No one starts with Swedish death metal. You work your way up to it. You develop a taste for heavy riffage and double kick drums until suddenly one day you’re throwing devil horns with the best of ‘em. And just as aspiring metal-heads need an entry point, so do potential whiskey drinkers. We made Jack Honey the on-ramp for the whiskey curious, framing it as warm and inviting but still enough bold to kick out the jams.
Jack Daniel’s has always stood for doing it your way—the right way. Uncut is a “oner,” one single, uncut take of a song chosen by a musician and performed their way—the right way. Pure. Uncut. Undeniable.
From cheeky “snack-sized” billboards, to traditional ones, to celebrating their signature french fry, everything we created for McDonald’s was a distillation of their ethos—simple, pure, and full of joy.
The Jack Daniel’s voice—an effortless blend of strength, humility, and wit—emerged over 60 years of long form copy, each lengthy new ad revealing a worldview beyond whiskey.
When we compressed that expansive voice into modern, quick-context areas like OOH, Social, and In Store, we spoke the language of each new channel without a single strain or waver.
I thought we did alright by Jack. And when I was asked to consult on the official guidelines for that iconic voice, I learned the brand did, too.
When we learned that the folks who make Jack Fire also volunteer to protect it, we knew we had to share the story. So we did. We knew the brand should also be helping support other volunteer firefighters. So we did that, too. And we also knew some of Jack’s famous friends would love to help spread the word. Yep, did that too.
Chris Nolan might be the best thing that ever happened to Batman fans. His austere visuals and uber serious intensity made his Batman appear separate from other superhero films, something comic book fans could enjoy without having to defend their taste or genre preference. Likewise, we wanted Jack Apple to be The Dark Knight of flavored drinks. Mature. Intense. Elevated. There’s all this other silly flavored stuff out there, but not this guy.
We re-positioned Michelob Ultra not as another light beer brand, but as the world’s first beer+fitness hybrid brand. Our strategy and cross-platform marketing led Michelob Ultra to become the fastest growing beer in the world. Michelob saw a 22% increase in total volume, 6X share growth, and 6.23 million new household users.
Nintendo never had the fastest hardware or latest next-gen tech. But with these two old school spots, we reminded everyone of why Nintendo has endured—fun, character-driven games that offer everyone the chance to step into the shoes of a hero.
Where you’re from is what you’re made of. It’s true of Jack Honey and it’s true of all the artists who shared their stories for our national content series and then headlined local market summer block parties.
You know you’re watching a Spider-Man movie when Peter Parker says, “With great power comes great responsibility." And while we didn’t utter those exact words when there was an alarming 75% spike in at-home spirits sales during the first months of America’s COVID-19 lockdown, we did say the world’s largest whiskey brand needed to be talking more about moderation during the moment. I’m pretty sure we were wearing Spider-Man Underoos when we said it, too.
Rye is like the NFT of whiskeys; everyone has heard of it, but they couldn’t tell you specifically what it is or what to do with it. And while we do didn’t breakdown NFTs, we did help people understand rye by making Jack Rye the answer to the most frequently searched questions people had about the whiskey and its history.
People say there’s something special about the Jack Daniel Distillery. People also say every visitor feels the same way after they see it for themselves. We thought that instead of hoping a few people would eventually see it, let’s make a way for everyone to feel it.
