This post, my first post… begins at the end of my Jack Daniel’s story.
I joined Arnold Worldwide 2 years ago as an in-house DP to work almost exclusively on Jack Daniel’s. This was an intimidating switch for me coming from a documentary background, where few things were planned and hi-gloss was rarely an aesthetic I chased. I had to learn a lot, and fast. Frankly, I was pretty nervous that I was going to fuck it all up and find myself switching out urinal cakes for the rest of my days.
Here’s the thing… no one knows how to do everything, you learn through experience and from people that are better than you. Bottle after bottle, cocktail after cocktail, Jack began to feel like an old friend. I understood all the nuances of the bottles. I saw all the imperfections and knew how to embrace them for any given shoot. What I had known for a long time about documentary began to ring true here: the more time you spend with a subject, the more the story will reveal itself. This notion became evident on my first shoot down in Lynchburg TN, the home of Jack Daniel’s. The people at the distillery were warm and welcoming, what you’d expect from typical southern hospitality. But what made for some of the best stories, and what led to hours of conversation, wasn’t just their kindness. It was their unflinching loyalty to Jack.
As we got to know the folks who make the whiskey – and they make every drop, by the way - we got away from the product itself and went deep into what (and who) is behind it. Long days of whiskey fueled dialogue often included but never was limited to celebrities, ghosts, political discourse, college football, polecats, Michelle Obama’s arm wrestling strength, folklore, whatever hell Goober had raised, and of course the wyooter ( look it up ). All of these were fair game on any given day at the distillery.
The work got better. Telling the stories of the people behind the product was more meaningful than the flavor profile or ABV. We never used actors at the distillery, a tradition we carried on for the duration of our time there. This made it hard to stage our shoots, but it also reminded us that if it we had to force it, it probably wasn’t right in the first place.
The results we saw for our content in social corroborated our instincts. Over the course of a year we created over 300 unique assets in video, animations, stills and out of home. Fans of Jack loved what we made and made sure to tell us about it on whatever social channels, Jack fans are nuts. It worked because we never created in a vacuum. Every trip back down to TN was a litmus test for the quality and authenticity of our work. To us, the highest praise always came from the employees themselves. If you fucked up, they would let you know about it.
As we elevated the production and creative quality of our social and online assets, Jack Daniel’s began to notice. My partner and I were awarded our first TV spot for Jack. This was kind of unheard of for an agency model, a model we constantly fought against to keep productions in house for larger projects and the benefits of doing so. We shot the spot, it was cut and the client was stoked, so stoked we were awarded 2 more TV spots soon after. Sadly, as a result of holding company agency consolidation, Jack Daniels and Arnold parted ways after 20 years of amazing work , and I couldn’t be more proud to have been a part of two of those years.
As DP’s we don’t always ( or ever ) have the luxury of time. This was a rare instance where we were able to immerse ourselves in a brand/culture. It led to an elevated level of work and thoughtful visual exploration of a legendary brand that only comes with insider knowledge. If you ever get the chance to do something like this, take it.
I’ll miss the crew homemade dinners, long nights, early mornings ( sorry Randal ), a million delayed flights and mas taco’s por favor… Onto the next adventure.
Cheers to my Lynchburg family, and shout-out to bobo’s.
