Highland Park Unveils a Bold New Look with a Campaign Starring Orkney Locals

Highland Park, the award-winning Single Malt Scotch whisky distillery, founded in Kirkwall in 1798, debuts a new campaign, reinvigorated identity, brand world and packaging to mark the company’s step into a new era.

Inspired by the unique Orkney provenance that makes Highland Park different by nature, the bold new look celebrates the creativity, originality and natural beauty of Orkney, the brand’s island home.

Welcome to Our Island World

To mark the launch of the new brand world, Highland Park has released a new campaign featuring a cast of real-life Orkney local legends who, in their creative, original and unexpected approach to life, represent the brand’s uniquely different approach to whisky making.

Shot in Orkney by photographer Tom Johnson, and accompanied by a film directed by Sam Johnson, the campaign follows these local legends across key landmarks in Orkney that inspire Highland Park's whisky making process. Scenes include shots from the Highland Park distillery itself and the heather-strewn landscape of Hobbister Moor, where the brand responsibly sources the unique, heather-infused peat that gives Highland Park whisky its distinctive hint of aromatic smoke.

The ensemble cast features local legend Phylida Wright, Highland Park warehouse operator Gary Skea, farmer and ecologist Noel Thomson and artists Louise Barrington and Megumi Barrington. Together, they bring to life the dynamic, multifaceted Orkney that's a daily inspiration to Highland Park: a place of friendship, creative craft and sustainable innovation. Watch the brand film here.

Paul Condron, Brand Director, Highland Park commented: “Highland Park has always been an incredibly special whisky, but Orkney is what makes it special. In this campaign, we’re paying tribute to our Orkney roots, but also setting a tone for the future, embracing the very real charm and originality of the place we are lucky enough to call home.”

More Orkney Than Ever

The campaign is accompanied by new, reinvigorated packaging designs for Highland Park’s core products, inspired by Orkney’s culture of creative craft and awe-inspiring natural beauty.

Currently being rolled out across Highland Park’s classic range (12 Year Old, 15 Year Old, 18 Year Old) and travel retail editions (Land of Orkney 14 Year Old, Sea of Orkney 16 Year old, Sky of Orkney 18 Year Old) the new packaging design pays tribute to Orkney’s ethereal light and invigorating climate in its fresh, bright and contemporary colour palette.

The packaging also nods to the unique flavour profile of Orkney peat smoke through heather-flecked labels visible on the labels and cartons, alongside a refreshed Highland Park logo. Meanwhile, Highland Park’s dedication to craft and creativity is represented through a subtle wood-grain pattern inspired by its dedication to using the finest sherry-seasoned oak casks.

Beyond the outer packaging, Highland Park’s distinctive square-shaped glass bottle has been simplified to allow the natural colour of the whisky, which derives entirely from the cask, to shine through. “Product of Orkney” has also been proudly cut into the glass to celebrate the whisky’s unique provenance.

“different by nature”

The campaign and updated packaging mark a new era for Highland Park, in which the brand is celebrating the uniqueness of its Orkney provenance and the distinctive character that it brings to its whisky—all encompassed by Highland Park’s new strapline, different by nature.

Key to this is the influence of the local heathered peat that Highland Park uses to smoke its malt, sourced from Hobbister Moor, just a few miles down the road from the Highland Park distillery in Kirkwall.

This peat, infused with aromatic heather rather than woody tree roots, gives Highland Park its distinctive, subtle hint of aromatic smoke—resulting in a whisky that is not only characterfully complex and expressively deep, but has a truly, naturally different flavour that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.

The new campaign, packaging and different by nature brand world begin to roll out globally in April 2024.