What’s better during the holidays than relaxing quietly by a crackling fireplace and sipping a glass of whisky? Nothing, according to Nick Offerman.

Leveraging humor, Lagavulin celebrated the 49th anniversary of the first broadcast of the Yule Log in 1966 by encouraging consumers to update the time-honored holiday tradition with Offerman’s new live-action rendition. Known for his manliness and love of silence, the actor, comedian, and woodworker is the ideal companion for 45 minutes of uninterrupted whisky-drinking bliss. No words. No gimmicks. Just a man, a fire, and his beloved Lagavulin.

We secured an exclusive with Elite Daily, the voice of Generation Y, and worked together to strategically release a 3-minute abridged version of Yule Log on their Facebook page to trigger social conversation. The Facebook post also linked to the 45-minute extended version of the Yule Log on the brand’s YouTube page, further driving content views. Within hours of being posted on December 2nd, the 3-minute abridged version had received over 30K views. Following the release of the exclusive, extensive media outreach to Lifestyle, Epicurean, General Interest and Entertainment media was conducted. Yule Log went viral, receiving over 1MM views in the first 2 days, and was a trending topic on Facebook. To meet popular consumer demand, the team later released a 10-hour loop of the video specifically for viewing at holiday gatherings. The 10-hour loop was released on December 23rd and featured on the TODAY Show on Christmas Eve.

• Tier 1: Outcomes/awareness – change in behavior, shifts in stakeholder decisions, brand equity

• Tier 2: Knowledge/consideration – coverage depth (quality/quantity), tone and message delivery, purchase intent (survey)

• Tier 3: Outputs/business results – sales, donations, site traffic, content response

1. Yule Log was inserted into the holiday cultural conversation with 175+ stories nationally and 840MM+ earned media impressions in outlets relevant to our consumer target including BuzzFeed, BroBible, Cool Material, Entertainment Weekly, Fast Company, Funny or Die, GQ, Mashable, Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Vulture, etc.

2. Consumers and influencers welcomed Yule Log into their homes throughout the holidays with 235MM+ earned social media impressions. Additionally, companies including Sony, Tumblr and GoDaddy streamed Yule Log during company holiday parties and shared viewings on social media

3. Earned and social media drove extraordinary content views and increased the number of YouTube page subscribers

a. 1MM views in first 2 days; 2MM views in first week; 2.8MM+ views to date; 5.2MM+ total