Johnnie Walker: A world large with an area voice
Johnnie Walker is the world’s primary Scotch whisky model.1 Following the celebration of the model’s two hundredth yr in 2020, this yr we’ve taken the primary daring steps into a brand new chapter of Johnnie Walker’s outstanding journey. We additionally welcomed over 235,000 guests to Johnnie Walker Princes Road,2 our newly opened customer expertise in Edinburgh, and unveiled a brand new period of the model’s iconic ‘Hold Strolling’ story.
Through the pandemic, individuals around the globe skilled dramatic shifts of their on a regular basis lives. At Johnnie Walker, these adjustments, mixed with our client perception, created a possibility to instil the long-lasting ‘Hold Strolling’ line with modern that means, persevering with to construct this world large by means of new, native connections. Sizzling on the heels of unveiling a daring new search for Johnnie Walker, we launched our new ‘Hold Strolling’ marketing campaign in October 2021. For greater than 20 years, Johnnie Walker has impressed individuals with these two easy phrases, and this subsequent chapter will proceed to construct cultural relevance for the model among the many subsequent era of whisky drinkers.
Our marketing campaign burst onto screens, into venues, social feeds and promoting areas in over 50 international locations. By partnerships with native changemakers, together with CL, the South Korean rapper; Burna Boy, the Nigerian singer, songwriter and efficiency artist; and DJ Alok, the Brazilian DJ and report producer, we reconnected individuals with the socialising areas that they had missed for therefore lengthy. We broke away from extra typical communications, telling the story of African creativity in an award-winning documentary, ‘The Ones Who Hold Strolling’, which was made with the Forbes 30-under-30 director, Amarachi Nwosu. We shared inspiring quotes on progress from well-known personalities, comparable to Grace Jones, Mark Twain and Mae West, throughout metropolis skylines and cultural sizzling spots. And our tv and cinema commercial ‘Anthem’ introduced Johnnie Walker’s charismatic spirit and the facility of ‘Hold Strolling’ to life with vitality and optimism.
Johnnie Walker natural internet gross sales grew 34% this yr, surpassing 21 million nine-litre circumstances. And the ‘Hold Strolling’ marketing campaign’s success speaks for itself. We’re proud that, judged in opposition to 13,000 different commercials, ‘Hold Strolling’ received three high 10 locations in Kantar’s Inventive Effectiveness Awards 2022.
