Adwatch (Sept 28) - Top 20 recall: Birds Eye

By Leon Jaume, Executive creative director, Engine and WCRS, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 12:00AM

Ad catches our attention by avoiding all the safe, cosy and familiar options.

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You might see the Birds Eye polar bear ad at the top of the Adwatch table and shrug. Him again, big deal. Everyone likes a cute character; what's new? This hammy, crowd-pleasing, Meerkat-lite malarkey adds little to the marketing debate.

This casual dismissal would be a mistake. Instead, we should all gather round, pause, observe and learn. The Birds Eye bear is a wonderful fable for the job that we are all supposed to be doing.

Above all, he could hardly be more misconceived. He shouldn't be a crappy white sock with a hand up it; he should be a cuddly, fuzzy, perfect polar cub, like the Attenborough ones, but with CG lip-synch. He shouldn't be sinisterly voiced by a US actor we can't quite place, but who doubtless still cost a fortune; he should probably be Felicity Kendall. Moreover, he absolutely shouldn't freak out his loyal, Birds Eye-buying mums and dads with sarcasm, threats and belittlement; he should be supportive of their tentative ways with dead, white fish.

Of course, all the right choices were ignored and here he is: an Adwatch-topping triumph, selling his own likeness alongside fish fingers. Probably with a bigger margin.

What do so many of us do on a daily basis? Strive for the bland, the familiar, the cosy, the known. We cast nice-looking people in nice-looking houses, with nary a hair out of place or a scuff on the skirting board. Yet our 'national treasure' archive is full of scruffy, ugly, awkward, borderline psychotic sods like Del Boy, Fawlty, Steptoe and Gervais.

These are the people the nation remembers and takes to its hearts, yet advertising is frequently discomforted in their company. When we spilled the 118 runners into the world, the rational voices asked: should not a modern, dynamic brand be represented by properly fit and clean-shaven athletes with a decent haircut?

Many years on, as another agency relaunches them back in their original, hirsute image, the questioning is less shrill.

The moral is clear. Whatever your job, your brand, your company, your agency, your title, your talent, it matters not. We are all in the same business, and it is called risk.

If you don't see that appellation as an exciting opportunity that drives your working day, allows you to outdo your competitors - often with less money - and demands that you laugh in the face of failure, accepting that it will occasionally laugh back, then you shouldn't be in marketing.

You should run a website selling cute, furry polar bears that bleat soothing platitudes when you give them a gentle squeeze. I won't be buying.

Adwatch (September 28): Top 20 recall
Latest	Sep-21	Brand	Agency/TV Buyer	Recall
rank				%
1	(–)	Birds Eye	Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO/Carat	40
2	(15=)	Tesco	The Red Brick Road/Initiative	38
3	-8	Morrisons	DLKW Lowe/MEC	37
4	(–)	Harveys	Velvet TV/MediaVest	31
5	(–)	Garnier – Belle Color	Publicis/ZenithOptimedia	30
6=	(–)	Plusnet	Karmarama/Maxus	29
6=	(–)	Currys/PC World	M&C Saatchi/Walker Media	29
8	(–)	Argos	CHI & Partners/Mindshare	28
9	(–)	Kodak	Ogilvy & Mather/Neo@Ogilvy	26
10	(–)	Comet	Euro RSCG London/ZenithOptimedia	25
11=	(–)	Lenor Infusions	Grey EMEA/Starcom	24
11=	(–)	Toyota Yaris	Saatchi & Saatchi/ZenithOptimedia	24
13	(–)	Sainsbury's	Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO/PHD	23
14	(–)	William Hill	Beattie McGuinness Bungay/the7stars	15
15=	(–)	Mecca Bingo	Gravity London/Boutique Media Communications	14
15=	(–)	British Red Cross	Brightstar/MediaCom	14
15=	(–)	Chrysler Delta	DCH/Maxus	14
18	(–)	Brother	Grey London/Carat	13
19=	(–)	Bensons for Beds	Wand Agency/Rathbone Perception Media	12
19=	(–)	Halfords	DLKW Lowe/Walker Media	12

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk