The Third Time Smooth

Hot on the heels of their recent Gold award from the International Spirit Challenge 2022, Whyte & Mackay returns to TV screens with their biggest brand campaign to date.

The 30 second TVC was created by Recipe, who have worked with the brand on previous campaigns including TV Sponsorship idents for Quest, and more recently ITV’s The John Bishop Show. The TV campaign is the natural next step for this evolving brand who has set out to make waves this year.

In a highly competitive market, Whyte & Mackay stands out from the competition with the whisky's distinctive triple maturation process creating a smoother, richer taste. The TV creative brings this triple maturation process to life with a performance metaphor where the actor’s delivery gets closer to the desired smoothness with each attempt.

The campaign opens on the set of the Whyte & Mackay TVC. It’s a basic studio set-up and the actor, wearing casual clothes, delivers his lines unconvincingly with hesitation and zero confidence. The director then requests a second take, where the set ‘matures’ with a build up of props and the actor’s wardrobe looking slightly more distinguished. His delivery is an improvement, smoother than the first take. However, the director says this is ‘still not enough’ and requests a third round of ‘maturation’. The third attempt sees the actor and set having matured in demeanour and appearance. Now set in an atmospheric pub, lit with warm, inviting tones, he delivers the line effortlessly and smoothly sips the whisky. Showing that it’s the triple maturation that makes all the difference, and highlights that it’s this additional process in the Whyte & Mackay whisky-making that enhances the quality of the liquid for a smoother, richer taste.

The Third Time Smooth campaign launches on the 27th of May on linear TV channels such as Sky, C4 partners and Eurosport 1 & 2. The schedule also includes some feature programming in the French Open, Formula 1, and around Sky’s new shows The Staircase and The Flight Attendant. Supported by Broadcaster VOD and digital, the campaign is set to run through until the Autumn and is planned to reach at least 21.5m adults, which is 42% of the population.