In an age when ad firms consider an audience’s attention span to be nearly as short as a goldfish’s (no offense to goldfish), it’s refreshing and altogether flattering that Justin Moore at BBH London came up with such compelling copy for what was to be Johnny Walker’s nearly 6-minute long film commercial.
What I really appreciate about this commercial is that it is six minutes of pure, classic story-telling combined with clean, clear filmmaking boosted by Robert Carlyle’s excellent performance. When one is trying to tell a story – especially the story of a brand as well known as this – it’s easy to get entangled in special effects or trendy shot taking. Further, given the ubiquitous presence of images all around us, it’s even easier to forget the power of a strong oral narrative delivered by an able actor. After all it isn’t everyday that one comes across any kind of publicity material with more than a paragraph of copy in it let alone text to suffice five minutes worth of talking.
A simple and very effective piece of communication if you ask me, heightened by this: the fact that the whole advertisement was shot in one single take!
To know more about the making of the film in an interview with its director click through here.
