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While people tend to drink cognac neat or on the rocks, Hennessy wants to shake things up with a playful and stylish campaign that shows the spirit’s versatility.
“Made for More” is the debut work for Hennessy by agency Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, which won the account from previous agency Droga5. The campaign shows viewers new ways of mixing and imbibing brandy cocktails, while introducing a lighter, fresher visual world for the legacy brand.
Directed by Andreas Nilsson in his trademark offbeat style, the five ads feature breakthrough British Nigerian actor Damson Idris and American singer and actress Teyana Taylor finding absurd ways to craft simple Hennessy cocktails.
Taylor blends pineapple juice to combine with Hennessy and bitters with a squeeze of lime shot at her from a tennis ball cannon.
Meanwhile, Idris sits on a massage chair to muddle together the ingredients of a Hennessy berry mojito. He also assembles the ingredients of a drink at an art gallery, swiping ginger ale from a mannequin and a lime wedge dangling from a woman’s hat.
“We wanted to treat the making of these drinks in rather strange places and ways like it was the most natural thing in the world,” W+K Amsterdam creative director Zeynep Orbay told ADWEEK. “There’s fun in never acknowledging the absurdity of a situation or explaining why something happens. The work, we felt, should almost feel like a cocktail in itself – a mashup of people, places and tones that all easily come together to communicate this sense of ‘more.’”
The campaign also emphasizes Hennessy’s status as a luxury brand, with tactics and visual cues that feel more reminiscent of fashion marketing.
The films will run across TV, cinema and online globally, accompanied by out-of-home ads shot by fashion photographer Micaiah Carter in cities across the U.S., Europe, Australia and South Africa. Social assets will share additional cocktail recipes, which are also available on Hennessy’s website.
Hennessy will also showcase the drinks at summer festivals, starting with the Dreamville Festival in Raleigh, N.C., April 6 to 7.
“We wanted to show just how easy it is to create drinks with more flavor, depth and complexity – while also showing up in a way that’s fun, stylish and tonally unexpected,” Orbay said.
