Albion nets Famous Grouse digital brief

The Famous Grouse, the blended Scottish whisky brand, has appointed Albion to handle its global digital advertising account following a five-way pitch against undisclosed agencies.

It is not thought there is an incumbent on the account and the whisky brand has previously developed its online campaigns on an project basis. The review was overseen by the AAR.

It is understood the brand, best known for its television campaigns around the Christmas period featuring the animated grouse, is considering increasing its digital spend for next year.

Last year, its Christmas TV campaign featured the iconic grouse in three quirky ads. One execution showed the grouse strutting up the red carpet; another depicted the grouse as the bonnet ornament on a 1930s classic car; a third execution showed the grouse rooted to a rock as it gets battered by a wintry Scottish storm. The ads were created by Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO and media buying and planning was through Mediaedge/cia.

The brand, which is owned by The Edrington Group, is the biggest selling whisky in Scotland. It was first produced by Matthew Gloag & Son in 1897. It is distributed by Maxxium, which has launched a limited edition Christmas pack for The Famous Grouse in the UK off-trade. The limited edition bottle is available at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda.

Maxxium is set to wind up early next year, with two of the four stakeholders, Remy Cointreau and V&S Group leaving the joint venture. The Edrington Group and the remaining stakeholder, Beam Global Spirits & Wine, will then take joint ownership of Maxxium businesses in ten markets, including UK, Russia, China and Spain.