Johnnie Walker and DELEÓN Tequila Champion Growth In New Campaigns
There’s an unmistakable joy that comes with sharing. Whether it’s sharing someone’s company, space, or time, all give us the opportunity to connect our interior world with our exterior life. And, for many, these moments of collectivity happen over drinks. Moments both Johnnie Walker and DELEÓN Tequila capture in their latest campaigns that call on self-growth, progress, and community.
Both owned by Diageo, one of the leading alcoholic beverages companies, brands Johnnie Walker and DELEÓN Tequila are channeling the “accessible purpose” its parent company champions in its mission statement.
Johnnie Walker, the world’s best-selling scotch whiskey brand according to The Brand Champions 2025 report, has taken this on with a reinvention of its twenty-six year old “Keep Walking” campaign. Offering a short film directed by Grammy-nominated artist, child. and
Grammy Award winning artist Melina Matsoukas, the film centers the word “keep,” and its motivation towards progression.
The campaign makes use of 2025 global social listening done by Talkwalker, a social listening and consumer intelligence company, which found over 97 million “keep” related conversations over the past year. Revealing six core themes, including action, communication, emotion, identity, motivation, and success.
The film uses vibrant color and unique, but familiar vignettes to urge audiences to “keep” moving forward, inspiring the next generation of consumers to define and set their own terms of success and move with intention.
While recent campaigns honed in on collective progress that celebrated reconnection, especially post-lockdown, this new film brings a fresh perspective to the brand’s marketing. Gearing more towards the cultural shifts towards a higher focus on the self. According to McKinsey & Company’s State of the Consumer 2025 report, consumers within the United States reported to have an average of over three hours of free time per week, more than consumers in 2019. However, they choose to spend 90 percent of that time committing to solo activities, which include hobbies, fitness, shopping, being on social media, etc.
Despite this maximization of self-reliance, the report shares that this isn’t done entirely on purpose. Remote work and the increase of e-commerce have created additional opportunities for free time within a week and has made staying connected easier to do from home.
DELEÓN Tequila has taken on this spirited approach through its official tequila sponsorship of the 2025 AfroTech Conference, an annual event that aims to uplift Black professionals through the intersection of technological, innovative and cultural fields.
Expanding on the brand’s ‘Bold Spirits, Rise’ campaign that was first introduced in November 2024, which celebrated people who embrace and inspire creativity, DELEÓN set the atmosphere for the event with exciting performances from musical guests.
The conference, which took place in Houston, Texas, from October 27 through the 31st, enjoyed a bold helipad performance by South African DJ and producer duo, Major League DJz. Other artists, including Houston-born DJ Maiya Papaya, Los Angeles-based DJ Gianni Carter, and Shay Latukolan, DJ and visionary for DELEÓN’s ‘Bold Spirits, Rise’ campaign, also partook in the excitement.
Along with these artists was DJ Sibby Liv, the winner of DELEÓN and UnitedMasters ‘DELEÓN Tequila Opening Acts Pledge, an initiative that provides mentorship, performance opportunities, and studio access to rising DJs. DELEÓN has even made a nationwide commitment to support over one thousand up-and-coming DJs through the Pledge.
DELEÓN was also able to activate the community over celebrations during AfroTech, at events hosted by known event series hosts, Jerk x Jollof, Blavity House, Mashup Sessions, etc. Creating a week full of fun, authenticity, and networking.
Both Johnnie Walker and DELEÓN Tequila have their finger on the pulse of what’s new, continuously opening their audience and expanding the connection consumers have with themselves, those around them, and their brands. Allowing for an alluring intrigue on what more is to come.
Images provided by Press