• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, April 30, 2011

Few brands -- spirits or otherwise -- can rival Jack Daniel's when it comes to passionate fan bases. But these days, bringing Millennials into the fold is key to current and future growth for venerable as well as newer brands.

Introducing more women as well as men age 21 to 29 into the JD franchise is a core driver of Brown-Forman's new launch, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey, confirms Honey's brand manager, Casey Nelson. The new spirit -- Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 infused with a proprietary honey liqueur -- is the brand's first new product launch in 14 years, and its first entry in the flavored whiskey category.

"We wanted to grow the trademark with new consumers, and particularly with high-energy, younger consumers who aspire to the brand's attributes of authenticity and independence, but aren't yet Jack Daniel's drinkers," sums up Nelson. "This whiskey has a flavor profile designed to appeal to a broader spectrum of consumers," and one that's well-suited to Millennials' frequent group social occasions, he says.

"Jack Daniel's is the coolest whiskey in the world -- it has kind of a swagger, a cache that's associated with independent spirit and rock and roll," adds Wade Devers, EVP, group creative director at Arnold Worldwide/Boston, the agency behind the launch campaign.

JD's cache and unique, charcoal-mellowed flavor are key differentiators for JD Tennessee Honey, and the jumping-off points for the creative. "We wanted to convey that this whiskey is a little bit of honey, but a whole lot of Jack Daniel's," says Devers.

That led to creating a back story about where the honey comes from: a unique variety of bee that has JD "in its DNA," and lives in special hives tended by special beekeepers. Specifically, a very large bee, with all black-and-white markings that mimic the color scheme of JD Old No. 7's iconic label, wearing a black-and-white helmet and goggles.

 The campaign was structured to build anticipation through a series of teaser efforts leading up to a penultimate video/TV spot in which the "King Bee" is finally revealed in all of his biker-like glory.

The brand started building buzz in early April with three short videos promoted on the JD Tennessee Whiskey Facebook page that made no specific mention of the new Honey product -- just images like bees buzzing around a barrel and teaser copy like "Something's abuzz in Lynchburg."

Those videos were followed with four more teaser video "episodes" on Facebook, launched in sequence over a period of weeks, with views driven by JD's existing Facebook fans and site visitors and a three-day ad buy on Twitter for promoted trends and tweets.

These videos heightened the mystery about "what's abuzz" at JD by giving viewers tantalizing glimpses of "The Hive" (all black, in stark contrast to the typical, white hives around it); "The Beekeeper" (totally clad in black, including a black hood, also in contrast to the white-clad beekeepers around him); "The Night" (flashes of light coming out of the black hive, implying major activity inside); and "The Beginning" (the beekeeper briefly encounters "King Bee" in a dark barn, with just a flash close-up of the bee).

On April 27, the brand at last debuted the "King Bee" video, posting it first on JD Honey's Facebook page before airing it that evening during the NBA playoffs on TNT and ESPN. The brand also featured rich-media banners on numerous sites, and "took over" ESPN's home page on the day of the launch.

The animated spot, which will begin airing on national cable TV in May, shows the bee emerging from his hive and flying through the woods, diving through what looks like a pool of honey, and ultimately zooming by a bottle of JD Honey.

The spot's visual power is enhanced by bluesy yet heavy metal-ish theme music by the Stone Foxes -- an up-tempoed, updated remake of "King Bee," originally recorded by blues musician Slim Harpo. The Stone Foxes music was also used for the "episode" video teasers. "The soundtrack perfectly conveys the authenticity and roots of the brand," says Devers, who reports that the single is now being sold on iTunes.