McCann Erickson is taking the best-selling malt brand, Glenfiddich, on
to television for the first time with a hard-hitting commercial backed
by a pounds 1.5 million spend.
The 90-second ad, which break on Monday, moves whisky away from its
traditional advertising heartland of Scottish heritage and distilling
techniques, and instead takes a more emotional theme.
The storyline centres on a father and son relationship and the simmering
tensions that exist between them. The son delivers the voiceover and
explains the history behind the relationship.
The father, formerly a professional boxer and now a boxing second, and
the son, a doctor, have taken different paths to reach the common goal
of healing rifts within the relationship.
The ad shows the father and son holidaying in the boxer’s mecca of Las
Vegas which the father has dreamt of visiting all his life. The scenes
are intercut with shots of the son working as a doctor and boxing
action.
The holiday appears to go some way towards establishing common ground
between father and son, and they are shown sharing a glass of
Glenfiddich. In the final shot, the pair shake hands and the father
passes a miniature bottle of Glenfiddich to the son as he leaves in a
taxi.
In his first commercial, the veteran stage and screen actor, Michael
Byrne, takes the role of the father. The boxing scenes were filmed in
London, using professional fighters from the stable of the boxing
promoter, Mickey Duff.
The ads were written by John Lewis and art directed by Roger Akerman.
They were directed by the Douglas Brothers at D-Films.
Jerry Green, the creative director at McCanns, said: ‘We instinctively
wanted the Douglas Brothers to film the commercial because we knew they
could bring the emotional and visual intensity to it that the script
required.’
