Bruce’s Whisky Barrel

Background

A series of 2-minute TV commercials, shortened versions of an online TV show called 'Scotland From Home', had been developed to take viewers on a light-hearted journey into the world of fine whiskies. It was important to get the trade and media interested in the campaign before it was launched to help generate buzz and PR.

The agency brief was to mail these key influencers a 'taste' of what was to come.

Idea

The challenge for the premium whisky brands which Brandhouse stocks and sells (Bells, Johnnie Walker etc) was recession. Consumers were drinking cheaper brands.

Both the TV show and the mailer set out to show that there are no chap ways to make a decent scotch.

In the TV ads and webisodes, Bruce Campbell, a brash young Scot, is shown trying to make his own superior whisky – on the cheap. His whisky is as unappealing as he is.

So the trade and media reps received a blue plastic cask, the very opposite of the French oak barrels one usually associates with making fine whisky. A call to action invited them to 'Open up to the Bruce Campbell way'.

Inside they found personalized items from Bruce Campbell, which explained the humour of the show and the personality of its thrifty host. In engaging with his cheapskate personality, recipients got the idea that making whisky takes time and money.

Results

The mailer definitely had the desired effect. It allowed the agency to negotiate with its media partners to secure prime TV space to flight the two-minute TV ads. From twitter blogs (eg: twitter.com/Cherryflava/status/13125643109) to websites (eg: www.totallymad.co.za/?IDStory=24817), people were posting and tweeting about the show’s charismatic host, Bruce Campbell and a fan base of loyal viewers began to grow, as if for a real TV series.

Our Thoughts

Bruce Campbell is a prat. He follows a long line of prats on TV. Mr. Bean, Alan Partridge, Horst Schlämmer in Germany. The list is long. These characters are opposites to the norm and for some reason we find them funny.

So, that was the big idea. Create a character who embodies the very opposite of what you want to say. A lot of agencies would have left it at that, run the TV ads and hopd for the best. But at TJDR they have long recognized the value of PR as a brand-building tool. Sending this pack to the hard-bitten salespeople of TV airtime as well as to journalists seems to me to be such a smart thing to do, helping secure prime spots, maybe even at a discount.