Bringing the history of Glenlivet to life
The short story
Fiora was briefed with creating a suite of Social Media videos to tell the brand story. The aim was to raise brand awareness, educate new and existing consumers on the brand’s history, and showcase The Glenlivet as ‘THE definitive’ whisky.
To create effective and engaging content, we needed to understand the core of The Glenlivet. Founded in 1822, the distillery is steeped in history, with this background as much a part of the brand as the whisky itself. However, with an aim to introduce new consumers to the brand — ones less aware of the idiosyncrasies of premium whisky, we needed to find a way to encompass their history and personality in a modern and engaging way.
The results
The Glenlivet had a clear picture of who they were and what they wanted to reflect. However, this needed to be portrayed within the fast-paced, constantly evolving landscape of social media.
By portraying both the rich heritage and modern character of The Glenlivet, we were able to carve out a solid social position for them, engaging their existing customer base while appealing to a new diverse audience.
With care, creativity, and insight, we presented THE definitive whisky in a modern and engaging new light.
The long story
The video
The brand story video covered the history of The Glenlivet, including its home next to the Livet River, its popularity with royalty and artists, its distillery process, and its place in modern society. While illustrated with expressive shots and sharp editing, the dry wit and narrative structure came predominantly from its voice over. With around 85% of social media users keeping videos on mute, it was important that the new videos had a visually led narrative that replaced the whimsical voice over.
The research
To create videos that reflected the brand’s unique positioning within the market, we delved into the background of The Glenlivet and became experts in all things whisky. From the angels’ share — the volume of whisky lost to evaporation as it aged, to the full story of how Charles Dickens first tried The Glenlivet, this knowledge helped shape our understanding of the brand and perfect the angle we wanted to present.
The new script
While The Glenlivet was keen to keep both the character and visual identity of the brand story, each new video needed to work as a stand-alone piece of social content. For this to work, a short, snappy on-screen script needed to guide and educate the viewer, while offering the same dry humour of the original voice over.
To start, we drafted twenty separate stories which were eventually narrowed down to eight. These were then written up in three unique styles, each one championing a different tone of voice. The most popular style was the humorous one, with additional feedback pushing for a more educational tone.
By peppering in key historical elements, we were able to keep a light- hearted tone without detracting from the brand’s prestigious heritage.
The clips
We had a clear understanding of the brand and a set tone of voice. Now we could start making the videos. Careful editing was key in reflecting the educated humour of the brand, as well as creating an engaging flow. Using assets from both the brand story and a library of distillery shots, we began selecting clips that captured The Glenlivet character.
There needed to be a balance of imaginative, sensory shots along with more down to earth, practical ones. We chose evocative clips of ingredient shots and the distillery process, pairing them with ordinary, human ones, like master distiller Alan Winchester enjoying a cup of tea.
This balance created a sophisticated yet humorous and relaxed tone, ensuring the videos appealed to both the brand’s new and existing target audience.
The abstract jazz
With a clear idea of the tone and visual pattern, we were close to having the videos mapped out. We just needed something to pull them together. The key came in an unexpected form — abstract jazz.
Used only briefly in the original video, the small snippet of jazz stood out from the rest of the music, highlighting the charming energy of the brand’s character. We introduced extended tracks to the new videos, choosing snippets with varying tempos to complement the different themes. The marriage of drums and cymbals, interspersed with comic pauses, helped to reflect the complex palette of the whisky, bringing its rich flavours to life in an engaging and lightly humorous way.
The edit
The jazz tracks provided a musical rhythm to work with, helping to guide the timing of shot changes and creating a consistent flow that helped unify the eight videos. Along with additional sound effects and an emphasis on comic timing, we added in visual cues that touched on the light humour of The Glenlivet and guided its story without the need for audio.
These were often deceptively simple. A full stop joining the on-screen text a beat later or the words ‘500 million years’ rolling out in a spit-flap style way, added a quirky and cheerful feel that helped balance out the fluid, descriptive language.
The final videos
The right music, careful editing, and a clear vision of the brand identity helped us transform a lengthy, historically-focused video into eight unique social videos that told a variety of stories. From the famous royal stamp of approval to the craft and flavour of the whisky itself, each video created a snapshot of The Glenlivet’s history and personality. And with simple yet descriptive titles like ‘Cannot be Rushed’ and ‘Smuggler of Smugglers’, viewers were easily guided to the videos that best piqued their interest.
The results
The Glenlivet had a clear picture of who they were and what they wanted to reflect. However, this needed to be portrayed within the fast-paced, constantly evolving landscape of social media.
By portraying both the rich heritage and modern character of The Glenlivet we were able to carve out a solid social position for them, engaging their existing customer base while appealing to a new diverse audience.
With care, creativity and insight, we presented THE definitive whisky in a modern and engaging new light.
