Forbes

When Johnnie Walker debuted the “Keep Walking” advertising campaign 26 years ago, it coincided with the eldest millennials aging into adulthood. Today, the Scotch brand is leaning on a new twist for the iconic ad in a bid to lure Gen Z drinkers to whisky.

The new “Keep Walking” campaign will debut this week in North America and launch across television, digital video, paid social, and out-of-home advertising and will roll out globally in 2026 across most of those same channels. The 30-second ad spot was created by Grammy-nominated director and visual artist who goes by the name “child.” and two-time Grammy winner Melina Matsoukas, the founder and creative executive producer of production company De La Revolución.

“We are on a mission to introduce Scotch and Johnnie Walker to the next generation,” John Williams, global head of whisk(e)y at Diageo, tells me during a virtual interview. “That’s the way we’ll keep the brand relevant in the next 100 years, in a way that we’ve done for the last 200.”