William Grant & Sons hands six-figure brief to Tin Man for its Esoteric whisky portfolio

Independent family-owned distiller William Grant & Sons UK has chosen Tin Man as the UK PR agency for its seven brand Esoteric whisky portfolio, which includes The Balvenie and Monkey Shoulder.

Tin Man will be responsible for all creative UK-wide PR campaigns and press office activity for brands including The Balvenie, Monkey Shoulder, Girvan Patent Still, Hudson, Kininvie, Rare Cask Reserves, and the latest addition to the portfolio, Ailsa Bay.

Tin Man won the account following a competitive agency showcase of ten agencies and will report to individual brand managers across the portfolio.

Jonathan Cornthwaite, senior brand manager at William Grant & Sons, said: “2016 is a big year for our Esoteric brands with some very exciting campaigns set to launch in the next few months. We needed a PR partner that we felt could significantly grow awareness of our brands, support our existing marketing activity and also add creative and strategic value across the portfolio.

“We felt Tin Man really understood the nuances within the different brands, would get under the skin of the industry and provided impressive creativity with a strong commitment to delivery. We are looking forward to a long and exciting partnership with the team.”

Tin Man founder Mandy Sharp said: “Working with William Grant & Sons on this portfolio gives us a fantastic opportunity to work on some exceptional whisky brands. Each product is unique – not only in terms of flavour profile and distillation but brand personalities, target audience and cultural relevance.

“For example, Monkey Shoulder is a brand that doesn’t behave like a typical whisky and is all about sociability and having fun, whilst The Balvenie is the only distillery that still grows its own barley, uses traditional floor maltings and keeps both coppersmiths and coopers on site – making it the most handcrafted of malts.”