Yell reworks classic JR Hartley ad

By Sara Kimberley, campaignlive.co.uk, Monday, 07 February 2011 12:00PM

Yell has remade its classic 1980s 'Fly Fishing' TV ad, replacing the author searching for his book with the help of a Yellow Pages, with a DJ trying to track down a long-lost trance mix using Yell's iPhone app.

Yell: updates classic TV commercial

The "Day V Lately" ad by Rapier shows a former DJ searching for his 1992 trance mix, 'Pulse and Thunder'.

The ad campaign launched last night during 'Dancing on Ice' on ITV. The drive includes national press and posters promoting Yell's mobile app, customer reviews and the detailed search results available on Yell.com.

Chris Palmer from production company Gorgeous Enterprises is the ad's director. The copywriter is John O'Donnell from Rapier and art direction is by Ed Morris. PHD handled the media planning and buying.

The ad shows the DJ, like Hartley, get help from his daughter to search for his track. The daughter suggests Lately uses Yell's iPhone app to find a wider choice of independent music shops, which proves to be successful.

The original ad was made more famous by several spoofs, most notably by Fry and Laurie, Jasper Carrott, Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones, and Harry Enfield.

David Parslow, brand and communication director at Yell in the UK, said: "We are really excited about the new campaign. What better way to demonstrate how our offering has evolved over the past few years than to modernise our most iconic advert.

"'The Day V Lately' campaign will help us show that Yell now offers more instant information on independent businesses than anyone else in the UK."

Jonathan Stead, chief executive at Rapier, said: "I'm excited about 'Day V Lately' for many reasons. Most significantly, I believe it will create a strong pull to Yell and Yell's advertisers.

"It showcases their ability to help people find exactly what they’re looking for using the most up-to-date means by telling a story, we already know from JR Hartley, that people will love."

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk