In order to truly push the limits of luxury design, brands not only need to redefine the standards to which luxury is held but do good for people and the planet in the process.

For Johnnie Walker, the launch of its 70cl Scotch Whisky glass bottle, the world’s lightest Scotch whisky glass bottle, has been five years in the making. The journey has taken the luxury brand in a new direction. Ditching the notion that weightiness and heaviness is a signifier of luxury, the brand is embracing a shift towards the delicate. Successfully pushing the boundaries of lightweight glass and subsequently opening up the science behind the design process to other brands.

Jennifer English, Global Brand Director at Johnnie Walker, believes that the launch underlines how sustainability can elevate luxury brands. Sitting within an installation built from the bottles that didn’t quite make the cut, English shares that the brand’s creative approach, supported by PR agency Smarts, is driven by transparency and a trust in the power of sustainability and storytelling in luxury marketing.

“In the luxury market it is about what you are doing that is really desirable. At Diageo, we talk about bringing together truth, beauty and a story. In this case, innovation is rooted in the truth of progress,” she explains.

Notably, making the beautifully designed bottle lightweight elevates the consumer experience, rather than detracting from it or making it less luxurious. As English explains: “Sustainability has sometimes been about making brands less. It is really important to show that sustainability is about more, it is not reductive.”

Jeremy Lindley, Global Design Director at Diageo led the project with a five-year test and learn process. Earlier this month he opened up on the technology and process behind the super lightweight glass at London Design Week.

The brand has embraced unprecedented collaboration, by offering a royalty-free licence to its granted UK patent to the world. A move echoing the industry-leading approach embraced by Nike when it shared the blueprints of its sustainable sneaker materials with the global fashion industry. A demonstration of quiet confidence that places sector-wide progress over competition.

Lindley explained: “We hope that our discoveries will have a positive impact within the wider industry and help discover new possibilities for lighter, lower carbon packaging alternatives.”

For English, seeing the culmination of this 5-year endeavour come to life underlines Johnnie Walker’s 25-year brand platform: ‘Keep Walking’. By testing and learning and playing the long game, the brand is able to push for progress for the broader industry while keeping one step ahead of the luxury consumer.

“This is a brand that is in it for the long term, we think in decades and centuries. We would never do anything to jeopardise the long-term future of the brand,” explains English.

It is an approach which brings with it huge consistency to the brand. The brand platform ‘Keep Walking’ might be 25 years old but English believes it remains more relevant than ever. “It adapts to cultural shifts but is rooted in a universal truth. It’s a special message,” she adds.

The power of playing the long game

When the average tenure of a CMO is 18 months it is easy to see why the long and the short of it is that all too many brands are guilty of flip-flopping when it comes to brand positioning. The consistency of Johnnie Walker’s ‘Keep Walking’ brand positioning is rare in the creative industries, where individual ego can at times come ahead of long-term brand growth.

English embraces the long-term approach to brand building. “Of course, people want to make their personal mark on the brands they work with, but we see our role as stewards. I’m hugely proud to work on Johnnie Walker,” she shares.

The brand has an enduring footprint as the world’s number one Scotch Whisky brand and the world’s number one international spirits brand. With over 22 million cases sold annually across 180 countries, the brand has a vast global audience.

The range spans Johnnie Walker Red Label, Blonde, Black Label, Double Black, Green Label, Gold Label Reserve, Aged 18 Years, and Blue Label. Together they account for over 22 million cases sold annually. Johnnie Walker is also the number one best-selling Scotch and number one trending Scotch according to research from Drinks International.

Creativity in constraint

With such a vast global audience, striking the right balance between global marketing strategy, local insight and creative autonomy is vital.

“Creativity is best when it has a set of constraints around it,” explains English. An approach which underlines the freedom within a global framework philosophy which has successfully powered the brand forward.

The global footprint of Johnnie Walker means that English is in the relatively unique position of leading a brand known across the globe. So, wherever she is in the world, a consumer is only an elevator ride or a flight away from sharing their thoughts on it. “It is an aspirational brand and everywhere I go people have an opinion of it. Not many brands have that kind of positive response,” she shares.

As a global brand team, the Johnnie Walker team travels across the globe. Their globally curious culture is driven by this outward-facing approach. English has just returned from a trip to Korea and China. Spending time with her teams and customers is important to her.

“Our business is built on physical experiences, having that moment of physically raising a glass with friends. In the future this physical presence will be something that has great power,” she shares. An insight which is reflected in an industry-wide increase in investment in events and experiential.

Building a culture of creativity is at the top of the agenda for English. Proving that respecting heritage doesn’t automatically equate to shying away from innovation.

“I think of Johnnie Walker as an open brand,” she says. “It has been out in the world for over a century. When you think of how the brand travelled across the globe it's clear that as a global brand you can absorb all of those travels.”

“For us, it is about building a creative culture in all senses,” she explains. She points to the incredible palette of Dr Emma Walker, the Johnnie Walker Master Blender, as evidence of the creativity which sits at the very heart of the business.

Bringing humanity to AI

This commitment to craft and creativity also extends to the lens that English brings to AI as an additive tool for marketing leaders, rather than a replacement for human creativity.

In July this year, Johnnie Walker teamed up with Scottish artist Scott Naismith to create a generative AI experience that allowed consumers to co-design a personalised bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. The collaboration was part of ‘Project Halo’, a Diageo innovation designed to drive opportunities for brands and consumers to co-create unique products.

“I’m intrigued by the possibilities of AI and its potential to free up more time and money to focus on the work,” she explains.

Global brand, local heartbeat

Consistency is the heartbeat of the Johnnie Walker brand. As English says: “We have marketing teams across the globe doing the best work of their lives within a 25 year old brand platform.”

Under the global umbrella of ‘Keep Walking’ local creativity can thrive. One of the central elements of the campaign is a series of initiatives designed to celebrate those who took bold steps throughout their lives that affected the culture and the world around them, leaving a legacy for those who came in their wake, no matter if they were recognised for it.

English points to the example of the ‘Errata at 88’ campaign which scooped the Grand Prix in the Entertainment for Music Category at Cannes for Diageo Brasil and AlmapBBDO as a great example of this approach. Racism, elitism and sexism erased from history one of Brazil's greatest singers: Alaíde Costa. Costa, one of the founders of Bossa Nova, was ignored at a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1962 because she was a black woman.

“Our colleagues in Brazil won a Grand Prix in Cannes and changed the trajectory of Alaíde Costa’s career in her 80s,” explains English.

The team created an integrated campaign to honour Alaíde, present her to the newer generations and retell her story as one of the creators of Bossa Nova. Johnnie Walker partnered with Folha de São Paulo, penning a 70-year-old errata, placing Alaíde in the prominent place she always deserved. Utilising creativity and the ‘keep walking’ marketing ethos to correct this historical wrong.

In October 2023, upon discovering that there would be a second edition of the show that launched Bossa Nova in 1962 again without Alaíde, the campaign went further. It placed her on the Carnegie Hall stage, where she received a standing ovation for over three minutes. The campaign succeeded in creating a genuine moment in culture, not a one-off marketing stunt.

“We can’t know everything. We rely on the insight and deep-market insight of the local markets,” says English. She adds: “As an organisation, we take the culture of creativity in each market really seriously,” In practice, this means that the global marketing team commits to co-authoring the brief with local teams and agencies.

Consistency and craft

For a business that places craft at the heart of its drinks, that appreciation of craft extends to creativity, sustainability and diversity in its communications. English says: “I'm excited to see the multiple ways in which brands can make sustainability exciting for consumers.”

This commitment also extends to the people making that work. As a marketing leader, English is passionate about inclusivity and flexibility. In a media ecosystem in which the narrative of ‘go woke and go broke’ has fast gained traction, she maintains that the direction of travel is one towards greater inclusion. “DEI and sustainability are becoming a bigger part of everything. They are table stakes now and that is a wonderful thing,” she adds.

It is a clear-sightedness that is increasingly powerful in a broader marketing ecosystem in which all too many brands sacrifice their long-term brand in search of short-term sales. All the while agencies continue to fixate on how many days their employees come into the office, rather than how they can attract and retain game-changing diverse talent.

Emotionally and economically in the face of constant change and uncertainty, it is all too easy for leaders to shed the important in a constant search for the next big thing.

English explains: “The world is increasingly ambiguous, confused and volatile. We all have to master adapting to constant change while living in the moment. Keep walking is a way to do this.”

For the brand that has for a quarter of a century encouraged consumers to keep walking, the momentum shows no signs of slowing. English’s blend of deep respect for craft and consistency with an open-minded and progressive approach to marketing underlines the power of playing the long game. One step at a time.