BBH was Johnnie Walker’s global creative agency for 15 years. Now Anomaly is.

Anomaly has beaten incumbent, Bogle Bartle Hegarty, plus BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and Wieden + Kennedy to become global creative agency for Diageo’s Johnnie Walker.

Johnnie Walker spent US$40 million in measured media in 2013. BBH’s Keep Walking campaign had been running for 13 years at the end of 2013, during which brand sales had climbed from 13% of the global market to more than 20% (IWSR data).

BBH launched its 2015 Johnnie Walker campaign just two weeks before the mid-December announcement. It’s a year end ad called The Next Step, with a twist. The protagonist keeps walking – looking forward, rather than back, through 2015 with its adventures and challenges.

The voiceover is the Brit version of one of those mentor speeches were so popular in TVCs in 2014, “The first step of a new year. We’ll all take one. But where will a step take you? How high could you climb? And how far? A step can be a difficult thing. It requires courage and spirit. But if you follow it, imagine the places you’ll go. The new year begins with the next step. How far will it take you?” To anyone who watches a lot of TV ads it says bank commercial.

It was filmed like a stage play, but on a moving set, so the hero walks through his future while the camera essentially stays still.

Us, aka Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor, filmed the ad in Romania. The set took three weeks to build and the ad took 50 takes across 3 days to get right.

“The timing had to be absolutely perfect. They had a 40-meter set moving down an 80-meter track, with an 8 metre treadmill running through the middle of it,” explained Gerard Caputo, group creative director at BBH New York.

The soundtrack is by Human by Human. “The sound design is there to accent the scenes and help communicate where he is on his journey. We wanted the ending to feel upbeat and celebratory,” BBH copywriter, Mikio Bradley, commented.

Creative credits:
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Chief creative officer: John Patroulis
Group creative director: Gerard Caputo
Creative – copywriter: Mikio Bradley
Creative – art direction: Klara Lindberg
Head of integrated production & technology: Carey Head
Head of content production: Kate Morrison

Production: Academy/Reset
Directors: Us
Managing partner/executive producer: Dave Morrison
Executive producer: Jeff McDougal

DoP: Alex Barber
Production designer: David Lee
Editing: Rock Paper Scissors
Original Music: Human