Brown-Forman has confirmed the appointment of Wieden + Kennedy as its new lead global agency for the Maximus vodka brand following a competitive pitch.

We will develop an integrated campaign beginning in the brand’s home market of Poland. This will be followed by a global rollout, which will continue in the second half of the year. There will be a wide range of assets developed: TV, digital, social media, print and point-of-sale activation, etc.

The pitch-winning work aims to redefine the Maximus brand, create excitement amongst young men, and give Brown Forman a platform on which to build the brand globally.

We're absolutely delighted to have won the Maximus pitch and to be working with Brown-Forman. Maximus is a brand with loads of potential and this is an opportunity to shake up the vodka sector with some great work. And it makes an excellent complement to our win of Schweppes a few weeks ago. Now we can drink Maximus vodka and Schweppes tonic and that counts as working!

DC, outgoing ECD of RKCR/Y&R (that's a lot of initials) says in Campaign magazine today:

"My favourite ad right now is (Wieden + Kennedy's) "The Great Unknown" from Honda… Why do I like it so much? Is it because it's beautifully produced, with stunning visual effects and immaculate sound design? (Have a listen – that's what awards sound like.) Or is it because, as so often with the campaign, the thinking behind the words is so alluring. Here, Garrisson Keillor's voiceover seems to be speaking to me personally: 'The unknown. It's where all ideas start. It's not an easy place to go. But keep going. And you'll always end up somewhere new. Isn't that why we call it the great unknown?'

This film is a treatise on taking risks, on going out of your comfort zone, on doing things for the first time."