From the very beginning of our partnership, Woodford Reserve’s craft and attention to detail has set the standard of quality within the bourbon world.

Our Challenge

In 2017, we had already worked with Woodford Reserve to celebrate and elevate their diligent pursuit of excellence and their historic Kentucky homeplace. By this time, though, they realized that we needed to develop a fresh approach when introducing the brand to the rest of the world. We knew we had a few specific objectives to consider right away: we needed to communicate Woodford Reserve’s dedication to quality, we needed to deliver that message with sophistication and style, and we needed to do it through highlighting both people and product.

 The Approach

Our approach was to introduce Woodford Reserve to a broad national audience through the story of their commitment to quality. To do that, we knew we needed to focus on “Why” Woodford Reserve operates the way it does, to share that story, and to be consistent and authentic. We wanted to invite consumers to identify with key characteristics of Woodford Reserve, particularly authenticity, curiosity, and above all, quality.

So we started by asking ourselves the question: what messaging and imagery are bourbon enthusiasts burned out on? What have we seen too much of in the past few years?

That opened us up to a new position of exploring meaningful personal experiences. We examined that position directly in our initial, working script: “When people think of quality bourbon, they don’t think about process and history. They think of celebrations, reunions, and long weekends. Nights filled with laughter, catching up with old friends, great stories. They think about this moment.

And that’s the way it should be. Woodford Reserve thinks about the details so you don’t have to.”

 Results

Once we established our conceptual territory, we set off to bring it to life. We found a great rooftop bar in Chicago that would serve as the perfect environment to introduce Woodford Reserve to a new audience: an audience that didn’t always need or want a history lesson with their bourbon. Instead, we wanted to create a space for them to savor a depiction of social experience. This would be a representation of Woodford Reserve that could reflect their own lives and memories. 

 We paired Woodford Reserve’s proclamation of quality with a portrayal of those moments and the spaces their consumers find them: places where people feel invited to participate in a moment, a conversation, a story, and a connection with people who are just as authentic, curious, and complex as Woodford Reserve.

The Quality Campaign was activated in a broad national media buy with a commercial that subsequently ran on Hulu, digital partners, and across all social media sites.

By the end of the campaign, Woodford Reserve saw significantly elevated brand awareness, increased sales, and higher search traffic.