Ad for whisky positioned as documentary

27 May 2010

A quirky and witty two-minute long documentary-type commercial for Brandhouse, entitled "Scotland From Home," was launched by The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town) in April 2010 for its various whisky brands; The Singleton, Johnnie Walker Black Label, Bell's, Johnnie Walker Red Label and J&B Rare.

It follows the travels of a slightly vain and presumptuous Scottish man, Bruce Campbell, as he searches for ways to brew whisky at a fraction of the normal costs.

"In order for us to really engage and therefore educate the audience, we took a very non-traditional route," says the agency's executive creative director, Ross Chowles. "The series takes the audience on an educational journey as Bruce Campbell meets and interviews a number of whisky connoisseurs to communicate the sentiment behind the campaign strategy 'Life's too short to drink a cheap whisky'."

Account director, Rowan Eva explains, "The strategy is rather unusual as it positions the commercial as content and not the traditional 30-second commercial - that way the audience sees the long duration commercial as a programme, therefore effectively delivering the message." The strategy leverages a high reach popular prime-time programme and positions the commercial immediately after this without any traditional commercial breaks in between the two, which effectively retains the viewers' attention.

In the spirit of remaining true to the Scottish heritage and authenticity, Jason Xenopolous (director), Peter Grid (producer), Kim Henshilwood (art director), Nick Gordon (copywriter) and other crew members braved the freezing cold, snow and rain to shoot the commercial in north of Scotland in five days.

To view log on to www.scotlandfromhome.com or www.youtube.com/scotlandfromhome.