So yeah, well done lads.

Via Thought Gadgets via AdFreak comes a well-done, short film, piece of awesome brandvertainment, ad of the year, or whatever else you want to call it. See, viral can be dramatic and not just freaky kids.

Since I started this rag in 2005, the number of cool little films like this? Wee. Wee I say. BBH nailed Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky perfectly though. And the story Glasgow’s own Robert Carlyle tells is appealing enough—until the real story of cost savings kick in.

Parent company Diageo plans on closing the literal and figurative birthplace of the brand Kilmarnock. Hope the £20 million in savings (approx $33 million U.S.), is worth the PR fallout.

Hate to get all ethical on ya, but this is where you make certain decisions in this business as a creative. Won’t work on tobacco or pharma? Okay. What about working on a project where the heart of the story is undermined by the irony of the real-life situation.

Is knowing you’re creating killer work more important than a company that plans on cutting real jobs? Or don’t you care because after all, it’s not your problem.

If you justify this is as the cost of doing business and so what, then don’t cry when the holding company that owns your agency cuts 200 positions across the entire network. Including yours.

After all, it’s just the cost of doing business, innit?

So let’s drink to the jobless and talk about the film! I love this piece beyond the one continuous shot thing, or the props found along the way like some Terry Gilliam flashback.

For the first time in a few years, a brand is telling their story and not mine. Just how many “Tell us your story!” promotions do we have to endure nowadays?

Here, they found value in the history of the brand.

It’s not just a simple story, it’s a simple story told in a compelling way. It’ll also end up being the next evolution of the close-up beauty shot for other agencies, where, if you don’t have a real concept, you just fall back on gorgeous close-ups of the bottle’s label. Sexy!

*cue agencies scrambling to film narration of clients’ about pages from their websites*

Some agencies will look at this is an example of the only thing the net was made for: A place for reruns and long-form content that wouldn’t otherwise get on network or cable.

Sucks if that’s their attitude, because you can see where a killer interactive shop would blow this out in terms of user fun. (For starters, scrubbable timeline and new objects in the scene with alternate dialog.) However, it’s so damn good that you don’t mind if this one straight film was all they did online.

Once again, brevity failed me, or I it. Time to now to get out of Robert’s way lest I blow the shot.

(As for the other films: Herringbone Clothing, Subaru DC Mountain or Gymkhana, The Hire, Danny DeVito for Good, and Ricky Gervais’ Office Values.)