This week, let's consider theft, or, as we advertising people
prefer to put it, homage. Actually, first, let's reclaim the word homage
from the screaming camp of "ommarj". Who came up with that? And does he
call the office "loffease"? Look, it's homage, OK? With an aitch at the
front and an idge at the back. Anything else is just bolleux. But I
digress, as usual.
Not only is stealing not a crime in advertising, it is, as we know, an
admired skill. No-one denies that Holsten lifted Dead Men Don't Wear
Plaid, that Hamlet took an existing TV sketch, actor and all, to make
"photo booth", or that Flat Eric was already shot before the creative
team had written the scripts. The agencies revel in their finds on the
basis that all three made memorable, brilliant and effective
advertising. So, does it matter?
I only ask because this week's batch uses more lifts than Tom Cruise's
cobbler, yet they're all the right side of the line denoting a
professional job. And a couple of them are well above that.
Cinema Paradiso helps out UK Online for Business, which projects on to
buildings the giant figures £14 billion to remind companies that
this is what the UK spends over the web, and that they should get their
slice. It's simple, well executed and should work.
Microsoft uses Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's wire-flying antics to
bring to life its endline: "You soar." It's pleasant enough, but the
magic of beautiful Chinese women swishing through mythical tree tops
doesn't survive its reincarnation as the bloke from accounts sailing
over the filing cabinet.
Mitchum deodorant is either a clever piece of postmodern marketing that
has produced a deliberately dodgy looking product, or the creative team
making the best of a bad job. Either way, they've gone for Ronseal's
"Does exactly what it says on the tin" with a bit of old VW Beetle's
"It's ugly but it gets you there". And, if you can be bothered to read
the copy, it's wittily done.
Carphone Warehouse has concocted a real Irish stew of advertising
standbys.
We've got the product with little arms and legs, the pastiche love
affair and the "Should have gone to Radio Rentals/Carphone Warehouse"
theme. But as its stated aim is to be liked, not original, it probably
succeeds.
Malibu takes us back to that familiar place, ad-Caribbean. Somewhere it
appears to have no business visiting, with its Californian name and a
product that is probably made by a computer in a giant, aluminium vat
near Acton. Yet there it is, daring to play with the cliche of relaxed,
backward natives by imagining them behaving like stressed Westerners.
Dubious racial stereotyping? Not the way it's done it. Spurious though
the product link may be, Malibu has made this into an increasingly
strong, and very funny, campaign with inspired casting and
performances.
By contrast, an ad so grim I was reluctant to play it twice. It's for
the charity, Womankind, and states that one woman in four is abused in
Britain. It shows a man walking along a street counting women. When he
reaches the fourth, he attacks her. It ends with him arriving home,
having already counted to three, to ram home the point that most
violence happens behind closed doors.
I know it's a "charity ad", but it's unforgettable. And original. And,
while all of today's bunch will probably work, let's heap a bit more
praise on something new. Might I suggest the rugby union scoring system?
That way, Blackcurrant Tango would get five points for a try, "photo
booth" two points for a conversion.
GUINNESS UDV
Project: Malibu "melons"
Client: Ed Pilkington, global brand director
Brief: Build on the existing campaign to create a strong emotional bond
between brand and consumers
Agency: J. Walter Thompson
Writer: Paul White
Art director: Trevor de Silva
Director: Traktor
Production company: Partizan
Exposure: National TV and cinema
WOMANKIND
Project: Womankind white ribbon day, 25 November
Client: Maggie Baxter, executive director
Brief: Violence against women is an issue that needs to be brought out
into the open
Agency: Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R
Writer: Mike Boles
Art director: Jerry Hollens
Director: Kevin Thomas
Production company: Thomas Thomas
Exposure: Cinema (London)
REVLON UK
Project: Mitchum
Clients: Ian McCarthy, group product manager; Charlotte Gravell, brand
manager
Brief: Communicate that no other deodorant is as effective as Mitchum
Agency: Wieden & Kennedy London
Writer: Richard Russell
Art director: Richard Hooker
Typographer/designer: Richard Hooker
Photographer: Lesley Davies-Evans
Exposure: National press, adrails and washrooms
MICROSOFT
Project: Launch of Windows XP
Client: Oliver Roll, director of marketing, UK
Brief: New product launch of Windows XP
Agency: McCann-Erickson San Francisco
Writer: Dante Lombardi
Art director: Walt Connelly
Director: Kinka Usher
Production company: House of Usher
Exposure: Global TV
COI COMMUNICATIONS
Project: UK Online for Business
Client: Liz Tootill, marketing manager
Brief: Generate awareness among all business organisations that UK
Online for Business is promoting e-commerce in the UK
Agency: Publicis
Writer: Noel Sharman
Art director: Stephen Glenn
Director: Howard Greenhalgh
Production company: Godman
Exposure: National TV
CARPHONE WAREHOUSE
Project: Carphone Warehouse
Client: Tristia Clarke, head of communications
Brief: The same phone bought from the Carphone Warehouse has more going
for it
Agency: Clemmow Hornby Inge
Writer: Charles Inge
Art director: Charles Inge
Director: Marc Charach
Production company: HLA
Exposure: National TV
