“I get frustrated when people with talent in the whisky industry just retire. I urge them to think about how they spend time after leaving the industry, as there is such a valuable loch of experience and knowledge that has been built up over decades.”
So says Ken Grier, founder of De-Still Creative, which he formed after leaving Edrington in 2018 with almost two decades at the drinks company to his credit. Latterly with Edrington, Grier held the title of creative director of the Macallan and chairman of the board of the Macallan Distillers Ltd, and played a major role in the creation of the ‘new’ Macallan distillery.
During his tenure, the Macallan was transformed into a brand worth £3 billion, taking it to the position of number one single malt Scotch by value in the world. Along the way, Grier worked with world-class artists such as Sir Peter Blake, globally recognised photographers like Annie Leibovitz, French crystal icon Lalique, and fashion firms from Dunhill to Panerai.
Having exited Edrington, Dumfries-born Grier was keen to pursue a venture of his own. He explains, “Innovation is my passion. I wanted to help other people, and the idea was to focus on liquor, luxury, and photography.”
Grier jokes, “I now have the freedom to work six days a week.” He adds, “It’s scary when you step off the corporate ladder. Finance, IT, HR, and so on are all your responsibility. I’m spinning a number of plates. You’re only as good as your last job, and I have to kill to eat!”
He admits to squeezing in the occasional game of golf, but his main sporting passion is following Dumfries-based football team Queen of the South. Despite the somewhat faded fortunes of the old club, Grier’s indomitable enthusiasm, optimism, and generally undimmed zest for life see him drive from his Perthshire home to the south-west of Scotland every second Saturday during the football season to watch the team he has supported since a boy take on the likes of Stenhousemuir and Kelty Hearts down in the third tier of Scottish professional football.
As a business mentor and collaborator through De-Still Creative, Grier notes, “I’ve worked with Suntory, across their spirits portfolio, as well as projects with International Beverage (IB), Glenturret, and Cotswolds Distillery in England. I love the variety of it all, even within the wider ‘whisky’ category.”
De-Still’s activities also extend to the world of rum, with Colombia’s Dictador, Cognac, courtesy of Camus in France, and mezcal, with Mezcal Amaras in Mexico, and a variety of other drinks brands. Away from the world of spirits, Grier’s great passion is photography. He explains, “I love the Leica brand more than anything, and I’ve helped Leica launch their own mobile phone in Japan.”
So, what were the most important lessons learnt by Grier while working with Edrington that inform his interactions with De-Still Creative clients?
“When I joined Highland Distillers (latterly Edrington) in 1998, I ran the Famous Grouse internationally,” says Grier, “and my first lesson was in witnessing the power of creativity through taking on the existing ‘Icon’ campaign, featuring Gilbert the Grouse. This was highly distinctive, wryly amusing, and, if continually burnished, could last for decades. This was one to carefully evolve over the six years I was involved with the brand and not crassly just change the advertising.”
Grier’s time working with the Macallan taught him to “Be brave and be prepared to positively disrupt. The Macallan had always been a revered sherry cask whisky, but we needed to expand our portfolio to meet demand around the world and to offer new expressions for our eager drinkers. Hence Fine Oak, for elegant and casual drinking, the 1824 Series in duty free to encourage drinker exploration, and of course the hugely successful M decanter, which showed the triple power of outstanding design creativity, the power of partnering with an extraordinary luxury brand, and learnings from other luxury categories globally.”
“Be inspiring and help others to nurture their ideas,” he adds. “The Macallan Fine and Rare was a brilliant thought from my team at the time to use our precious old stocks to build scarcity, cachet, and to expand on the brand narrative. Importantly, every great initiative must have showstopping liquid at the heart.”
Another key aspect of success involves building strong long-term relationships with the right creative partners, according to Grier. As he explains, “This is the case whether it’s the fantastic people across all aspects of the Macallan family (from distillation to sales) or external collaborators.
A good example of the latter is the Skyfall James Bond collaboration, borne out of a mutual passion for photography and whisky, discovered when I met Michael Wilson from Eon Productions over a dram and was able to convey my zeal so that it ignited his wish to find a dramatic way to incorporate it in the movie.”
Readers may recall that one of the movie’s most memorable scenes features a 50-year-old 1962 vintage expression of the Macallan. During the scene in question, Javier Bardem’s evil genius character Raoul Silva produces a bottle of the 1962 while holding Bond captive. “A particular favourite of yours, I understand,” he says, handing Bond a shot glass of the precious liquid while he proceeds to place an identical glass on the head of the hapless and bound Sévérine, played by Bérénice Marlohe, with whom Bond has previously developed ‘cordial’ relations in the tradition of the franchise.
Bond is ordered to shoot the whisky off her head, but misses, presumably on purpose, at which point Silva steps forward and shoots her in the chest, with the glass falling to the ground and breaking. “Waste of good Scotch,” responds Bond, before the sky fills with helicopters on a rescue mission, and an expensive firefight ensues.
With something akin to Bond-like panache, Ken Grier conceptualised and managed the creative execution of the design and build for the Macallan’s new £140-million distillery and visitor experience, which opened in mid-2018, reaching more than 500 million people and generating more than £150 million of PR and social media coverage.
He says of the project, “This was the best example of where everything came together. From an embryonic idea I had in a conversation with my then-director of distillation to the building of the world’s first named architect distillery, working with great architects in Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) for a unique and modern design. This is where vision, audacious creativity, and boldness all came together. The idea was integral to the project, but again the lesson is that it’s about the ability to sell the vision and to play a team role, recognising the unique skill of everyone involved.”
When it comes to mentoring through De-Still Creative, Grier notes, “It is essential to spot and nurture the talents that people in our industry have and to help them be all they can be in their own way. It’s crucial to encourage curiosity, bravery, and creativity, to inculcate a passion for all alcoholic beverages and Scotch in particular. However, this must be allied to vision and a long-term approach to profitable brand building, with one eye to the future, and the courage to pivot to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers in the future.”
One advantage of being an ‘outsider’ when working with companies is that Grier brings knowledge to projects, but, as he explains, “I’m not in the white heat of battle, as it were. I’m not your boss or your colleague, so in that sense I can be something of an external mentor.”
Regarding the current situation across the spirits spectrum, where many values have been falling and the future looks less rosy than it has during the past couple of decades, Grier says, “Some days the sun won’t shine, but always have long-term consistency of vision. I’ve got over 25 years of experience. I’ve seen this sort of thing twice before in my career, but lots of the teams I work with are younger. It’s a case of keeping a cool head, sticking to your principles. Be careful not to do things that will affect the positivity of the brand, such as price cutting.”
Taking an overview of his present role, Grier notes, “I get so much satisfaction seeing my clients succeed. I love to see their personal growth. I chip in ideas and watch them blossom and move forward and see brands grow and burgeon. ‘Human capital’ is the most valuable thing of all.
“My one piece of key advice is that every brand needs a compelling story. Liquid that stops you in your tracks, distinctive assets, a feeling of specialness in being able to purchase, and a great experience in buying and enjoying.”
And in conclusion? Grier declares, “I’ve drunk some amazing whiskies and worked with fantastic people. We should be in the position of leaving legacies, [and] of leaving things better than when we started. Life has been rich and dynamic, and I believe you should pass on some of the luck you’ve had to other people.”
