This campaign, like Longbranch, is grounded in its roots and dares us to discover what happens when we move beyond curiosity, into action.
Julka Villa | Global Managing Director of the Campari Group
Ecstatic to see this incredible creative out in the world. Seamless launch with tremendous assets.
Karlee Horan | Brand Manager Prestige Whiskies, Campari America
Launching Longbranch with Matthew McConaughey
Client: Longbranch Whiskey, a Wild Turkey sister brand (Campari)
Strategic Service: Digital Creative & Campaign Strategy
Team: Josh Combs (Creative Direction), Jack Lodge (Client Lead), Ophelia Stimpson (Strategy Lead), David Svedenstrom & August Ostberg (Art and Copy), all for AKQA. Media by Mindshare.
Opportunity
Goal: Brand Affinity & Sales Conversion
Audience: Progressive millennials 25-45
Market: North America (primary) and EMEA (secondary).
Campari-owned Longbranch Whiskey had been on the market since 2018 – but as the ‘younger sister’ of Wild Turkey, had yet to launch officially and make its own mark.
Campari came to us to execute a launch campaign that would get consumers excited about their premium whiskey product and differentiate the Longbranch brand.
Insight
Longbranch offers a unique blend of Kentucky Bourbon and Texas Oak Mesquite – a curious palate for whiskey lovers out there. We took this premise of curiosity when researching our audience, landing on the insight that by questioning what we think we know, we can learn the things we don’t.
With honorary Creative Director and Longbranch Brand Ambassador Matthew McConaughey on board, we developed creative & comms platform ‘Wonder What If’ – leaning into the curious nature of the Longbranch product, the curiosity and passion for learning uncovered in our target audience, and the eccentric nature of Matthew himself.
Execution
Our output was an omnichannel digital campaign showcasing the ‘Wonder What If’ platform that flighted across social, PMP and TV streaming and capitalised on curiosity to capture the attention of our audience.
We combined Matthew’s eccentric personality with playful graphics to really land the concept – from outlandish self-directed videos filmed by his son in his back garden, to ‘McConaughey Dictionary’ social assets demystifying some of his more obscure turns of phrase, to shoppable whiskey cocktail assets and recipes making Longbranch seem all the more interesting and exciting to consumers lower down the sales funnel (all below).
Rigorous cross-channel messaging strategy underpinned the diverse and breathtaking creative assets which had emerged from the brand and campaign platform. And it made the campaign a hit: Longbranch saw a 36% sales increase and 1.8mm organic social engagements in the four weeks following launch.
