(please press play and then double click on video for full screen, and then double click once over in order to return to this post)
This advertisement resonates with me.
The voice-over is much like my own inner voice. The video montage of one guy's life is startlingly like mine.
Life for many of us starts after getting out of college with that first big city job, working in a slate gray, fabric lined cubicle, stirring your Lipton Cup-a-Soup or instant noodles at lunch time. From those humble beginnings, you might build a career, have a chance meeting on a busy city street with your future wife, get fired or downsized, get married, get promoted with the accompanying tintinnabulation of crystal whisky tumblers. The closing scene where our main character, who is a reflection of us, leaves the corporate job and heads down the tarmac to an awaiting plane to pursue his true passion, may have not yet happened for us, but it is at the center of our souls. The video closes with the narrator's words:
"Your entire life, all of it, leads to the next step: the chance to define yourself by where you are headed, instead of where you stand."
What a universal sentiment that pretty much sums up I and a lot of other working guys. Are we satisfied with where we are? Do we want to be defined by maybe the less than meaningful job, the morally challenged pinheads we sometimes encounter, the supervisor who has made a career out of being a tyrant of minutiae, and is totally incapable of seeing the big picture? Hell no! This ad is a message of hope for the dispossessed cubicle dwellers, who are capable of so much more.
. . .
Effective advertising should start by capturing your attention, and then establishing an emotional rapport. In this ad, it is done by telling an all-to-familiar story of venturing into manhood (accompanied all the way by Johnnie Walker of course). This promotional video avoids the mistakes of so many others by not trying to be all things to all people. Instead, it targets a niche market (middle aged North American guys) and makes an irresistible pitch that appeals to this particular consumer on a sentimental level.
Well done Diageo! This is more proof that Diageo are the undisputed geniuses of whisky marketing. I know I am being pitched to, and I am helplessly charmed by it.
Cheers!
Jason Debly
Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2014. All rights reserved. Any and all use is prohibited without permission except for You Tube video posted publicly on by JohnnieWalkerUS, controlled by Diageo. I do not own any rights to the Johnnie Walker advertisement which is posted purely for the purposes of discussion, nostalgia and entertainment.
. . .
Effective advertising should start by capturing your attention, and then establishing an emotional rapport. In this ad, it is done by telling an all-to-familiar story of venturing into manhood (accompanied all the way by Johnnie Walker of course). This promotional video avoids the mistakes of so many others by not trying to be all things to all people. Instead, it targets a niche market (middle aged North American guys) and makes an irresistible pitch that appeals to this particular consumer on a sentimental level.
Well done Diageo! This is more proof that Diageo are the undisputed geniuses of whisky marketing. I know I am being pitched to, and I am helplessly charmed by it.
Cheers!
Jason Debly
Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2014. All rights reserved. Any and all use is prohibited without permission except for You Tube video posted publicly on by JohnnieWalkerUS, controlled by Diageo. I do not own any rights to the Johnnie Walker advertisement which is posted purely for the purposes of discussion, nostalgia and entertainment.
I explore many wiskies...and everytime I try something that disappoints me I always go back to something from the JW line. JW is always a step foreward. (BTW- Double Black is my favorite so far).
ReplyDeleteIn the Johnnie Walker product line my favorite (other than the discontinued Green Label) is Black Label. It is the go-to whisky that I really never tire of. Trouble is, in Canada, the price is approaching $50.
DeleteActually Jason in Quebec the price has surpassed 50$/ http://www.saq.com/page/fr/saqcom/scotch-blended/johnnie-walker-12-ans-black-label-scotch-blended/7880?selectedIndex=2&searchContextId=5964750014134457620
ReplyDeleteMuito bom o post !
ReplyDeleteobrigado!
DeleteSome potent marketing going on over there at Diageo; they are also behind this SOuth African ad for Bell's that has made a splash on the web:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VteDp3IK-60
Jason, The evil genius, ooooof. They've hit near-perfect pitch and it's sounds so good. Using the metaphor for life's steps and the JW range. (Shiver.) Love the start, featuring a car of a conservative, but free-thinking 70's guy, I think it was the old Volvo 142S. The purity of the marketing craft scares me sometimes. JK
ReplyDeleteEverything about the ad is quite brilliant. The writing, music, direction, everything, just zeroes in on my demographic with laser like accuracy. I gotta hand it to them, the best marketers in the business.
DeleteJason, BTW, we aren't seeing price rise in Johnnie Walker Black here; it is found easily in SoCal for $28 US and less, at big box stores. At $50 here, one can have choice of Cragganmore 12, Bruichladdich 10 and ten bucks change back with Macallan 12. So sorry to see prices so high there.
ReplyDeleteIn Canada, the price increases in Johnnie Walker Black Label are not due to margin increases implemented by Diageo. The reason I live with ridiculously high prices, as well as the rest of Canada, in regards to Black Label is due to mark-ups by government controlled liquor stores. They have a monopoly, and you can just imagine the effect on prices.
DeleteSame in Ontario, I recently got my first bottle of JW Black for $55. I really enjoy it but for the "budget" drams I will probably stick with Islay Mist.
Deleteblack would be a cardhu with not a smooth finish
ReplyDeleteI wish I had such a well articulated, motivational inner voice that was capable of thinking so well on the fly. :) I guess that's one of the reasons you became a lawyer.
ReplyDeleteHi Jason! Here in the Philippines, you can find 1L JWBL (which is almost always on sale) for only around 1000 Php (~22 USD), oddly enough, cheaper than the 75cl bottles. If you want to go on a vacation and try our local liquors (and stock up on BL) my buddies and I could show you around :)
ReplyDelete