Leagas Delaney’s spot for Philips video recorders, entitled
’Firips’, has been voted the best radio ad of all time in the Radio
Advertising Bureau’s top 40 Hall of Fame.
The ad, created by Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith and Tim Delaney, and
starring Rhys Jones and Smith, features a clueless customer beguiled by
Japanese technology asking foolish questions of an electrical goods
salesman. ’I’d like to have some specifications ... and functions,’ he
says, to the salesman’s increasing disdain.
The customer shows his prejudice against English goods by citing
’Hoki-Koki’ as a preferred brand, and only shows an interest in the
Philips model when the salesman describes it as a ’Firips’.
The 250-strong jury included Jeremy Bullmore, Charles Gallichan and John
Bartle. Gerry Moira, the creative director of Publicis and a jury
member, said: ’For me, the lesson of this spot is that the best joke,
indeed the idea of the commercial, hangs on the client’s name.’
Other ads in the top ten include last year’s ’Dahl’ for VW Polo by BMP
DDB, ’lost property’ for Apple Tango by HHCL & Partners, and ’letter’
for the Imperial War Museum by Ogilvy & Mather.
’The whole idea was to isolate and celebrate the top 40 radio ads of all
time, getting people to remember and be more familiar with the good
radio advertising that is out there,’ Andrew Ingram, the account
planning director at the RAB, said.
