Famed British photographer Rankin, well known for his portraits of the late Queen Elizabeth, recently worked with Glendronach on its ambitious whisky rebranding project.
A Forbes article by whisky industry expert Mark Littler takes a closer look at Rankin’s involvement with the project and offers an exciting peek behind the curtain of major commercial photography projects.
The multimedia collaboration between Rankin and Glendronach comprises still photographs and motion-based marketing materials, as Rankin is not just a photographer, he’s also a director and filmmaker. It’s also not his first time working with a distillery, having worked with Macallan on its Masters of Photography Rankin Edition back in 2010.
Per Forbes, Rankin cites his professional whisky experience and perhaps his Scottish heritage — he was born in Glasgow but moved to England as a child — as a driving force for him getting the gig with Glendronach.
Rankin tells Forbes that, having worked on whisky campaigns before, he’d never seen an idea quite like the one Glendronach floated by him. He explains that during early communications with the whisky maker, he considered their idea unique, visually stunning, and capable of appealing to new and seasoned whisky drinkers alike.
“I didn’t need to have anybody explain it to me. And I also doubled down and said, ‘I think if you do this well, it will just be so beautiful and very different within the category,’” the photographer explains.
The resulting campaign is a dynamic video of a Spanish Flamenco dancer at the famed Glendronach distillery. The vibrant red dress and Spanish flair are very different from the typical whisky marketing campaigns, which often rely on the rugged Scottish landscape and present an image of toughness, tradition, and Scottish culture.
That said, Glendronach has a long history with Spain, as the distillery matures its libations in Spanish sherry casks, including Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso Spanish oak casks, hand-picked in Andalucía, Spain.
Rankin says the dress was hand-made for this campaign, and no detail was overlooked. He and his team spent a day and a half working only on the liquid shots for the campaign.
“The photos have been handcrafted in the way the whisky is handcrafted,” Rankin tells Forbes.
Image credits: Rankin / Glendronach