New York, NY – August 19, 2026 – Valentine Distilling Co., maker of the award-winning Mayor Pingree bourbon, today launches a new advertising campaign built around a word the whiskey category loves to hate: smooth, in collaboration with NY-based generative-first production company, Smoke&Oakum.
The campaign, developed by Detroit-based agency Farley Oil and brought to life by generative-first production company Smoke&Oakum, arrives as the spirits industry faces a genuine headwind. U.S. liquor sales fell 3.4% in 2025 to $110 billion, following a nearly 1% decline the year before, according to NielsenIQ data. Spirits alone dropped 4.1% in the 52 weeks ending January 3, 2026, per NIQ off-premise channel figures. Industry analysts point to a mix of causes: rising health-consciousness, alcohol prices that have climbed more than 23% since 2019 and the fast-growing ready-to-drink (RTD) category, which is on pace to more than double globally by the mid-2030s.
That environment has made drinkers more skeptical of premium whiskey’s most familiar promise: smoothness. Rather than avoid the cliché, Valentine Distilling and Farley Oil decided to meet the skepticism directly.
“Smooth gets an eye roll in the whiskey business because everybody says it,” said Greg Farley, CCO and Founder of Farley Oil. “But people ask about it for a reason. They’ve been burned by bourbon that wasn’t. We wanted to validate that concern rather than simply walk away. A little honest empathy goes a long way towards being persuasive.”
The resulting line, “Smoother Than You Expect,” anchors a new :30 commercial titled “Natatorium,” which begins appearing across streaming, social and paid media this week. The spot takes a humorous approach to a straightforward promise, using an unexpected demonstration to make the case for Mayor Pingree’s drinkability without leaning on the usual whiskey-ad tropes.
A Detroit brand’s answer to a big-budget category
Part of what shaped the campaign’s approach is economics. In a downturn, regional and craft brands typically can’t match the media spend of the multinational holding companies that dominate spirits marketing. One well-known Irish whiskey brand, for example, spent close to $100 million on digital and national TV advertising in the past year alone, running creative across more than 250 media properties, according to advertising-tracking firm MediaRadar. This is a scale few independent distilleries can approach.
Smoke&Oakum: generative-first production, built on traditional craft
To close that gap without cutting corners, Valentine Distilling and Farley Oil turned to Smoke&Oakum, the generative-first production company behind “Natatorium.” The spot’s deliverables are fully generative — there was no physical shoot — but Smoke&Oakum’s process is grounded in the same disciplines that define traditional production: photography, cinematography and sound design expertise, applied through a production-grade generative pipeline rather than a physical set. That approach frees up resources for the direction, lighting and performance choices that shape the finished spot, without the cost of a physical production.
“The goal was to extend what a crew could accomplish, not simply replace talent,” said Adam Witten, Director at Smoke&Oakum. “AI handles the parts of production that used to eat the budget before a single frame got shot. That leaves more room for the craft through the eye of a director, the lighting design, fine-tuning the performance, as well as sound design. These are the things that truly make an audience connect.”
“Natatorium” is running across streaming platforms, social channels and paid media as part of the campaign’s initial flight.
