A 90 second Keep Walking ad for Johnnie Walker went viral over the holidays. It was uploaded on December 14 and achieved nearly 3 ½ million views on YouTube in three weeks. It wasn’t commissioned by Diageo and it wasn’t done by any of its ad agencies. Dear Brother was made by film students, Daniel Titz and Dorian Lebherz, from Germany’s Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.

In fact, Johnnie Walker has moved away from Keep Walking. It’s new message its Joy Will Take You Further and Anomaly’s new mood is light, fun, hip and happy.

The students don’t think it was Diageo’s best choice.

“[Keep Walking] stands for the effort and struggles one must overcome to reach one’s goal. It is also very motivating: Don’t give up, try again and find your path. Which is exactly what we are aiming for with the ending of our spot, despite all the melancholy there is always some optimistic outlook…

“We believe a cinematic story that creates emotions is always stronger than a rich assembly of different settings without storytelling,” they stated.

Daniel Titz and Dorian Lebherz have created ads for Johnnie Walker, Nivea, Black & Decker, Mustang Jeans and a branded content epic for Sony. They haven’t graduated yet.

The two filmmakers travelled to Scotland to make their Johnnie Walker film. If the title, Dear Brother, didn’t give it away be warned, it’s emotional.

If storytelling is their calling card, emotional content seems to be the pair’s forte. This is their spec ad for Nivea:

And if you think they’re a two hit wonder, watch their other spec ads:

Dear Brother credits:

Directors: Dorian Lebherz & Daniel Titz

VFX/compositing: Dorian Lebherz & Daniel Titz
DoP: Jan David Günther
Production company: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Producers: Madlen Folk & Johann Valentinitsch

Actors: Mathew Lewis Carter & Robin Guiver
Editing: Raquel Nuñez
Music: Renée Abe
Sound design: Marvin Keil
Voice-over: John Reilly
1st assistant camera: Adrian Huber
Colourist: Jan David Günther