Q: What do a blind soldier and a poet have in common? A: My brain.
In launching Crown Royal’s “Live Generously and Live Will Treat You Royally” platform, we identified stories of generous humans like Scotty Smiley, a blind Army captain still serving in active duty, and rewarded him with a moment of clarity: enabling him to see the poetry of everyday life he hadn’t seen in years. The twist: through the eyes of an actual poet.
We took Capt. Smiley to emotionally resonant places throughout his hometown and outfitted him with specially designed glasses that live-streamed his POV to the poet Matthew Dickman in a remote location. From there, magic happened.
Generous people don’t take credit often. So we created a generous anthem giving them the recognition they deserved.
We shot this manifesto spot in New Orleans and featured locals who were known for their exceptional generosity throughout their community. Like Leah Chase, owner and chef of Dooky Chase’s restaurant in Treme, NOLA and solid pillar of her community. With her and others, we raised a glass and toasted them royally.
Giving fathers the royal treatment for Father’s Day.
For Crown Royal Father's Day digital activation, we honored fathers by immortalizing them in an epic way and portraying them as the kings they are — with royal velvet portraits. We created crownyourfather.com where people uploaded a photo of their father and placed his face in their choice of 5 different royal portraits.
Anyone that submitted a photo of their father on the mobile or desktop site before the holiday was entered to win a real velvet portrait of their father hand-painted on the Crown Royal purple velvet bag as the canvas. 50 fathers across the country won the real, large-scale paintings complete with gilded frames as Father’s Day presents.
We created short social films to help drive fans to the contest. And we surprised a few dads with their paintings in person to capture them unboxing their generous Father’s Day gift from Crown Royal.