Key Stats
2.5m – Followers reached with GQ media partnership
100% – Attendees from all target titles to our London launch event
Over 50 pieces of global coverage within 24 hours of launch
The Challenge
Most celebrity spirits launches rely on access to the celebrity. We had none.
The partnership with Willem Dafoe had already been announced, meaning the biggest news story was behind us before the product launched. With limited budget, no talent access and a crowded market full of celebrity collaborations competing for attention, we needed to create a launch story strong enough to earn attention in culture, not just in whisky.
The Approach
Rather than trying to compensate for the lack of celebrity access, we deliberately removed Willem from the centre of the story. We identified a truth hidden within the product itself: Willem Dafoe had selected the whisky based not on technical tasting notes, but on how it made him feel. This became the foundation of “No Notes”, a launch platform that challenged one of whisky’s most established conventions and invited people to interpret the whisky for themselves.
Rather than trying to compensate for the lack of celebrity access, we deliberately removed Willem from the centre of the story. We identified a truth hidden within the product itself: Willem Dafoe had selected the whisky based not on technical tasting notes, but on how it made him feel. This became the foundation of “No Notes”, a launch platform that challenged one of whisky’s most established conventions and invited people to interpret the whisky for themselves.
This came to life through an immersive London press and KOL experience, where no tasting notes were revealed and guests were invited to interpret freely, with interactive canvases and a tasting hosted by Master Whisky Maker Sarah Dowling.
To extend participation, premium press and KOL seeding kits and influencer content drove awareness of a community competition, inviting fans to submit their own creative “notes” from poems and sketches to haikus or films, for the chance to appear alongside Dafoe in a future short film with Laphroaig. A geo-targeted GQ social partnership amplified reach further across key markets.
