Diageo is marking the beginning of a new year with “Johnnie Walker Next Step”, a commercial marking the transition from 2014 to 2015. A young man (Oliver Walker) at a 2014 New Year’s Eve party starts walking to the right, the set rolling to his left. He walks down a street, through a menswear store, exits a plane, across a boardroom table, and finally arrives at a 2015 New Year’s Eve party. “The first step of a new year. We’ll all take one. But where will a step take you? How high could you climb? And how far? A step can be a difficult thing. It requires courage and spirit. But if you follow it, imagine the places you’ll go. The new year begins with the next step. How far will it take you? The accompanying text: “Here’s to 2015. How will you #KeepWalking in 2015?”
“Each scene was written to symbolize key moments we all hope to experience as we look forward to a new year,” said BBH copywriter Mikio Bradley. “All of us want to experience new cultures, travel, make career moves, take more risks.”
A behind the scenes film, released by Johnnie Walker, shows the 40-meter set used for the commercial, moving down an 80-meter track, with an 8-meter treadmill running through the middle of it.
Credits
The Johnny Walker Next Step for 2015 was developed at BBH, New York, by chief creative officer John Patroulis, group creative director Gerard Caputo, copywriter Mikio Bradley, art director Klara Lindberg, head of integrated production and technology Carey Head, head of content production Kate Morrison, senior content producer Abbie Noon, associate producer AJ Gutierrez, head of account management Armando Turco, account director Miles Burton, account manager Heather Livengood, strategy director Mark Aronson, head of business affairs Sean McGee and business affairs manager Shaunda Slade working with Diageo North America president Peter McDonough, marketing senior VP Alex R. Tomlin, Scotch brand director Brian Radics, senior brand manager Jason Fournier, senior manager consumer planning Alina Koyfman and associate brand manager Milly Shome.
Filming was shot in Romania by directing duo US (Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor) via Academy/Reset with executive producer Dave Morrison and Jeff Mcdougall, head of production Amanda Clune, producer Medb Riordan, director of photography Alex Barber, production designer David Lee and stylist Rebecca Hale.
Editor was Ted Guard at Rock Paper Scissors with assistant editor JK Carrington, executive producer Eve Kornblum and producer Jenny Greenfield.
Post production was done at The Mill by Flame artist Richard Lyons, producers Alex Fitzgerald and Alexandra Paton, executive producer Sean Costelloe, shoot supervisor Hitesh Patel, 2D lead artists Richard Lyons, 2D artists Krissy Nordella, Dan Rossenberg, Kshitj Khanna, colourist Fergus McCall, pre-via team Philip Maddock and Rob Holmes.
Original music was produced at Human Worldwide with executive producer Kit Winter. Sound was mixed at Sound Lounge by mixers Tom Jucarons and Rob DiFondi with producer Mike Guillo.
