Christmas Choir - Chapter 2, Christmas Choir - Chapter 1,... - Laphroaig | Clapboard Ad Archive

Laphroaig’s Christmas Choir campaign from 2014 exemplifies how a heritage whisky brand can leverage contemporary digital storytelling without compromising its core identity, using the festive period as a creative flashpoint. Developed by White Label for the UK market, the campaign pivots on a participatory premise: inviting drinkers to taste the famously peaty single malt and contribute their candid opinions, then transforming those user-generated testimonials into the very fabric of the work. As a gesture of reciprocal appreciation, Laphroaig commissioned a traditional Scottish choir to perform these collected remarks as Christmas carols, putting a distinctly local and seasonal stamp on a classic presenter testimonial—a tactic that sits squarely within FORMAT#7 PRESENTER TESTIMONIAL in Clapboard’s taxonomy, elevated from straightforward explanation to immersive, communal spectacle. While the campaign unfolds across a series structure with Christmas Choir—Chapter 1 and Chapter 2—it unapologetically centers real consumer sentiment as its creative engine, making the act of tasting and reviewing the whisky the true narrative arc. Rather than relying on overproduced storytelling or celebrity endorsement, White Label turns honest, sometimes idiosyncratic public opinion into both entertainment and endorsement, punctuated by the familiar warmth and authenticity of carols sung in Scottish accents. This interactive approach, amplified by three polished digital assets and an invitation for viewers to visit Laphroaig.com to contribute their own opinions, underscores the brand’s confidence in its product and its distinctive flavour profile—a direct embrace of the polarizing tasting notes Laphroaig is renowned for in the alcoholic drinks sector. Engagement was robust, with the campaign’s digital videos accumulating nearly 400,000 views and laying down an early marker for how social listening can be woven into the creative process itself, fueling a cycle of participation and recognition that feels both modern and connected to the brand’s origins. The entire construct deepens the holiday association, positions Laphroaig as defiantly individualistic amid a sea of mass-appeal spirits, and foregrounds the value of authentic interaction, rather than one-way brand messaging. The campaign earns a 71/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. Within the evolving field of food and drink communications, Laphroaig’s Christmas Choir signals the brand-building dividends of transforming audience testimonials into brand theatre, provided the voice remains unmistakably its own.