When your time is up and you're suddenly standing in line waiting
for a chat with St Peter, the chances are those having spent their lives
avariciously pursuing a career in advertising will find ourselves toward
the back of the queue. Among the people standing at the front will be
those that served the Voluntary Service Overseas.
The VSO is looking for people who are interested in a job that comes
with a small salary, a mosquito net and regular power cuts in what is
likely to be a very hot, very poor country. The ads attempt to interact
with their audience using multiple choice questions to find out if
you're the type they're after.
I'm in no way predisposed to knocking a charity as worthwhile as this
one, but it's difficult not to observe that such an outstanding cause
could do with ads that stand out a little more.
My uncle Stewart lives in Redcar. He used to be a postman until he was
hit on the head by a robber with a baseball bat, after which he became a
little bit odd. However, I have to tell you, he's a lot more interesting
than Uncle Ben; which gives him something in common with the new Tilda
Rizazz campaign.
Its approach is to parody those people who bang on endlessly about how
fantastically busy they are, because they think it's impressive. I won't
bother explaining it all to you in minute detail as it's on air at the
moment.
It's easily the freshest thing in its category, it works off an
interesting insight, it's well cast and it's well shot. There are three
of them and these ricicles really are quite nicicles.
Fetzer would like to tell us a little about its approach to wine making.
The message seems to be something along the lines of "we do it the
natural way". Fair enough, but the look of the ads seem somehow to
counter rather than compliment this. Lurid pink, yellow and
orange-looking ads don't seem quite right for a wine - although it does
come from California.
The tough in-your-face type doesn't seem to be the natural choice
either. To summarise, not really my cup of Chardonnay but ultimately
nicer than a chat with Jilly Goolden.
Here's the problem; everyone knows that Radio 2, despite it's history,
is now blindingly good and the same goes for Radio 4, but what about
dear old Radio 3. It's a bit like Thunderbird 3, not really your first
choice, but then you're not as familiar with it as the others.
To address this the agency has enlisted the services of the performance
poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who tells us what you can expect to find. It's
slightly unexpected for this brand, which is an entirely good thing.
It's also one of those films you enjoy more the more you see it. For
what it's worth, I quite liked it.
Miller Light features two American characters involved in blokey
dialogue, sitting at a bar. They feel authentically US and the dialogue
is reasonably snappy. The trouble, I think, here is that they're just a
bit short - I suspect it's one of those occasions where the idea
demanded 30 and 40 seconds but the media plan dictated 20. Nice enough,
but a pint would have been more satisfying than a half.
Having started with St Peter we'll finish with St Luke's. The Clarks
shoes campaign is just excellent. It's based on a human truth; we all
get a bit carried away with new shoes. It's very funny, it's very deftly
shot, there's lots of them and they're all so incredibly simple. If this
doesn't win things the jury should be forcibly enlisted in the VSO.
VOLUNTARY SERVICE OVERSEAS
Project: VSO brand and recruitment
Client: Glyn Williams, head of marketing
Brief: Attract people with a higher propensity to volunteer and guide
them to VSO
Agency: Leonardo
Writers: Wesley Hawes and Rebecca Alford
Art directors: Stuart Button and William Miles
Typographer: Dave Brady
Photographer: Alun Crockford
Exposure: National and specialist press
TILDA RIZAZZ
Project: Tilda Rizazz
Client: Tracy Roberts, brand manager
Brief: Launch two-minute gourmet recipe rice
Agency: St Luke's
Writer: Alistair Campbell
Art director: Suzanne Hails
Director: Maggie Zackheim
Production company: Propaganda Satellite
Exposure: London TV and cinema
CLARKS
Project: Clarks
Client: Rosemary Carr, marketing director
Brief: Remind people of that new shoe feeling
Agency: St Luke's
Writer: Matt Jones
Art director: Vic Polkinghorne
Director: Frank Todaro
Production company: @radical.media
Exposure: TV
BBC
Project: Experiences
Client: Chris Travers, marketing manager
Brief: Radio 3
Agency: Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters
Writer: Brendan Wilkins
Art director: Paul Hancock
Director: Michael Geoghegan
Production company: BBC B&P
Exposure: TV and cinema
MILLER LIGHT
Project: Bar Miller
Client: John Botia, brand director
Brief: Announce the launch of Miller beer by continuing to build on our
US provenence and humour
Agency: Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R
Writer: Phil Cockrel
Art director: Graham Storey
Director: Wayne Holloway
Production company: Stark Films
Exposure: Regional TV
FETZER
Project: True to our roots
Client: Simon Legge, marketing director, Europe
Brief: Premium wines born out of the San Francisco attitude to life
Agency: BMP DDB
Writer: Patrick McClelland
Art director: Grant Parker
Typographer: Pete Mould
Photographer: Paul Murphy
Exposure: National press and magazines
