Walking to success

As one of the world's leading whiskies and an elite brand that defines quality and panache, Johnnie Walker required the campaign to reflect its pertinent brand core essence of pioneering authenticity and success drawing these into an African environment.

While the global 'Keep Walking' concept instilled strong positioning and brand awareness across American, European and Asian markets, it did not translate well into the African context.

The challenge for Lobedu Leo Burnett was to ensure the campaign reinforced the worldwide 'Personal Progress' messages with a truly African feel, whilst remaining relevant and comprehensible across seven key African markets and a number of secondary countries. Lobedu's solution was to formulate a series of portraits featuring 'home grown' heroes, communicating that anyone, no matter what their backgrounds or odds may be, can achieve success through determination, hard work, courage and commitment.

Lobedu Leo Burnett evolved the Johnnie Walker "Everyday Heroes" campaign ensuring broader appeal across Africa. This resulted in 12 advertorials of "heroes" that all Africans can relate to. To find the appropriate heroes, Lobedu Leo Burnett invited people in the seven key markets to nominate an idol that showcased their image of African talent and inspiration, and worked very closely with its local affiliates in identifying and validating the heroes.

"To produce relevant heroic stories with local consumer appeal required in-depth research to gain insights into the market, so the creative team travelled extensively in the different regions. The time invested in the various African regions brought valuable marketing insights," says Theo Erasmus, Creative Director at Lobedu Leo Burnett.

Amongst those chosen to represent 'personal progress' is South Africa's Andile Mazwai, a successful stockbroker. His tells how, as a young black man, he embarked on his own journey taking the first step by leaving Lusikisiki in the Transkei. Having become one of the most respected stockbrokers through perseverance, tenacity, and determination, Andile has become a motivation to many aspirant young, black brokers.

Other heroes with backgrounds of achievement linked to the values of Johnnie Walker include Daniel David, a media entrepreneur from Mozambique; Boudha Cardot, a print media owner from Gabon; Nigerian architect Ayo Onajide; and Nigerian copy lawyer, Toyin Subair; Maru Tefera, an Ethiopian fabrication pioneer; and Alex Mukulu, a renowned theatre director in Uganda.

"Some of the key challenges we faced in putting the campaign together were the many varied cultural barriers and contradictions, vernacular and values as well as the different factors or metaphors that often convey conflicting messages in different regions. For instance, when flighting an advert in West Africa, we cut out a scene that included painted faces as this could be misconstrued as Voodoo. Subtleties can make or break a campaign," says Natasha Miller, Account Manager for Lobedu Leo Burnett.

Most viewers are relating well to the "Everyday Heroes" campaign and there is evidence of strong association being built between Johnnie Walker and achievers that inspire personal progress.

Since the campaign was launched, the brand has shown an 8% increase in sales and has resulted in volume growth of over 18 % for the Johnnie Walker brand across the African regions.