If you'd been responsible for the very amusing and cleverly
appropriate "belly's going to get you" campaign for Reebok, would you be
risking bringing on a substitute so early in the game? I don't think so,
but looking at its new ad you'd be wrong.
This time it's getting the couch potato to "escape the sofa" rather than
"beat the belly". The simple but brilliantly effective trick of making
the phrase literal, visualising a pursuing sofa instead of the chasing
belly, makes an entertaining and effective ad.
I particularly like the downbeat casting of the hero. Not for Reebok the
unattainable sculptured physique of Nike, the sporty brilliance of
Adidas. Your man here has little resemblance to athletic power, more
paddy power, with the dissolute looks of Shane McGowan.
From Lowe Lintas to The Leith Agency and for Tennent's lager another
example of what used to be called a concrete idiom. Here the expression
being concretised is: "I could murder a pint." Aardman's animation
skills, some witty gags and, above all, excellent use of prime Scottish
actors as voiceovers lift what could easily have been a rather naive
student idea into a contender. The pint police pursue the murderer of a
pint which has been drained of all its bodily fluids and, in the best
gag of the lot, the witness' sketch is a crude drawing of a hand. Well
branded, well campaignable, it could be well liked too.
Sadly, I can't see the British Gas campaign being quite so liked despite
using the gifted, likeable Paul Whitehouse. Having achieved phenomenal
success with Paul in the "in't milk brilliant" campaign, the same
agency, BMP DDB, seems to have fallen into the trap TBWA/London's
campaign for Holsten Pils fell into, using a Fast Show character that
overpowers the brand.
Some people would say it's laziness just to trot out another Fast Show
character but, personally, I think it would be hard to make the old
clubroom colonel appropriate to anything other than a drink. Here the
BACC would obviously not allow him to say his signature phrase "I was
very, very, very drunk", so instead after an unendingly dreary list of
product points, he falls completely out of character by saying "I was
very, very, very, impressed". BMP is usually so sure-footed at using and
creating personalities. Pity.
Even Swiss Tony couldn't save Swan Hellenic. The editorial selection for
Private View is infinitely better than it used to be but this one must
have slipped out of the guard book. Let's just pop it back in and move
on.
Ah, that's better, a lovely little idea from Publicis for Pentax. It
captures the great truth that no matter how sophisticated a photographer
we are, we can't get out of Paris without snapping the Eiffel Tower. So
it has taken the cliche snap for us, tipped it into the mag, and now
encourages us to "take pictures not postcards". Not odds on for the
juries but it's a winner in my book.
That transparently clumsy segue leads us back to Paddy Power - this time
the bookie. Form is everything in this deceptively simple and witty
campaign. Again it comes from a common phrase: "He'd bet on two flies
crawling up the wall." In fact, the ads don't feature flies, but they do
feature bets on: two ducks; two traffic light racers; two window-washing
pests; two old dears on a crossing and, most bizarrely of all, which one
of the family will step in the dog shit (it's Dad at 4/1). Certainly not
Bartle Bogle Hegarty's usual style-laden sophistication, but a fine
campaign all the more powerful for its simplicity and earthy wit.
REEBOK
Project: Reebok
Client: David Neale, marketing and sales director
Brief: Reflect the real reasons for doing sport
Agency: Lowe Lintas
Writers: Vince Squibb and Tony Barry
Art directors: Vince Squibb and Tony Barry
Director: Frank Budgen
Production company: Gorgeous Productions
Exposure: National TV and cinema
BRITISH GAS
Project: British Gas campaign
Client: Jane Saint, regional advertising manager
Brief: Aid retention by persuading people that we are a responsive,
listening organisation
Agency: BMP DDB
Writer: Justine Walker
Art director: Justine Walker
Director: John Birkin
Production company: Blink Productions
Exposure: National TV
SWAN HELLENIC
Project: Swan Hellenic
Client: Carolanne Dieleman, sales and marketing director
Brief: Increase the awareness of Swan Hellenic as the leader in quality
discovery cruises
Agency: Banc
Writer: Stuart Blake
Art director: Peter Harold
Typographer: Neville Raven
Photographer: Ken Griffiths
Exposure: National press
PENTAX
Project: Pentax
Client: David Cowperthwaite, marketing and operations director
Brief: Pentax cameras empower creativity in mainstream photography
Agency: Publicis
Writer: Ben Carey
Art director: Henrik Delehag
Typographer: Henrik Delehag
Photographer: Henrik Delehag
Exposure: National press
TENNENT CALEDONIAN BREWERY
Project: Tennent's lager
Client: Sandra Mitchell, marketing manager
Brief: Demonstrate Tennent's lager's unique desirability
Agency: The Leith Agency
Writer: Dougal Wilson
Art director: Gareth Howells
Director: Darren Walsh
Production company: Aardman Animations
Exposure: Scottish TV and cinema
PADDY POWER BOOKMAKERS
Project: Sponsorship idents for Jumpers for Goalposts
Client: Stewart Kenny, managing director
Brief: Associate Paddy Power with the fun of betting
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Writer: Jon Fox
Art director: Rik Brown
Director: James Pilkington
Production company: Velocity Films
Exposure: Sky TV
