The clocks have gone back. The nights are drawing in. Winter is in
the air. And I was personally savaged in this very column not two weeks
ago. What a rotten time to be asked to do Private View! But wait a
second.
What is this? A whole series of ads designed to warm the cockles of your
heart. Ads that make you laugh or sympathise. Ads that entertain and
invite.
Heavens above, even ads with ideas in them. Is this some cruel joke? Has
Campaign mistakenly sent me a parcel destined for D&AD by mistake?
Apparently, a frantic phone-call assures me, not.
Perhaps there is a God after all. Hang on a second while I throw my
malicious nib out of the window and empty my vitriol inkpot. Allow me to
gulp down a glass of the milk of human kindness before getting to
work.
Ooooh! That feels better. Well, if not better, at least different.
Let’s start with Super Noodles. How fantastic, in the era of Millward
Brown, clients who demand ten-second product sequences and research that
supposedly tells us how consumers receive advertising, to find a really
great idea with balls. And not just balls - the four spots I saw include
two men stripped to the waist, one naked man, an elderly gentleman
faking a heart attack and a horrid dad blaming his infant son for a
domestic disaster. And only ONE of the four shows anyone eating the
product. Simple equation: brave client + bright agency = great
advertising.
Sara Lee’s new campaign is sparely shot and deliciously simple. The
endline - Nobody needs Sara Lee - is another brave statement. The
commercials contrast the things you need (sprouts, water, bread) with
seductive and lingering close-ups of delicious, lavish, seductive Sara
Lee products. As I have eaten about three desserts in my life, I wasn’t
moved. However, my PA - the lovely Sam - almost salivated while watching
these then rushed to Tesco Metro to stock up on Sara Lee goodies she
didn’t need.
M&C Saatchi’s Sky Digital campaign comes in two halves. The telly spots
are nice enough, using a fireman doing a rescue and a counsellor
analysing a relationship. In both cases, the thing being rescued is a
frustrated TV. Certainly nothing wrong with that as an idea. However,
the scale, the imagery and the claims of the epic cinema commercial for
the same client are all so much stronger that I guess it must be our old
friends the regulatory bodies at work yet again.
The Scott’s Porage Oats film features a facsimile of the tosser from the
pack - the caber tosser, that is - walking down a snowy street. As he
turns to smile at two passing girls, his kilt is blown up to reveal
whatever it is he has underneath. A box of Scott’s Porage Oats?
Calvins?
Or maybe a huge erection. That’s it. Well, sorry - and this is the
closest I’ll get to being critical - but the proposition that Porage
Oats are the working man’s Viagra did very little for me.
The Sisters of Murphy’s are what nice Irish girls turn into when they
hear the call of some mysterious woman. Their mission is to provide
assistance to Murphy’s drinkers everywhere, which they accomplish by
turning into a cross between a trio of Emma Peels and Bananarama. It’s a
nice campaign.
A very similar idea seemed nicer to me when Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe
did it for Tia Maria, but what the heck.
I have saved the very best for last. The Halfords ad is really
old-fashioned: I can think of no higher compliment for it. It is for
Halfords. It is simple.
It is beautifully shot. It is funny. It is memorable. It makes writing
great ads look as easy as learning to ride a bike. It will flog hundreds
of bikes. It will win tons of stuff.
Phew! Isn’t being nice a strain? I may have to go and lie down.
Mike Court is the creative director of McCann-Erickson
Have your say on channel six of CampaignLive at www.campaignlive.
com
Quaker
Project: Scott’s Porage Oats
Client: Mark Potgeiter,
marketing director
Brief: Re-capture the quality and brand values of Scott’s Porage Oats
over own-label brands
Agency: Young & Rubicam Writer: Paul Catmur
Art director: Anita Davis
Directors: Billy & Alan
Production company: Outsider
Exposure: Regional TV - Scottish, Meridian and Anglian
Sara Lee Bakeries
Project: Sara Lee Desserts
Client: Rooney Anand,
general manager
Brief: Recapture the high ground in the dessert market
Agency: Banks Hoggins O’Shea Writer: Dave Alexander
Art director: Rob Fletcher
Director: Dave Stewart Production company: Shed Films
Exposure: National TV
Halfords
Project: Halfords
Client: David Pattern, head
of marketing
Brief: Put bikes on children’s Christmas lists
Agency: Abbott Mead
Vickers BBDO
Writer: Antonia Clayton
Art director: Tom Ewart
Director: Dominic Murphy
Production company: Blink Films
Exposure: National TV
Batchelors
Project: Super Noodles
Client: not supplied
Brief: Sell lots of Super Noodles
to grown-ups
Agency: Mother
Director: Danny Kleinman Production company: Spectre
Exposure: National TV
Whitbread Beer Company
Project: Murphy’s Irish Stout
Client: Jo Franks, marketing manager
Brief: Make Murphy’s dynamic, assertive and sexy
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty Writer: Hugh Todd
Art director: Adam Scholes
Director: Chris Palmer
Production company: Gorgeous
Exposure: National TV
BSkyB
Project: Sky Digital
Clients: Sue Hartley, brand director; Scott Meneer,
brand director
Brief: Launch Sky Digital and then communicate its key benefits
Agency: M&C Saatchi
Writer: Kevin Thomas
Art director: Malcolm Poynton
Director: Kevin Thomas Production company: Blink Films
Exposure: National TV
