• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 30, 2016

Cognac brand Hennessy today is launching its first U.S. advertising and marketing campaign in more than a decade for its “ultra-premium” blend Hennessy V.S.O.P. Privilège with an effort called “Harmony, Mastered From Chaos” from creative shop Droga5. 

Digital spots, with voiceovers from 2016 Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. (who portrays the character Aaron Burr in Broadway’s Hamilton) offer a glimpse of the brand’s distilling process and its secretive “tasting committee.” 

“To the untrained it appears as chaos,” intones Odom as one spot opens to the scene of a somewhat spooky and stormy countryside. “But here,” the narrator states as the scene shifts to the Hennessy distillery, “there is only mastery. Crafted over Centuries….A creation so complex only a few can reveal it.” 

The spot ends with the existing Hennessy tagline: “Never stop. Never Settle.” 

The new campaign features 15-, 30- and 60-second spots and a new “interactive experience” all of which was developed by Droga5 in partnership with director Ben Tricklebank of Tool of North America, and Active Theory, a Los Angeles-based interactive studio. 

“Harmony. Mastered from Chaos.” will be supported by additional campaign elements including consumer events, retail tastings, social and PR initiatives.  In addition, the first annual “Cognac Classics Week” hosted by Liquor.com, will take place July 11-18 to demonstrate “the harmony” that V.S.O.P Privilège adds to classic cocktails. 

Kicking off on Bastille Day in a nod to Hennessy’s French heritage, mixologists across New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles will offer new twists on classics such as the French 75, Sidecar, and Sazerac, all crafted (of course) with V.S.O.P Privilège.