Ad of the Day: Scotch & Soda explores the array of ‘other’ Amsterdams around the globe
Dutch fashion label Scotch & Soda is paying homage to the free-thinking nature of its Amsterdam birthplace in its latest film, which explores the wide-ranging places named Amsterdam outside of the Netherlands.
Scotch & Soda explores multiple Amsterdams
The brand chose Amsterdam in the Arctic Ocean, an island only reachable by an 18-hour boat ride, as the spot’s main location. Here a team of models were shot by director Fleur Fortuné and fashion and landscape photographer Elisabeth Toll amid frozen fjords and snow-capped mountains.
Slipping in and out of speech and song, a voiceover likens the scenery to the flat, canal-lined landscape of the Dutch city.
The ad is also cut with footage taken by a smaller team throughout other Amsterdams across the globe.
“We found one Amsterdam in eastern South Africa, a tiny village in Ohio, USA, and an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean,” recalled Paulo Martins, creative director at Publicis 133, which devised the campaign. “The drone crew needed to island hop by several planes, then by boat – needing a translator and a local guide to secure footage in the uninhabited one we unearthed in West Guinea.”
Adam Kakembo, chief marketing officer at Scotch & Soda, admitted selecting the Arctic as a shoot location presented production challenges. But, he said, “that’s exactly what we want to capture; the spirit that’s at our core.
“We know Amsterdam is very important to who we are, yet it goes beyond the geography of one place – it’s the openness, free-thinking and perseverance that sets us apart. Our latest campaign is a fittingly impractical celebration of that.”
The campaign materials will be go live in the Netherlands, Germany, the US, Belgium, India, UK and Australia across out of home, cinema, print and online.