Brown-Forman Hands More Premium Spirits to Social Shop TSA
Updated: Sep 1
TL;DR: Brown-Forman has widened its relationship with UK social and creator agency TSA, adding Gin Mare and Chambord — another sign that major advertisers are routing premium-brand budgets to specialist social shops rather than traditional lead agencies.
A spirits giant deepens its social bet
Brown-Forman has expanded its remit with TSA, the UK social and creator agency that is part of Five by Five. TSA adds Gin Mare globally and Chambord in the UK, taking on always-on social, creator partnerships, content and platform management for the brands.
The expansion builds on a relationship that began with Jack Daniel's in the UK in 2024 and el Jimador in early 2026. Managing director George Roberts framed the rationale simply: "Consumers discover… brands through creators and social." The account grows because the channel is where the audience now lives.
Why specialist shops are winning this work
The move reflects a structural shift. As discovery migrates to TikTok, Instagram and creator ecosystems, brands increasingly want partners built natively for those platforms rather than traditional agencies retrofitting social onto a broadcast mindset.
Premium spirits are a revealing test case. Rules on responsible marketing and age-gating make social execution genuinely specialist work, and creator relationships require ongoing management rather than campaign-burst thinking. That favours dedicated social agencies.
Marketing Minute's read: the unbundling of the AOR
Our take: this is another data point in the slow unbundling of the traditional agency-of-record model. Rather than one lead shop handling everything, brands are assembling rosters of specialists — a creator agency here, a performance shop there — around specific capabilities.
For brands, that means more control and closer platform expertise, but also more coordination overhead. The winners will be marketers who can orchestrate a fragmented roster into a coherent brand experience, not just those who hire the best individual specialists.
What businesses should take from it
If discovery for your category has shifted to social and creators, audit whether your current agency is genuinely native to those channels or merely tolerating them. Platform fluency is now a core competency, not an add-on.
Always-on beats burst for creator marketing. The value compounds through sustained relationships and content cadence, so structure budgets for continuity rather than one-off campaigns.
Quick FAQ
What did Brown-Forman announce with TSA?
Brown-Forman expanded its remit with UK social and creator agency TSA, adding Gin Mare globally and Chambord in the UK for always-on social, creator partnerships, content and platform management.
Why are spirits brands using specialist social agencies?
Consumer discovery has moved to social and creators, and premium spirits require specialist, compliant, always-on execution — work suited to agencies built natively for those platforms.
Is this the end of the agency-of-record model?
Not entirely, but it's part of a broader unbundling. Brands are increasingly assembling rosters of specialists around specific capabilities rather than relying on a single lead agency.
Every one of these social-shop wins is a small vote against the old agency-of-record model. Discovery has moved to creators, and brands want partners built natively for that world. The catch is coordination — a roster of specialists only works if someone can orchestrate them into one coherent brand. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
As discovery shifts to creators, platform fluency becomes a core capability — not something a broadcast-era agency can bolt on.
Is your agency roster built for where your customers actually discover brands today?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: LBBOnline, Decision Marketing, Marketing Report.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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