Whisky, stuffy? It has most certainly been shedding its gentleman’s club image over the last few years. Johnnie Walker has now staked its claim in pop culture rather gloriously with a hero film that includes a mash-up of samples of famous “walking songs” that have topped the charts – Lou Reed’s Walk on The Wild Side, Run DMC and Aerosmith’s Walk this Way and Loretta Lynn’s version of These Boots Are Made for Walking – and a collection of the “in-crowd people you’d like to hang out with”.
The TVC and digital commercial was directed by Glen Luchford, who has previously led campaigns for world-leading fashion houses.
The new campaign is the next chapter in its famous Keep Walking campaign inspiring people to Keep Walking towards a more positive future. This time the positive future is getting out and about again after Covid’s restrictions.
To complement its anthem, Johnnie Walker will unveil epic out-of-home city takeovers, projecting inspiring quotes from cultural trailblazers, over city skylines and cultural hotspots around the world. The quotes from Grace Jones, Mark Twain and Ayrton Senna will be seen across cities such as New York City, Mexico City, Cape Town, Tokyo and Bangkok.
Julie Bramham, Johnnie Walker global brand director, stated, “Johnnie Walker has always been defiantly optimistic and a beacon of progress – that’s what Keep Walking is all about. Keep Walking is two little words that say so much about positivity, possibility and resilience. After everything we’ve all been through in the past few years, we can’t imagine a time in recent history when those sentiments could be more relevant.”
The full campaign draws on the talents of Anomaly, Analog Folk, PHD, Smarts and will include series of in-market talent and influencer partnerships that will drive tangible actions that ‘walk the walk’. Change-makers and artists such as DJ Alok (Brazil), CL (Korea) and Alfonso Herrera (Mexico) in more than 20 countries around the world will join forces with Johnnie Walker to help reinvigorate social spaces like bars, clubs and venues as the world begins to reopen.
Camilla Harrisson, chief executive officer and partner, Anomaly London, stated, “Keep Walking is deeply embedded in the DNA of Johnnie Walker. Breathing new life into it for today’s generation, particularly in the context of such challenging times, is a very special task. This campaign infuses Keep Walking with a new vibrant, inclusive spirit and celebrates, both visually and musically, the iconic role of walking in culture.”
The campaign launch comes just weeks after Johnnie Walker opened the doors to its new landmark visitor attraction, Johnnie Walker Princes Street, in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland, giving people a unique and immersive way to experience whisky and socialise together again in the brand’s homeland. It also follows $100m of investment from parent company Diageo over the past 18 months to help pubs and bars post-pandemic recovery, supporting jobs and communities around the world through their Raise The Bar programme.
