Walken on the Wild Side with Jack & Jones

Further to Martin Werner's input on this brilliant caign for Premium Jack & Jones starring the inimitabe Christopher Walken, Thomas Hoffman, CD at &Co Copenhagen talks us through the process of the caign, how it came together, what the back up plan to Walken was (hint: there wasn't one) and exactly how cool Christopher Walken really is.

Above you can see the spot, Button, below, The Cutting, and the final spot, Wool.

What did Jack & Jones want to achieve with this caign?

Basically, Jack & Jones wanted us to tell the story about their sub-brand, Premium by Jack & Jones. A story about quality and craftsmanship. A story about shirts and jackets cut from the finest fabrics, and pullovers carefully knitted from the finest wool.

But, they wanted us to help them figure out how to communicate this in a way that would be interesting to the audience and they wanted something different from what we usually see in the fashion industry. You know, the stereotypical cool-looking model wearing the clothes, shot in a fancy location, etc. Premium by Jack & Jones also wanted an idea that would work in many different markets (65 countries), in every media you could think of (except TV) – from traditional print to cinema, as well as their 1,300 shops.

But, approximately 85 per cent of the budget would be spent online, so they basically needed a simple 360 degree idea. They asked for one simple idea that would make Premium by Jack & Jones instantly famous in most parts of the world and the talk of the town in certain target groups.

How did the idea and the tone of the caign come together?

We had long talks with the guys from Premium by Jack & Jones, where they often spoke about quality and how only a few select suppliers were chosen due to the demands of quality in every detail. The words “cool” and “craft” instantly came to mind.

When we got down to work at the agency, we wrote the phrase Made From Cool on a piece of paper and hung it on the wall. We then started talking about who was cool in the world. Naturally, everyone has their own ideas about who is cool and why, but Christopher Walken quickly came up on the list. And when someone in the room said “Why can´t Mr. Walken just sew the shirt?” we knew we had something.

But we also knew that it was practically “mission impossible” since Mr. Walken had never done any advertising before. He had appeared in 100 films and two music videos, but he had never appeared in a commercial. That kind of scared us. We presented the idea to Premium by Jack & Jones with one board, showing Mr. Walken in front of a sewing machine. They just smiled and said “We like it. Make it happen.” We told them about our concerns, and the fact that he probably would say no. But, he didn´t. And from there it was all teamwork between &Co. and the client.

At first we “tailor-made” the whole idea for Walken. We didn´t want him to wear the clothes, we wanted him to create them. So, we gave him the role of a tailor/designer with special skills. We wanted it to be cool and funny at the same time. We wanted it to be about two things – the clothes and Mr. Walken. Clean and simple.

Was Walken immediately interested in the idea and being a part of the project?

Yes. As soon as he saw the storyboards, he said yes. Not because of the money, but because he liked the concept and thought it would be fun.

The finished caign is, essentially, Christopher Walken. Was there a backup plan ready if he had turned down the project?

No. No, there was no backup plan. We tried to make a long list of other cool and famous actors, but Walken was the only name that everyone involved could agree on – including the client and everybody at &Co. So, we went all-in on Walken and we would have had to start all over if it had failed.

What did Martin Werner bring to the project?

Martin brought to the project what he always brings – quality in every detail. Directing Mr. Walken is not for just anyone. We also wanted a director who understood where we wanted the brand to go with this.

In other words, we wanted a director and a production company who could handle a production of this size. We knew Martin very well, so we knew that we, the client, the brand and Mr. Walken were in the best possible hands.

What was the hardest part of putting the whole project together?

The looong production time. It took 13 months from brief to on-air date. Keeping the whole project a secret and making it cool in every sense were also tough. Because, if you claim Made From Cool, you better be f….. cool.

And the sound design?

At first we wanted no music, just Mr. Walken and total silence. But when Mr. Walken suddenly decided to dance while we were shooting, we needed music. For that we worked together with music stylist Jesper Gadeberg. He came up with some great stuff, but one track was especially perfect. It was We Real Cool from another really amazing man, Nick Cave.

Apart from the fact that the track was perfect for the commercials and suited the brand and Mr. Walken really well, we consider having Nick Cave as a part of this project a real coup. Mr. Cave also said yes immediately and we ended up using the track on two out of five commercials.