Wednesday 6 February 2008

WHISKY UPDATE


Ballantines is going further with this festival
which has artists such as St Ettienne, Ian Brown and Goldfrapp performing in Madrid and Barcelona during the month of March/April.

Tuesday 5 February 2008

WHISKY

Selling whisky's a tricky business. But it's big business. Unsurprisingly, just about everything has been tried, but there are a few trends that keep coming back in whisky marketing, and here's a few:

First, you’ve got tradition. This works especially well for Scotch whisky, and single malt whisky.

Here's one for Bowmore that pretty much defines the genre:




And again, for Old Grouse You can practically smell the heather...



Another whisky marketing area is status, just like these ads – Smile, it’s Suntory Time.

The first clip is of course, not an ad, but a scene from a film. or is it an advertorial? I'm not quite sure, but at any rate, it gets across another classic whisky 'area', that of status. You've arrived.



These ads, which surely are the best celebrity placement ads ever, have everything associated with status. Maybe that's where Sophia got the idea for this scene from?



Another one, this time with 'status smoking.'



And another, this time using a celebrity (more of those later)



Johnnie Walker is, of course, the ultimate status whisky brand, with it's message that to achieve success, or one great thing, you just have to keep walking.





This is closely linked to character.

Here's an ad for Ballantines, that takes a similar angle to Johnnie Walker (which tells us to become immortal by doing 'one great thing'. They tell us to 'leave an impression'.























In fact, marketing whisky is either a choice between funky or fusty, as this article in Beverage Weekly says.


Or, you can choose the most popular option. A blend – tradition with a twist.





And then, there's always another approach. Sell it as if it's a beer. That means using humour, and lots of matey slaps on the back.



Here's another in the William Lawsons series, this time with Sharon Stone, and a spoof of her most famous moment






A different take on this, is the party approach - in other words, sell it like it's a vodka:

















And lastly, if none of these approaches work, you can try something totally different.

You could even try telling the truth - it'll make you drunk, and forget your hard day at the office:



And how about this one, with artist Joseph Beuys? Cheers!