Arnold Find 'The Few And Far Betweenull For Jack Daniels
Taking its cue from the endless anecdotes on offer from barfolk around the globe, Arnold's new, fully-immersive digital campaign for Jack Daniels features tales of mischief, revelry and whiskey as told by proprietors, bouncers, barflys and patrons. We chatted to the CDs about the project.
One thing is for sure if you work in a pub/bar – you're going to hear some good stories… and may even be involved in a few! It's this truism that forms the basis for Arnold Worldwide's excellent new campaign for Jack Daniels – 'The Few And Far Between'.
Taking its cue from the endless anecdotes on offer from barfolk around the globe, the new, fully-immersive digital campaign features tales of mischief, revelry and whiskey as told by proprietors, bouncers, barflys and patrons. Communicated through video, audio, text and images the tales vary between duck-sitting for barmy boozers, shaming a lout by calling his Mum and an unfortunate tale of a misremembered address (involving handcuffs!).
Access to the stories is through an intricately designed site from online-masters MediaMonks, that eschews the typical grid structure commonly found online and instead reveals itself as a freeform, mixed-media collage, where each story drifts visually from one to the next.
We managed to get lost in the endless tales of excess, so, after dragging ourselves away from the site for a moment, caught up with Travis Robertson and Greg Almeida, Creative Directors at Arnold, to chat about the campaign's creation.
Where did the campaign come from? What was the spark that set it in motion?
Everyone seems to love a good bar story. I do. You do. Your mom probably does too. It's a universal truth and part of the reason we all go to bars in the first place. A great story is the trophy of a great night out.
As one of the oldest and most iconic brands in the world, Jack Daniel's is revered for not only the quality of its whiskey, but also for its authenticity and genuine history. As a brand of true substance, we chose to focus on what is real. We chose to highlight the authenticity of Jack Daniel's by documenting true bar stories from the establishments that have helped make the brand what it is today.
What were the first stages in getting it made?
It should be noted that this was not an easy project to make. The stories within the site are 100% real. It proved to be much harder than we had anticipated.
We scoured the country for great bars and the stories within them. Honest storytelling is an intimate thing, so we first had to establish a rapport with the bar owners, regulars, bouncers and "that guy over by the jukebox." That meant sending a team across the country for a month scouting and glad-handing. And then a second trip to document the best stories with a small production team.
Who shot the interviews? Were you keen to keep the stories down to a certain length?
The film stories were shot by a team from Amsterdam that included Director Joe Roberts and DP Job Kraaijeveld. The stories function as a collective tribute to great bars, but can also be broken out as individual films, written and audio stories. We were mindful to keep each film around 2 minutes, so that they can be easily viewed and shared on social media.
How did you choose the raconteurs?
They chose us. We talked to anyone and everyone who would talk to us; literally thousands of people. That included engaging Jack Daniel's massive Facebook audience, as well as scouring bars in Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New Orleans. Once we knew the stories, we cut it down to the best and most entertaining material.
You worked with the guys at MediaMonks for the digital implementation. Was there anything they couldn't do? What was the biggest challenge?
At the onset of the project, we knew we wanted to make something that we hadn't seen before- in concept, design and functionality. MediaMonks was crucial in bringing this vision to life. There were some basic limitations and constraints to the site in terms of file size and the amount of content we could realistically host while keeping the site light enough to perform seemlessly. The team at MediaMonks were truly incredible. They are an unbelievably talented bunch.
How did the site's design come about? It has a free-flowing style (kinda like a conversation at a bar!) that gives it a looser feeling than many brand sites.
The design of the site experience is something we take tremendous pride in. The vast majority of web design and development relies on a strict grid structure, rigidly controlled by the boundaries of a predetermined pixel width and height. In sharp contrast, The Few & Far Between offers a series of graphic vignettes that softly fade into the black oblivion, revealing their stories upon cursor interaction with additional sound design and cinemagraph movement. While certainly not a first in web design, it is a different approach to merging art and function. There are a lot of stories and details on the site and we wanted it to feel accessible and easy to navigate.
The interviews take on different forms (video, audio, written and mixed-media). Was this a logistical decision or a creative one? Were there some stories that worked better without visuals?
A bit of both. Working with real people in real bars had its challenges. Some bars were simply too noisy to film in. Some of our storytellers had great stories, but were nervous around a camera. And some of our stories came from locations we simply couldn't visit. Those stories were recorded over the phone or were written. Ultimately, we kept it flexible and went with whichever format lent itself to the best way to tell each particular story.
What's one element of the project that you think people may overlook, or not realise the difficulty in bringing to life?
The craft. From the hand drawn story titles to the sound design and subtle animation in each rollover, there is a tremendous amount of love and detail that went into every element of "The Few & Far Between."
What's your favorite story and who's your favorite storyteller?
Actually, this is going to be a lame answer, but it's really tough to pick our favorite. Everyone on the team likes different ones for reasons. "Irregular Regulars" is a popular choice because of the total randomness and absurdity of the whole thing. Plus, George is a phenomenal storyteller. He also tells the "Those Bloody Norwegians" story, which we love. Phil in "The British Invasion" is extremely lovable and charming. Jimmy makes you feel like you're in the backseat with those ducks in "The Babysitters Club." In the audio stories, we love Debo's frankness in "Hell Hath No Fury". Not to mention Barry's incredible plot twist in "Forget Me Not." And the love goes on and on. But for the sake of brevity, we'll stop here.
Will we see more stories in the future?
Yes! This is just the beginning. We plan to roll out the second half of our bar stories over the next few months, so check back often. We also hope to take this project beyond the US and gather stories from global markets in 2015.
What's up next for you?
Well, these 30 stories are actually half of the content for the site. We have another 20 stories we have captured and are currently editing. The plan is to update the site with more content in November and again in January.
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