I feel honoured. Private View is normally a director-free zone.
Is this the thin end of the wedge? It'll be account men next, then clients, then a focus group of mothers in Watford. You mark my words.
It's not a bad crop this week. One humdinger, one very good and some tired ideas nicely shot. I've long believed that when viewing directors' showreels, you should read the agency's script first so you're in a better position to judge whether they've ruined a good idea or improved a bad one. With this in mind, I'll score the director's input separately.
VW Beetle. Aha, I thought, a VW spot. That's bound to be good. Wrong.
This is just the old 'car that turns heads' idea done to a vaguely relevant Semisonic's song. Nicely shot, well-graded colour, but when the grading's the most note-worthy element, you know you're in trouble.
Agency 4/10 Director 7/10
The British Film Institute and Andersen Consulting are sponsoring re-releases of classic movies. To remind us how good the originals are, a bunch of Hollywood types pitch ridiculous plans for remakes - a neat idea, well made, with great performances. I wanted to like them, but the writing isn't funny enough to sustain their two-minute length. One thing those Hollywood execs do know is how to trim the flab out of a script. Pity the agency didn't.
Agency 6/10 Director 9/10
Kiss 100. Now for the humdinger. A ventriloquist's dummy brought to life by the sound of a radio and pulling beautiful girls is one of those brave ideas that could be brilliant or awful depending on the execution. Fortunately, it's brilliant. There are some hilarious touches as the dummy struts his stuff and the director never puts a foot wrong.
Agency 9/10 Director 9/10
The Territorial Army is trying to recruit nurses but its press campaign leaves me dead. The ads are formulaic and unsurprising. The gritty photos make me want to turn the page as fast as possible, the type is designed not to be read and any piece of body copy that starts 'Phosphorous reacts violently with anything that has oxygen in it' is failing to suck me in. This is a dream brief and a missed opportunity.
Agency 3/10
The Royal College of Psychiatrists. I suspect this is a 'chip shop' ad, ie it's aired twice to the public in a cinema in Frinton then many times to awards juries everywhere. Frankly, guys, it's not going to win anything. It's all shot in a beautifully art-directed attic with a beautifully art-directed supercool, hip presenter and some beautifully art-directed mental patients.
The lighting is wonderful, it's all very ethereal and that's just the problem. It doesn't engage me at reality level. 'Wouldn't you be more sympathetic if the Alzheimer's patient were your mother?' Yes, but that's neither an original idea nor an arresting one. Funny how ad folk are always at their best when trying to flog me stuff I don't need rather than trying to do good.
Agency 3/10 Director 5/10
TiVo is the enemy. This is the deadly box that's going to ruin all our lives, the one where you can press a button and screen out all the ads from all the programmes. So, naturally, I was ready to hate this campaign but sadly it's very good. Two couch potatoes are amazed by the machine's ability to freeze-frame live TV. But they're so potato-fied they're virtually freeze-framed themselves. There are five spots all clearly designed to run in the same ad break. One small criticism: the last one is so good at telling the whole story, the earlier teasers may be self-indulgent. Unobtrusive but excellent direction, with an endearing hint of The Royle Family about it.
Agency 8/10 Director 8/10
Okay, you Watford mothers, your turn.
VOLKSWAGEN
Project: Smile
Client: Chris Craft, head of marketing
Brief: The new Beetle will put a smile on your face
Agency: BMP DDB
Writer: Jeremy Craigen
Art director: Joanna Wenley
Director: Ivan Zacharias
Production company: Blink Productions
Exposure: Central TV
TERRITORIAL ARMY
Project: Nurses recruitment
Client: Lt Col Spencer Gammond
Brief: Nurses; give the TA your skills and knowledge and we''ll develop
them further
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Writer: Joel Bradley
Art director: Phil Clarke
Typographer: Alex Normanton
Photographer: Dario Mitidieri
Exposure: Nursing & medical press
EMAP
Project: Kiss 100
Client: Russell Jones, head of youth brands
Brief: Continue the success of Live Sexy Part 1
Agency: Mother
Writer: Mother
Art director: Mother
Director: Fredrik Bond
Production company: Harry Nash
Exposure: C4, C5, selected cable & satellite TV
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS
Project: Changing minds
Clients: Vanessa Cameron, secretary; Deborah Hart, head of external
affairs
Brief: Change perceptions of mental illness
Agency: WCRS
Writer: Leon Jaume
Art director: John Selby
Director: John Selby
Production company: Godman
Exposure: Warner cinemas
BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE/ANDERSEN CONSULTING
Project: A unique partnership in film
Agencies: The Leith Agency/CuttingEdge
Clients: Michael Gannaway, head of UK marketing, Andersen Consulting
Brief: Promote the classic films being re-released
Writer: Dougal Wilson
Art director: Gareth Howells
Director: Tony Smith
Production company: Mallinson TV Production
Exposure: National cinema
BSKYB
Project: TiVo
Client: Brian Sullivan, director, new product development and sales
Brief: Launch the TiVo recorder in the UK
Agency: St Luke''s
Writer: Alistair Campbell
Art director: Suzanne Hails
Directors: Lemoine & Miller
Production company: @Radical Media
Exposure: TV
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