The Glenlivet's #BreakTheStereotype Campaign — Rewriting Who Drinks Whisky

The Glenlivet, the Speyside single malt Scotch owned by Pernod Ricard, ran a campaign built on one insight: the image of a whisky drinker inside a search engine did not match the actual audience. Image search results for "whisky drinker" returned overwhelmingly middle-aged, white, and male. The real category was already broader — younger drinkers, women, and drinkers of color have been growing shares of the single malt audience for years. The campaign was built to close that gap.

The campaign

The initiative was called #BreakTheStereotype. The brand commissioned new portrait work from Ugandan-British photographer Danny Kasirye and Chicanx artist David Galindo depicting the actual range of Glenlivet drinkers. The imagery was optimized to feed search engines — the campaign's stated aim was to shift what shows up when a user searches "whisky drinker."

The Glenlivet also opened a pop-up bar in London (13–19 June) where guests photographed with a cocktail and posted using #BreakTheStereotype received a free drink. Those images fed the same search-visibility play. Cocktails on the menu — not neat pours from a Glencairn glass — were part of the framing. The category has been moving toward mixed serves for years; the campaign leaned into it rather than defending the traditionalist frame.

The Equal Measures partnership

The campaign was tied to a partnership with Equal Measures, the hospitality-industry organization founded by bartender Deano Moncrieffe to open career pathways for underrepresented talent in the drinks trade. The Glenlivet committed to fund thirty participants through Equal Measures' Education and Mentorship Scheme — one-on-one mentorship, qualifications, and access to the hiring networks that determine who advances inside hospitality. A share of pop-up bar proceeds beyond the free drink flowed to the program.

Why it worked as a communications move

Three things made the campaign land. First, the insight was concrete — an image-search audit is measurable, not aspirational. Second, the creative was commissioned from photographers whose bodies of work already carried authority with the audience the brand wanted to reach, rather than stock diversity casting. Third, the campaign paired a marketing surface (search imagery, a pop-up, a hashtag) with a structural commitment (funded mentorship inside the industry). Brands that run diversity campaigns without the second half tend not to hold the audience they attract.

The category context

Single malt Scotch has been growing on the back of a broadening drinker base. Women whisky drinkers have been rising as a share of the category for a decade. Younger drinkers are entering through cocktails before moving to neat pours. The category leaders that reflect that shift in their marketing are the ones building share. #BreakTheStereotype was The Glenlivet's argument that it intends to be one of them.