Lights, Camera,... Scotch!

There are loads of compelling stories about Scotch, but few brands seem bold enough to tell them. Instead, marketing campaigns blur into a ‘sea of same’ claims one veteran ad-man who tells Tom Bruce-Gardyne the opportunity to stand out has never been greater…

In that pre-digital age of innocence, the nation would snuggle down in front of the TV of an evening. Millions of pairs of eyes would be simultaneously glued to the same shows and the same adverts that were sometimes just as popular. When ITV went on strike in 1979, viewers wrote in desperate for news of the ads. Would that incorrigible Leonard Rossiter tip yet another glass of Cinzano down Joan Collins’ cleavage? We could hardly wait.

"Thinking back to the 1980s and 90’s there were so many incredible campaigns, but then you were working across three or four TV channels, and the fragmentation into social and digital media just wasn’t there," says Iain Weir, marketing director at Ian Macleod Distillers.

"Those days are gone, but I would be depressed if you can’t still produce a really engaging UK or global campaign for your brand. It would need to be a 360˚ campaign that goes beyond pure advertising. For me marketing, particularly of Scotch whisky is all about story-telling."

Mick Mahoney, who spent thirty years in advertising as creative director for some of the biggest agencies working for the likes of Chivas Regal and Johnnie Walker, agrees. In fact, he goes further. "To be honest, I think it’s an absolute sitting duck for someone to do something interesting and innovative in terms of communication in the whisky space," he says.

While at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, he co-wrote ‘The Man Who Walked Around the World’ starring Robert Carlyle. It is an astonishing piece of work with the actor recounting the tale of Johnnie Walker in a single take over six minutes in a remote Perthshire glen. Apparently, he nailed it on the fortieth attempt late on day two in a cloud of midges. It is arguably one of the best whisky commercials ever made.

Attention spans may have shortened, but they weren’t exactly long in 2009 when the film came out. When he originally pitched the idea and explained the length Mahoney was laughed at, but he insists that "nothing is too long if it’s interesting enough. I think it could still be made now, but it hasn’t."

For him, most campaigns are part of a "sea of same," and "whisky’s one of the worst offenders, along with watches and perfume. They just constantly repeat all the same old clichés. If I had a pound for every time someone put a barrel in a whisky ad’ I could retire."

Mahoney talks of how "every drink has its role," and says: "Whisky is the lone man reflecting on life and being philosophical, and until someone decides on a different moment you’re going to be stuck with a lot of the same caricatures." Marketing departments would do well to look beyond the category instead of retreating inwards which has been his experience. 

"They’ll convince themselves they’re really different because their moment of reflection is ever so slightly different from someone else’s. It’s laughable," he says. Equally absurd is how obsessive brand-owners can be. "At Chivas they were absolutely convinced that their shade of whisky was unique. We would spend a lot of time, money and effort lighting it in such a way that it was a perfect match to what they considered to be a major point of difference."

The whisky moment is often lit by a flickering log fire as with Harrison Ford in the current Glenmorangie campaign. Mahoney accepts it is clearly tongue in cheek, but says "being ironic at the industry’s expense is not a strategy."

Iain Weir is coming round to the Glenmorangie campaign having been unconvinced. He feels the fireside routine, also embraced by Lagavulin, is something of an industry in-joke, and doubts it resonates much beyond North America and northern Europe, or with a younger audience. But he applauds the brand-owners for doing things "a bit different, and a bit quirky, and I think it did bring a lot of publicity to Glenmorangie and to Scotch as well."

His message to his fellow marketeers is: "Let’s be a lot more creative in the environment and occasions and serves that will allow us to bring Scotch whisky to a much wider audience. There is no reason why whisky shouldn’t be heavily involved in a more social upbeat occasion, and I think in many markets that’s what they expect."

"There are lots of whisky brands that are capable of doing great work," says Mahoney who does not believe there was some golden age or that it’s no longer possible to stand out in these days given the endless proliferation of media outlets.

"No, I think the opposite," he says. "Because so many people do so much samey work, I think the opportunity to stand out has never been greater. The issue is people aren’t brave enough to stand out, and they feel if they stick with the herd they won’t get picked off, but in my view that’s the biggest waste of time."   

So, basically Scotch has been slumped by the fire, contemplating its navel for far too long. It needs to get out there and seize the day. Unfortunately, times are tough right now, and as Mahoney says, "when people feel under threat they tend to curl up, rather than take the fight head on."

And yet opportunities abound right across the category, in his view: "For some of the smaller, more interesting malts there’s still a wonderful place to play. There are so many great stories, but nobody seems to be telling them."