ARDRAY

Bringing a world-class drinks product to market, launching the creative strategy for a new era in blended Scotch whisky – Ardray®.

In collaboration and partnership with Beam Suntory and a team of talented partner agencies, our through-the-line strategic and creative work has lifted the veil on a brand that is welcoming and sociable; and one that fully harnesses digital to build its following.

Brand Communications Platform & Messaging | Hero Serve & Drinks Experience | Art Direction | Key Visual | Digital Content | Brand Education | Brand Ambassador Immersion & Training | Market Execution Guidelines

The Challenge

Taking the challenge of a decline in consumer interest in blended scotch head-on, ARDRAY® drives a new movement within the whisky industry. It is a spirit that challenges the perceptions of whisky and blended Scotch and inspires an exciting creative territory with the marriage of craft traditions from both Scotland and Japan.

Wonderworks was brought into the ARDRAY® team who took on the exciting opportunity to do things differently in a drinks category largely driven by its traditions.

THE Insight

Created by Beam Suntory’s Chief Blender for Scotch, Calum Fraser, the wonderfully balanced blended recipe brings together only the finest, most complex whiskies, matured in rich, spicy Spanish Oak casks and smooth, sweet, floral American oak casks. The result is a uniquely gentle, citrussy and creamy blended Scotch that is easy to drink in social moments – rarely does a neat Scotch fit this occasion.

The APPROACH

Wonderworks worked across several projects with the Beam Suntory team as part of a strong group of agencies. Our role was to strategically and creatively explore how to express ARDRAY® outside of pack and bottle. We worked on crafting the rich brand storytelling whilst also demonstrating how ARDRAY® comes alive visually. Wonderworks was integral to developing the experiences that shine a light on the whisky, its signature serve ‘Off the Rocks’, along with the serve strategy that compliments how ARDRAY® is enjoyed by whisky lovers either at home or in the on-trade.

With ARDRAY® being a digital-first brand, Wonderworks led on art direction with a hand-selected group of filmmakers and photographers who produced a suite of magnificent product, lifestyle and serve content. It’s a fresh approach that challenges the pre-existing ideas of who drinks whisky and why.

Following the development of the Brand Communications, the Wonderworks team created experiences and materials to educate consumers and trade on this brand-new whisky. The culmination of this was a two-week brand immersion trip curated to educate the new Brand Curators who will launch ARDRAY® in strategic markets.

THE WONDER

Our team has partnered seamlessly with Beam Suntory to steward and steer this dream and we’re absolutely delighted with the result.

Beam Suntory, a world leader in premium spirits and producer of some of the foremost whiskies, have unveiled the company’s latest creation – ARDRAY® – a fresh perspective on the excellence of blended Scotch whisky. ARDRAY® is the first brand to be sold through Beam Suntory’s Direct to Consumer (D2C) channel.

The local markets’ Brand & Commercial teams as well as the Brand Ambassadors / Curators, have been able to fully prepare for a Global Launch with comprehensive brand storytelling, education, comms & drinks experience to successfully cut through to Consumer and Trade audiences.