Our idea: hug the haters, metaphorically speaking.

First, we partnered with Ryan Chetiyawardana, International Bartender of the Year, to create a series of unique cocktail serves which used The Macallan, and could be enjoyed at a variety of drinking occasions. The pre-dinner aperitif, the refreshing option to enjoy on a hot day, and so on.

Then, we located and contacted the people who had been most angry about us using The Macallan in cocktails. And we flew them from all around the world to a secret London location to take part in a special experiment.

All they had to do in return was let us film it...

There were significant reservations at first. But, over the course of the experience, we were able to convert them to single malt cocktail enthusiasts.

19/10/16 - Critics flown to the UK

20/10/16 - Bar experiment with Ryan Chetiyawardana / filming

01/11/16 - 01/12/16 - Documentary campaign deployed - teasers and full film.

The scale was worldwide, reaching The Macallan's 1M global Facebook fans.

Tier 1:

Coverage depth was essential to delivery a persuasive brand message for The Macallan. What could possibly be more persuasive to our 1M-strong community than people who were originally incredibly critical of The Macallan being used in cocktails undergoing an on screen conversion?!

Tier 2:

Most critical to proving the success of the campaign however was tracking how our chosen critics have behaved in the community. We have since seen repeated examples of them actively seeking to come to the defence of the brand whenever we mention cocktails on social channels. In effect, they have become the brand's defenders in chief. In many cases, we no longer need to even respond to negative comments as our new advocates beat us to it with comments explaining how quality drinks need quality ingredients and that, with The Macallan, it should never be "neat or nothing".