Yokozuna and master blender come together for Mizunara whisky campaign

Client: Pernod Ricard

Brand: Chivas Regal Mizunara

Agency: Havas London/Havas Tokyo

Market: Japan

Name of campaign: Mizunara

Campaign scope: TV/online

Details: Takanohana Oyakata, a retired star who reached the top rank of yokozuna during his career, meets Colin Scott, Chivas Regal’s master blender, at the distillery. Coming from very different fields, both are presented as working hard to preserve tradition. The campaign was shot in October at the distillery itself in Keith, and a bar in Aberdeen that was deemed appealing to the Japanese whisky market.

“We completed a lot of research into how the culture of whisky here in Scotland translates,” said Amy Morement, location manager at LS Productions, in a statement. “We used this research to inform our scout for the ideal bar and searched Aberdeenshire high and low for a location that was just right.”

Campaign’s view: The search for the ideal whisky bar sounds an extremely tough assignment, but someone had to do it. In all seriousness, the work is nicely shot and the link between the characters unexpected but credible. We just can’t help feeling that more could have been done with individuals of such depth—a TVC alone doesn’t seem to do them, or what is undoubtedly a high-quality product—full justice.

CREDITS

Client: Pernod Ricard
Brand: Chivas Regal Mizunara
Agency: Havas London/Havas Tokyo
Agency producer: Carol Powell/Mariko Niwa
Creative director: Andre Moreira (London), Tomo Tanaka (Tokyo)
Art director: Katya Crichton (London)
Production company: LS Productions
Head of production: Sarah Drummond
Producer: Wendy Isaac
Director: Takayuki Niwa