Diageo has launched the first global campaign for its Smirnoff vodka brand in more than 25 years, with a happy exaggeration of the product’s 155-year history.

The campaign, dubbed “Infamous Since 1864,” centers on a one-minute commercial that evokes a cloak-and-dagger tale of the vodka being smuggled out of Russia despite attempts by Tsarist forces to keep it from the world. The commercial finds devotees passing the Smirnoff bottle along through such unlikely means as smuggling it in a prosthetic limb and throwing the bottle in a courier’s satchel onto an airplane taking off into flight. Filmmaker Rupert Sanders, director of the acclaimed feature films “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Ghost in the Shell,” helmed the commercial, and the campaign will also incorporate digital, social and print advertising.

“Infamous Since 1864” was developed in partnership with 72andSunny, a New York City-based creative agency. The campaign debuted in Europe on Oct. 7 and is now being rolled out across North America. Diageo’s U.S. operations are headquartered in Norwalk.

“We are delighted to share the far from the ordinary story of Smirnoff and what it took to become one of the world’s top vodka brands,” said Neil Shah, global marketing director of Smirnoff. “It has been a privilege to work with renowned director Rupert Sanders, who shared our bold ambition for this campaign, and we are thrilled to soundtrack the film with an original composition of El Michels Affair’s cover of the iconic hip hop track ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya.’”