Last Updated on 11 June 2009
Whisky brand, Johnnie Walker, has been running their “Keep Walking” brand campaign for quite a while now. It’s designed to “inspire personal progress.”
The ads feature the yellow, dapper, top hat-wearing silhouette from their bottles… the striding man.
The most recent campaign features the striding man surpassing life’s obstacles with grace and style. Here are a few examples from their website.
But that’s not why I’m writing… I’m going through some old magazines and came across this ad Johnnie Walker ad in the June 2006 issue of Business 2.0 magazine. (I miss that mag).
It features the striding Johnnie making his way past obstacles via a “fold-in.” I just posted an article about fold-ins earlier this week (including one I created when I was 9 years old).
[click for larger view]
If you “FOLD B ONTO A” it clears the path, free of naysayers, for the striding man to “keep walking.”
He bypasses…
- It will never fly.
- If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
- Don’t ruffle feathers.
- The climate isn’t right.
- You’ll never get the funding.
- This isn’t even your department.
- You’ll get laughed out of the room.
- That’s too risky.
- Don’t step on any toes.
From an inspirational message… I don’t know about you… but Johnnie Walker’s speakin’ my language.
From a marketing perspective, credit to Johnnie Walker for finding new and inventive ways to keep the striding man afoot. Credit to their agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) for the award-winning work.