a place for it. It's hard enough holding people's attention for 60sec.
I don't think online ads have to be short if they have interesting content. I think brands with a history to tell have a good opportunity to make longer-form content. But not sure if this is necessarily the right format.
Just to clarify that this is not an advert it's an piece of internal comms. It got leaked to a website and typically has gone off on an internet walk of its own.
What rubbish timing. As pointed out on my blog -
Diageo could have timed this a bit better. They are in the midst of closing the Kilmarnock plant on which much of this heritage story is built... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/08/05/exclusive-last-surviving-relative-of-johnnie-walker-accuses-diageo-of-betraying-whisky-workers-and-her-family-86908-21572237/ Johnnie Walker's Great Granddaughter, Betty Heath: "I urge you to please reconsider before you ruin hundreds of lives and destroy everything my ancestor worked to establish. You are ripping the heart out of a community who has built everything around Johnnie Walker. If you close the bottling plant, you will kill off a town which has Johnnie Walker running through its veins. It is the only remaining industry and if it goes, there will be nothing left. Please find it in your hearts to save those jobs and keep my ancestor's legacy alive."
This is for internal comms isn't it? I thought it was beautiful - well written, beautifully shot, with superbly sparse \(but just right) art direction.
They made a great deal out of what probably seemed a shoddy brief.
A great creative execution which demonstrates perfectly that now, in the days of social media and transparency, that's not enough.
There are people on the internet hyperventilating over this ad. It`s a " breathtaking return to form for BBH blah blah hyperbole after hyperbole". Here`s what it is: it`s a very well-written corporate video full of the heedrum hodrum windpuffery and bagpipery you get when you go on a distillery tour. It`s clearly aimed at trade customers and distillery visitors. It`s not an ad. Mind you, it`ll probably win a pencil simply because it`s got Robert Carlyle in it and it was all shot in one take \(single takes are the latest fad- look at all the breathless excitement about the Budweiser Altogether Now ad).
Agree Gerry, this is not an ad.. but an internal piece of communication talking to.. internal workers. Thus they will probably stay longer awakened than us when watching the video..
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ProjectThe man who walked around the worldArt directorJustin MooreCopywriterJustin MooreAgency ProducerRuben MercadelPlannerLisa MatchettBusiness Director Jason CobboldDirectorJamie RafnProductionHLAProducerStephen PlesniakDirector of PhotographyGeorge RichmondPost ProductionGlassworks LondonEditorKate OwenExposureOnline
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