“Stylish and grounded” Glenmorangie campaign starring Harrison Ford, wins top award

Here’s something that caught my eye today – Glenmorangie’s latest marketing effort has just bagged gold at the Scottish Design Awards, and honestly, it’s about time someone shook up the tired old whisky advertising playbook.

The campaign, *Once Upon a Time in Scotland*, is absolutely brilliant in its self-awareness. They’ve got Harrison Ford – yes, *that* Harrison Ford – essentially playing a reluctant version of himself, dragged into the Highlands to shoot what he clearly thinks is going to be another cheesy whisky advert. Joel Edgerton directed the whole thing, which dropped earlier this year.

What I love about this is how it completely turns whisky marketing on its head. Instead of the usual misty glen romanticism we’re all drowning in, they’re actually taking the piss out of those very tropes while Ford grumbles his way through the shoot. Of course, being Glenmorangie, he eventually comes around – won over by the actual whisky and the craft behind it.

The judges at the Scottish Design Awards clearly got it too, calling it “stylish and grounded” and praising how it “pokes fun at itself with Scotch whisky tropes and Harrison Ford being himself – a match made in heaven.” They handed it the top gong in Design Excellence on June 25th.

Caspar MacRae, Glenmorangie’s President and CEO, seems chuffed that they’ve managed to tell their story in what he calls a “fresh and witty way.” And frankly, when you’re dealing with what they’re calling “the world’s most highly awarded Highland single malt,” you need something that cuts through the noise.

If you fancy a watch, it’s up on their YouTube channel. Worth a look if you’re curious how a Hollywood legend handles Scottish whisky marketing.