Uncle Nearest - Film Brief

The Ask:

Get mainstream casual drinkers who already have one or two favorite brands they choose to drink either at home or out to switch to Uncle Nearest by coming up with a film idea that shows them that there is more to Uncle Nearest than your average whiskey.

Insight:

Whiskey drinkers in their 20s and 30s tend to be very engaged with the brands they love. They’re interested in the maker, the process, the story.

Idea:

Uncle Nearest Whiskey features a unique backstory and delicious taste, a “Legacy so Strong You Can Taste It.”

FADE IN TO:

Group of young Black professionals, 2 women, and 2 men, sitting in a living room with various board games on the table

CUT TO:

JARED reaches for a card from a pile on the table with the board games

JARED flips over the card and furrows his brow as he reads it to himself

Everyone but SIMONE shrugs, peeking at each other to see each other’s reactions

SIMONE gets up suddenly and walks over to her bar cart, grabbing a bottle of Uncle Nearest Whiskey

FADE TO:

Animation of Nearest Green teaching a young Jack Daniels the distilling process.

Animation of charcoal filtering method

FADE TO:

SIMONE pouring 4 glasses of Uncle Nearest

JUSTIN scrolling on his phone

SIMONE places the glasses on the table in front of her friends, MAHOGANY reaches for her glass

SIMONE smiles as she sees her friends nod their heads in appreciation.

FADE OUT:

Uncle Nearest logo slowly appears on the screen

FADE IN TO:

Various nondescript chatter amongst a group of friends, music playing from a Bluetooth speaker in the background

JARED: Aight aight y’all let’s get back to this game. It’s my turn

MOHAGANY: What’s it say?

JARED: It says “Who is Nathan “Nearest” Green?

SIMONE: Y’all gotta be kidding me

SIMONE: Okay, so look. This is Uncle Nearest Whiskey. It’s named after a former slave, Nathan Green,

VO (SIMONE):

Apparently Green taught Jack Daniels everything he knew about whiskey.

AND he helped develop the charcoal filtering method that Tennesse Whiskey is known for. So yeah, there’d be no Jack Daniels or Tennessee Whiskey if it wasn’t for a Black man.

SIMONE: But yeah now Uncle Nearest’s great-great-granddaughter is the Master Blender for the Uncle Nearest brand, which was also founded by a Black woman. I can’t believe y’all didn’t know this!

JUSTIN: Ok it says here he’s the “Forgotten Gofather of Whiskey” so you can’t blame us for not knowing

MAHOGANY: Well I for one want to see how it tastes

SFX: Clink of the cups and sipping of the whiskey

SIMONE: welllll?

JARED: It’s decent!

JUSTIN: Smooth as hell

MAHOGANY: I’m a fan!

VO:

Uncle Nearest…Legacy so strong you can taste it.