Client: W. H. Smith
Agency: Motive
Buyer: Peter Edwards
Client: Ford
Agency: The Network
Buyer: Caroline Bamford
Client: After Eight
Agency: J. Walter Thompson
Buyer: Claus Schiko
Programme: Muriel’s Wedding
TV station: The Movie Channel
Date: 21 November, 20.00
Break transmission time: 19.56
Barb: 16-34 women, 1.34 TVRs
At the movies, the Australian film, Muriel’s Wedding, was a surprise
hit. As the nation - or the bit of it that subscribes to the Movie
Channel - settled down to catch what they missed at the cinema,
no fewer than eight advertisers jostled for attention in the break
leading up to the TV premiere.
The boys at Motive, on behalf of W. H. Smith, followed the planner’s
brief (faxed from Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO) to the letter. ‘Family
gatekeepers, that’s who you need to target,’ they were instructed.
‘Housewives with kids, that’s what that means,’ they thought. Quite
right too.
The Ford Ka was first in the break for less scientific reasons. The
consensus at the Network was that this was a bloody good film. The
mindset, rather than the demographic, was the key.
Country Music TV, Rowntree’s After Eight, Birds Eye White Meat, the
Australian Tourist Commission (for obvious reasons), Chanel No 5 and
Vidal Sassoon were the other competing brands.
For After Eight, the target was light viewers who had made an
appointment to view, with the possibility also of catching some older
viewers who tend to plan their Christmas shopping in advance.
