The actor and proud Texan reflects on whiskey, marketing, music and what he’s learned as the Kentucky distillery’s creative director
f you want to get Matthew McConaughey talking, ask him about whiskey. Describing the difference between a six- and eight-year, or how to bring a storied distillery to a new demographic, he waxes poetic.
McConaughey isn’t a rookie when it comes to ad campaigns. In 2014, he signed a multiyear deal with Lincoln Motor Company—the same yearnamed him one of the world’s 100 most influential people—and appeared in commercials for several of the automaker’s brands. Prior to that, he narrated ads for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Peace Corps.
Arthur Shapiro, former chief marketing officer of Seagram’s whiskey, says whiskey is “a product that has story, romance and, probably of most importance, Americana.” Now a consultant, he adds that bourbon in particular has “a mystique; it’s got history.” When he started working with Wild Turkey, McConaughey says they tried to dispel the perception that bourbon is “male, over 60, after work, on the porch” with a campaign featuring younger people socializing. Last year, a campaign titled “Wonder What If” featured the actor alone in a field talking and asking questions of a bottle of bourbon. A third campaign, which debuted this summer, was meant to be “simple, self-assured,” and focus once again on the distillery’s history.
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