Uncle Nearest | Brand Launch Campaign
A legacy, served neat.
Creative
Dev
Digital
Media
Video
Hidden deep within the hills above Lynchburg, Tennessee, was a story waiting to be told — and a whiskey to be discovered.
When Uncle Nearest premium whiskey approached Pollinate, asking if we could deliver a launch campaign defining its unique position in the land of distinctive high-end whiskeys … well, there was no way we could say no. The story was and is riveting, and with one taste, you knew: the whiskey had legs. Award-winning legs.
In a category where drinkers value authenticity, we launched this ultra-premium brand in a way that was true to the man, his incredible story — and his legendary whiskey-making skills.
After more than 150 years, it came to light that a formerly enslaved man named Nathan “Nearest” Green was the first master distiller for a certain local whiskey salesman whose name we can’t use. (Hint: It rhymes with Zack Janiel’s.) Uncle Nearest, as he was known, is believed to have perfected the charcoal-filtering process and many of the techniques still followed today.
One for the books
Step one: a launch strategy. And that was simple: With an irreplaceable spot in history, Uncle Nearest’s story needed to be told. So, we wrote a limited-edition book, which then became the thread tying all of the deliverables together, with the first edition ending up where it belongs: in the Smithsonian.
For our media approach, we focused on raising awareness in key markets (Louisville, Chattanooga, Memphis, Knoxville, Portland, and Nashville) to drive product demand with our core audience and spur sales at liquor stores, bars, and restaurants.
38.4m
impressions
177.5k
site visitors across all markets
34%
increase in site visitors
