More than 60 cities will be targeted by the Johnnie Walker campaign, including London, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Sao Paulo in Brazil, Manila in the Philippines and approximately 50 destinations in the USA. The Edinburgh campaign will place particular focus on the boozy festive season, with Johnnie Walker partnering with Lothian Buses to provide free transportation for revellers returning home from the city’s Hogmanay event.
The announcement was made at a launch event yesterday (4 December) in Edinburgh, where former Formula 1 driver and Johnnie Walker's global responsible drinking ambassador Mika Häkkinen was joined by drivers Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen.
The sports personalities demonstrated their control skills at the wheel and provided rides for competition winners and special guests through the city centre in a Johnnie Walker-branded Caparo T1 supercar and two McLaren MP4-650S sports cars. The event was produced by agency Just Marketing International.
David Gates, Diageo’s global head of premium core brands, said: "The involvement of Johnnie Walker in Formula 1 through our partnership with McLaren Mercedes has given the brand a credible platform to run a powerful responsible drinking programme that has made real impact on a global scale. This has been ongoing for almost a decade and our recent arrangement with Formula 1 group to become its official whisky will allow us to expand the programme into new territories.
"Our appeal to Join the Pact to never drink and drive is never more relevant than when millions of people around the world are planning to relax and enjoy the holiday festivities. Through activations of the programme in over 60 cities over the next few weeks, we hope to provide in the region of 250,000km of safe rides home."
The campaign adds to Johnnie Walker's busy year of activations, which included a and a .
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