Ian Lauria-Post





BHAKTA Spirits

Role
Creative Direction
Video Direction

Year
2023-2024
Index
U.S. Brand Campaign


Time In A Bottle

BHAKTA holds the oldest collection of Armagnac on Earth, with vintages dating back to 1868, alongside rare vintage rum and rye. Founded by Raj Peter Bhakta and Leo Gibson after they built WhistlePig, the house runs on a single idea: time in a bottle.

The challenge. Introduce a new house of vintage spirits to an American audience with no prior awareness of it.

The idea. Every heritage spirits brand runs on the same three forces: time, scarcity, and a keeper of the craft. BHAKTA already had all three. What it needed was for people to feel the discovery rather than be told about it, so I made the founder's own hunt for lost vintages the campaign.

The work. A 30-second hero film directed with Raj, establishing him as the face of the house and the front door to the campaign across organic social, YouTube, and paid. A ten-part unscripted series shot over several weeks with Raj and Leo inside the Armagnac library, going deep on history, tasting notes, and the story behind each vintage. Product photography at the Vermont campus. Social and paid cutdowns versioned from the long-form. An experiential brand event at the campus and vineyard to close it out.

Hero film, tasting series, cutdowns, imagery, brand event. One platform, built end-to-end.

Result. The hero film passed 125,000 organic views in its first week.












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