A lesson for Johnnie Walker - and others
The suprise hit of 2015 in branded content is a stunning Johnnie Walker video, now a big viral on social media, and the talk of the advertising world. But there's a strange thing about it. The famous whiskey brand didn't produce the video, did not aknowledge it - it didn't even know about the making of it.
Before we continue explaining this to you, first some statements:
1. In 2019 80% of all content we consume will be video content, mainly played at mobile devices.
2. Young generations will both produce and consume those videos - take Snapchat, one of the fastest growing social platforms with mainly video content, user generated. 86% of snapchat users is younger than 35 years, 60% even younger than 24.
So what kind of content do young people like and make? Well, this is what Johnnie Walker thought.
Nice video, professional multimillion dollar production; puts Johnnie Walker in the ranks of, let's say, Coca Cola. But does it want to be there? Is whiskey about joy?
Take this video we are talking about. It's called "Dear Brother". It's not at all about joy, but about one of the deepest human emotions, lost love and sadness, and puts the brand right were it belongs, the melancholic atmosphere of the birthgrounds of all whiskeys, Scotland. And it's a story as good as a story can get.
Now for the suprise attack: this video was produced by two young students, as a course final, from.... a film academy in Baden-Württemberg, Germany! It's only 90 seconds, but it is multi-layered as if it were a Fellini masterpiece.
The students, Dorian Lebherz and Daniet Titz, took the Johnnie Walker message "Keep Walking" as the deeper meaning of their story. Lebherz commented on this choice in Adweek in an interview: "We think that a visually told story that creates emotions is always stronger than just showing different settings without storytelling." It was plain criticism on the "Joy will take you further" campaign of Johnnie Walker. (Read the full story here).
So what did Johnnie Walker say about it? Lebherz: "We haven't showed it to the client yet. But we are thinking about it."