Drambuie goes for the wacky to move its bottle into new younger hands
Drambuie, Bonnie Prince Charlie's liqueur, drew this comment this week from the American magazine Adweek, " We've seen some wacky liquor commercials in the past few weeks - but this new ad takes the cake, featuring all sorts of odd characters in a surreal landscape."
The mag says the message seems to be that Drambuie is the "favoured booze of those trapped in an existential hell from which there is no escape. (That may encompass a decent segment of the drinking population, actually)."
The cinema spot will be seen in Canada first before heading to cinema and TV in Scotland and then England.
The spot builds on print work, themed "A Taste of the Extraordinary," from late last year .
"The idea behind 'A Taste of the Extraordinary' is to bring to life the thing that makes Drambuie unique—its taste," says the agency Sell! Sell! in a blog post.
"It's still made to a secret recipe, taking a selection of malt whiskies from Speyside and the Highlands and blending them with spices, heather honey and herbs.
"But obviously with this being the world of premium alcoholic drinks, it's about much more than pure tangible product points—imbuing it with a sense of mystery and desirability is vital to get people to even consider it. "
Sell! Sell! says it started working with Drambuie a couple of months ago. The aim was to introduce a new generation of people to this unique drink.
"For a lot of people, Drambuie is a vague memory that lives at the back of their parents' (or grandparents') drinks cabinet, brought out once a year at Christmas. Or worse still, they haven't heard of it at all.
"There are so many pragmatic and logical campaigns out there these days, so we wanted to make A Taste Of The Extraordinary a little more esoteric, explain a little less and intrigue a little more.
"Inspired by the vast history of surreal art, photography and film, we set out to create images that reflect Drambuie's taste. "
"To bring the ideas to life, we went to photographer John Ross, famous for his iconic record covers for Spiritualized, The Pet Shop Boys and Manic Street Preachers (among others) and known for his technical skill and creativity."
Sell! Sell! adds a final word of huge thanks for the team at Drambuie, "who deserve huge credit for sharing and supporting our desire to do ambitious advertising, while the majority of the alcoholic drinks category remains largely bereft of ideas and plays it safe."
Time for a drink, says Sell! Sell!