Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is doubling down on its influencer-led Gentleman Jack Dad Ads platform.
It follows a debut campaign in 2025 that shattered global brand benchmarks, according to We Are Different. That campaign increased view rates by 1,588 per cent, ThruPlays by 723 per cent and engagement by 1,316 per cent.
For 2026, Gentleman Jack is taking the influencer platform further, drawing inspiration from the craftsmanship that defines the whiskey itself and recruiting dads and brand loyalists who have spent years learning, building and mastering crafts of their own.
Through a combination of user-generated and creator content, a series of social films uncovers the personal journeys behind each dad’s craft – pairing intimate interviews with throwback imagery documenting the years spent honing their skills.
Rather than treating casting, influencers and audiences as separate layers of the campaign, Dad Ads brings them into one connected social ecosystem. Brand fans become the creative starting point, creators bring their stories to life, and their communities help those stories travel.
The expanded campaign brings together creative, production, PR, social and influencer through We Are Different, with Starcom scaling Dad Ads beyond the social feed through an integrated paid media campaign spanning social and radio.
“Last year we made a deliberate choice to put influencer-led creative and authentic brand fans at the heart of our Gentleman Jack Father’s Day campaign,” said Ashleigh Buchner, Jack Daniel’s brand manager at Brown-Forman Australia. “This year, we’re doubling down on that approach, taking the idea beyond social and expanding it across digital and above-the-line media to build a bigger, more connected platform for Gentleman Jack.”
“The first year of Dad Ads showed that some of a brand’s most powerful creative assets are the people and influencers who already love it,” said Stuart Terry, founder and director of We Are Different. “This year, we found a fresh creative expression by bringing two kinds of craft together: the craftsmanship behind Gentleman Jack and the real-life crafts of the dads who love it. By bringing brand fans, creators and communities together around that brand truth, we’re turning advocacy into an idea designed to earn attention in social and travel far beyond it.”
Credits
Client: Jack Daniel’s – Gentleman Jack, Brown-Forman Australia
Creative, Production, Social & Influencer: We Are Different
Media: Starcom
