The Android

Bottled Success —
A Cultural and Semiotic Analysis















The way in which the Keep Walking campaign uses branding is important when analysing its properties. After ‘losing category share in 1997’, Bartle Bogle Hegarty – the agency responsible for the success of Johnnie Walker’s Keep Walking campaign – implemented a new branding strategy (Mintel 2010). The strategy wasbased on the idea that success is not about ‘material wealth or ostentatious display of status’ (IPA 2010). Instead, as John Hegarty, the co-founder of BBH points out, ‘Success today is about the journey’ [of life] (Coventry Conversations 2007). Extensive global research commissioned by BBH found that this idea was ‘an emerging trend affecting men all around the world’ (IPA 2010), which enabled theadvertising agency to come up with a campaign whose message was universally appealing (see Appendix A). Therefore, the USP of Johnnie Walker revolves around the idea of progress (IPA 2010) and is what Martin Davidson calls the ‘added value’ because it changes a product into a brand: ‘Brands are products with something extra’ and so while ‘all brands are products, not all products are brands’(Davidson 1992: 23).

The ‘Keep Walking’ campaign uses branding to create a dual and complex image of Johnnie Walker: tradition and heritage are the basis of progress (IPA 2010). Firstly, the golden striding man in the logo (see Appendix B) is one of the major signs used in the branding of Johnnie Walker. The character is a man, which can be inferred from other codes, namely the style of the clothes,the tall hat and the stick, which define the dressing style in the 19th century Britain and which signify tradition and a high social status. Also, the fact that the man is depicted as walking (at a presumably fast and confident pace) symbolises the overcome obstacles of the past and the confidence in an unpredictable future. Secondly, the letters in the logo are signifiers whose signifieds maysignify ‘tradition’, ‘elegance’, and ‘success’ (gold relates to wealth), while the white, clear font that makes up the tagline signifies contemporariness, as well as a future that still preserves the tradition and subtlety of the past. The black background which accompanies the logo might signify the unknown and is arguably in opposition with the courage inspired by the striding man. Certainly,since ‘Signs do not possess a fixed or essential meaning’ (Hall 1997: 31), these are but a few possible interpretations.
On a more specific level, the ‘Android’ commercial[1] also depicts a range of differences among signs: on the one hand, the sumptuous architecture, the statues, bookshelves, lighting, dark colour scheme, open book and other seemingly old objects, along with the calm tone of voiceand the orchestral music are signifiers that might indicate history and tradition. On the other hand, the android may be seen as a symbol of innovation, [technological] success and discovery, highlighting the idea of progress that is central to the Keep Walking campaign. It is worth noticing that the overall meaning of the campaign is based on ‘a system of differences’ (Hall 1997: 32), whichenables signifiers (the striding man, the hat, the furniture etc.) to signify: ‘It is the differences between signifiers which signify’. Through branding and the use of certain codes that ‘help tell a story’ (Williamson 1978: 21), the Keep Walking campaign assembles together meanings that the target audience is expected to decode. The decoding of meaning is possible because of the ‘shared meaningsystems and cultural codes’ (Goldman 1987: 693), which is directly related to discourse. Hence the concept of success has been largely transferred to Johnnie Walker, insofar as the entire brand has been given the meaning of ‘success’. The brand’s meaning may then be transferred on to the people who use it. Therefore, people who buy Johnnie Walker don’t buy whiskey – they buy bottled success. So,...