The founder & CEO of Uncle Nearest has leveraged a family connection in the latest marketing activation for the American whiskey brand.
Fawn Weaver’s father, Frank Wilson, was a Motown writer and producer who wrote and performed ‘My Sugar Baby’, a track that Weaver only learned of recently. The song, recorded in 1965, serves as the bed for a TV ad for Uncle Nearest that is currently running nationwide on cable networks, streaming platforms and “every place TV is enjoyed”.
The spot also features actor Jeffrey Wright, who is also an investor in the brand, as its narrator.
“My father never released a song, choosing to focus on writing and becoming one of the top producers in the nation, but he recorded a couple of songs that made it into the vault,” said Weaver. “We had no idea this song existed until two weeks before we filmed, but once it was discovered, I knew hands down it needed to be the backdrop for our next commercial.”
Debuting six years ago, the Uncle Nearest portfolio, which includes a Bourbon as well as a rye whiskey, is produced at the Nearest Green distillery in Tennessee.
Last month, former Brown-Forman CFO Jane Morreau joined the board of state peer Ole Smoky Distillery.
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