Truly Deeply/Madly

Last week I went and saw the awe­some Expend­ables. It’s pretty much the male ver­sion of Sex and the City. I was at one point a lit­tle con­fused as to why they where start­ing to build a plot, by my cal­cu­la­tions there could have been at least 10 more explo­sions and 40 more awe­some ways to take out the bad guys and that should have been the priority.

Before the movie there was the story of Johnny Walker, an ad sure, but a really inter­est­ing and engag­ing one. Even if you don’t have any inter­est in whiskey the story is amaz­ingly engag­ing. Nar­rated by Robert “per­fect deliv­ery” Carlyle.

What I found so inter­est­ing was the con­trast between a great story told well, with min­i­mal spe­cial effects and trick­ery ver­sus no story with the best actions scene you have seen in your life. Both excel­lent in their own ways, it just high­lights how impor­tant it is to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve from the begin­ning. Does your brand need a good story, or do you need some explo­sions? Either way it is impor­tant to know that both direc­tions can build emo­tional con­nec­tions with you audi­ence, but be weary both have dif­fer­ent outcomes.

The Johnny Walker story is amaz­ing for a num­ber of rea­sons. The for­mat between adver­tis­ing and short film is blurred. Robert Carlyle’s atti­tude, deliv­ery, pace and tim­ing is per­fect. And the ad cements Johnny Walker’s place in pop cul­ture and his­tory. It goes to show you the power of a good brand story, and this is one of the best I have seen. Lucky it’s a Fri­day because it is a long one, but well worth it. Watch and see if you agree, let me know your thoughts. I’d love to know whether you loved it or hated it, how effec­tive it was for your view of the John­nie Walker brand.

If you would like to chat about the Expend­ables or how you can lever­age your brand story, karate kick the phone off the table and give us a call.

Lach­lan “bring it on” McDougall
Design Creative

Tags: Brand Agency, Brand Design, brand designer Melbourne, Brand DNA, Brand Experience, Brand Personality, Brand Strategy, brand-designers-Melbourne, Brand-Storytelling, Creative Ideas, Expendables, Johnnie Walker, Melbourne Brand Strategy, Robert Carlyles

This entry was posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 9:30 am and is filed under Brand Agency, Brand Design, Brand Strategy, Brand Voice, Brand-Storytelling, Creative, Experiences, Thinking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.