History of Johnnie Walker Logo

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At 15 years of age, a young and enthusiastic John Walker began to blend whisky of a fine quality in the front of his mother's shop in a small town called Kilmarnock. He continued this for some time and when he eventually passed away in 1857 this whisky was the most well-known whisky in the west of Scotland. His son Alexander protected the whisky until 1867 and moved to also protect the name of "old Highland Whisky". Further to this, his brother George introduced the "talk label" and "Black label" products and searched for appropriate logos that would match the high quality of the products. George met over lunch with Cartoonist Tom Browne, and the two men created the concept of the walking man, Walker then added in the branding sentence "Founded 1820 - Still Going Strong." It is believed that this sketch is based on a caricature of John Walker although that has been the subject of some contention in the media. Nevertheless, the professional design developed by Browne was so well accepted by Alexander and George that they added in the phrases "Johnny Walker - Keep on Walking". Iterations of this theme continue to be used today.