Back in '87 rare scotch brand J&B were looking for some new advertising. A campaign that was "fresher, younger & more alive" than their old stuff. So they approached the small Manhattan agency Grace & Rothschild. 
The agency's initial proposal went down like a lead balloon, nearly losing them the account. But they got a stay of execution, 3 weeks to come up with something better. And they did. Roy Grace & Diane Rothschild went back to the drawing board and knocked heads until they came up with a simple idea. A series of visual puns employing the J&B name. They ran with it, creating over a dozen sayings and ways to illustrate them.
It's a great campaign, a simple idea, really well executed and art-directed that put's J&B at the centre of the messaging. They stand up well on their own and work as a set, OK maybe one or two aren't quite as good as the rest. But over a dozen executions that's good going in our book. And the client was hooked, the readers loved them and the campaign was a success.
Oh and we can't forget about this bad boy, best christmas print ad ever?
White Horse, though. Innit?
ReplyDeleteInteresting Mr Ben, enlighten us please.
ReplyDeleteYou know, the famous White Horse campaign from the early 80s or late 70s. It was the same visual pun thing. A real white horse next to a basketball player: White Horse and American. There were a bunch of others. Then J&B, and finally Famous Grouse did the same thing in the late nineties.
ReplyDeleteAll whiskies, oddly enough.
Come on, the Christmas card isn't a 'bad boy'. Everyone at some stage when charged with the fucking shit job of doing the company Christmas card has resorted to the pun 'Noel' and written the entire copy with the letter 'l'.
ReplyDeleteCheers Ben, yep similar I guess. Must be some kind of whisky visual pun vortex. Mr Propheto, sounds like a bad boy of a Christmas ad you wrote there, congrats!
ReplyDeletei remember seeing the ingle ells execution on billboards in NYC when i lived there years later. a great campaign. point of purchase if you lived in new york ;-)
ReplyDeleteI would so love to find the advert with the magnifying glass over the J&B Butterfly with the strap "True Pleasure Is Rare"...
ReplyDelete