Studios
The Bold Choice 1

Gold Label

Taking whisky off the shelf & into culture.

The Bold Choice
The Bold Choice
Challenge & Insight

The Scotch category was suffering from a bad reputation, based on outdated cultural perceptions, & didn’t feel relevant to most drinkers.

We discovered that the biggest recruitment opportunity wasn’t with existing whisky drinkers, but with non-whisky drinkers – those looking for drinks that are simple, fresh & light tasting. Everything that Scotch isn’t.

Opportunity

Don’t talk about whisky.

By developing an accessible serve, aligning it with the most relevant cultures & ensuring it showed up where people were already drinking, we realised we could create an unexpected alternative to their standard go-to’s.

Rather than persuade non-whisky drinkers how good our Scotch tasted, we knew we needed to create a serve they wanted to try as soon as they saw it. For us, we know we’ve won when people ask, “I like it, what is it?”. Then we can talk about whisky.

Andy Hewitt, Managing Partner
Solution

Embedding a new serve at the core

Although developing new serves isn’t our strong point (tasting them definitely is though), we knew who to turn to. Sweet&Chilli developed an entire serve strategy, Gold&Apple, that sat at the heart of everything we did.

The Bold Choice
The Serve

Introducing the Gold&Apple

The Gold&Apple is an original, disruptive & accessible serve that completely changes the way people think about whisky. One part Gold Label, one freshly juiced apple & your choice of seasonal garnish – as simple as it is delicious

A new cultural territory

Irreverent Luxury

The world of fashion has been undergoing big changes recently, with some of the longstanding, traditional labels adopting a less serious, playful tone.

By aligning Gold Label with this Irreverent Luxury territory we positioned it as the bold choice within drinks occasions – a celebration of colour, creation & community.

The Bold Choice

An overview of the Irreverent Luxury landscape

Comms Platform

Gold&…

Inspired by the serve itself, we developed a comms platform that was disruptive, playful, expressive & enabled Gold Label to show up where whisky doesn’t normally belong.

Gold& establishes Gold Label as one part of a bigger story; a celebration of individuality, creativity, collaboration & the collective spirit.

The Bold Choice
The Bold Choice
The Bold Choice
A culturally relevant activation strategy

Boldly embedding collaboration at the heart of the brand

Instead of developing a collaboration platform in isolation, we made it easy for Gold Label to embrace a collaborative approach & include those at the forefront of their target culture.

We brought together culturally connected makers, creators & protagonists from 4 key markets to review assumptions, share experiences, exchange ideas & collaborate – validating & refining the brand strategy in a Cultural Lab.

8 Participants 4 Days 5 Creative Briefs

A cultural platform created with & for those at the forefront of the culture.

Collaborations

Partnering with those at the heart of culture.

We launched by demonstrating the power of the Gold& platform with a range of collaborations at the core of the brand experience – opening up Gold Label to co-creation with ‘the next big things’, not just the established go-to’s.

Serve Branding

Gold&Eike König

We collaborated with legendary designer Eike König to create a bespoke, screen printed logotype that lives across all comms.

The Bold Choice
Packaging that lives on

Gold&Louise Gray

London-based fashion designer Louise Gray worked with us to create limited edition, reusable packaging. Her distinctive style perfectly encapsulating the attitude of the campaign.

The Bold Choice
The Bold Choice
In-bar Experience

Gold&Robert Storey

Renowned multi-disciplinary designer Robert Storey created a unique bar-to-table experience unlike any other, designed to stand out in a space already crowded with other brands.

The Bold Choice
The Bold Choice
Art Direction

A suite of assets to amplify the story

We created a suite of brand assets, including serve photography, to support the collaborations which were distributed by global & local teams.

Retail Experience

The Gold&Neon Orchard

As part of the overall comms approach we defined a theme for retail experiential, which was then brought to life by CircleSquare. Neon Orchard made the serve the centre of the experience, giving consumers the chance to sample it, while aligning aesthetically with the world of fashion.

The Bold Choice
The Bold Choice
The Bold Choice
Impact
+5

From 7th to 2nd best selling Johnnie Walker variant.

13.1%

Sampling-to-purchase conversion rate. Compared to an avg. 11.6% during Xmas period.

+35%

Sales increase over previous year, including a 41% increase in gross profit.

Not only did this work completely reposition Gold Label, but it inspired us to look at the entire trademark. It has led to one of the biggest brand refreshes in the history of Johnnie Walker, opening the door to a new generation of whisky drinkers.

Gabriel Olszewski, Global Head of Communications Johnnie Walker
Our Role
CoLab
Cultural Curator Identification | Cultural Lab | Brand & Product Collaborations
Studios
Creative | Art Direction | Content Production