I was watching Barry Norman the other day and was struck once again
by his utterly uncompromising mean-spiritedness. It also struck me how
redolent his manner is of so many in our business as they discuss (their
competitors’) advertising.
Being pilloried in public pierces even the thickest of skins (try being
slagged off for something you didn’t even do, as was the case for us in
a recent Independent ’Good Ad, Bad Ad’ slot, for sheer white-knuckle
unhinging).
All of which waffle reminds me of an acquaintance who’s spent most of
his life shotgunning birds and is finding the cumulative carnage of the
years an increasingly heavy load to carry.
Despite being one of the most benign regular contributors to this column
- picture, if you will, a kindly village curate with a Morris Traveller
and a Bedlington terrier called Muffin - I am finding it an increasingly
wearing responsibility.
So when I say that I find the Benylin work uninspiring and unlikely to
stand out against editorial about whooping cough in Silesia or 12 new
ways to fumigate gardening gloves, please know that I’m not being
personal.
Or when I say that I’ve looked at the Virgin Vie ad ten times and still
don’t understand what it’s for, be apprised that this may well say more
about my intellectual deficiencies than about the advertising skills of
the makers. In this sumptuously-made ad, an athletic young lady avoids
the assaults of those shopgirls who always want to spray you with scent
and powder you with puffs whether you like it or not. She avoids them in
a Jane Bond-like fashion, emerging triumphant into a place with nice
people milling about. This place is called Virgin Vie, whatever that
is.
Fortunately, the remaining work allows me to give unfettered vent to my
true kindly self.
The Shell Select commercials make a creditable attempt to position these
increasingly capacious service station shops against supermarkets.
This is done through the engaging device of two (nicely acted) coppers
on stake-out next to a Shell Select garage. The set-up ad is a bit
plonky, with the two cops missing their stake-out subject flying the
coop because they’re too busy squabbling over recently acquired wares
from Shell Select. A Pulp Fiction dialogue spoof is better. In total,
the campaign will give Shell service stations a personality. Some
achievement.
More posters from the Economist. An astonishing campaign, this,
retaining the power to amuse year after year with an unprecedentedly low
number of duffers, such as ’avoid tunnel vision’, and high number of
crackers, including ’answer machine, pounds 2.10’, ’Economist readers
welcome - Sperm bank’ and ’nothing to declare’.
There’s also a dramatic Economist European campaign in which armed
guards carry a box full of something apparently nasty to a furnace. This
’something’ has been banned in various countries, a voiceover tells us,
adding rather too early for true intrigue that it is some kind of
uncompromising publication.
Here, the Economist is putting itself on a par with the BBC World
Service, namely as a purveyor of hard information in a world of
censorship and disinformation.
Finally, gems from the Teacher Training Agency. One after another, a
bunch of people each say a different name to camera. The potential
irritation factor of not knowing the names spoken is offset by the
increasingly famous personalities mouthing them, including the Prime
Minister.
The punchline is that you never forget a good teacher, which says it all
really. The biggest compliment I can pay this is that it has shades of
by far the best commercial of the year - the BBC’s ’Perfect Day’ -
without perhaps quite the equivalent goosepimple factor.
The second ad talks about a single inspirational teacher whose most
famous charge turns out to be Sir David Attenborough, a man whose
infectious enjoyment of scholarship is as good an advert for good
teaching as you can get.
The Economist Project: The Economist UK campaign
Client: Andrew McGregor, director of marketing
Brief: If you don’t read the Economist, you will get caught out
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Writers: Mike Nicholson (’answer machine’), Tony Strong (’nothing to
declare’), Mike Harris (’sperm bank’)
Art directors: Mike Durban (’answer machine’), Daryl Corps (’nothing to
declare’), Gideon Todes (’sperm bank’)
Exposure: National press and posters
Shell UK
Project: Shell Select
Client: Lurene Joseph, UK brand and communications manager
Brief: Demonstrate the Select brand’s relevance to customers’ changing
lifestyles Agency: J. Walter Thompson
Writer: Andrew Singleton
Art director: Jono Wardle
Director: Simon Cheek
Production company: Spirit Films
Exposure: National TV
Warner Lambert
Project: Benylin Children’s Cough range
Client: David O’Sullivan, managing director
Brief: Relaunch Benylin’s Children’s Cough and build on its reputation
for efficacy, power and trust
Agency: Bates Dorland
Writer: Dan Bryant
Art director: Lynda Kennedy
Illustrator: Lynda Kennedy
Typographer: Nigel Dawson
Exposure: National press
The Economist
Project: European campaign
Client: John Coghill, brand marketing manager
Brief: The Economist covers more than business and news and comment
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Writer: Alfredo Marcantonio
Art director: Peter Gausis
Director: Johan Brisinger
Production company:
Brian Byfield Films
Exposure: Global TV
Teacher Training Agency
Project: Teacher recruitment
Client: not supplied
Brief: Elevate the status of teaching as a profession
Agency: Delaney Fletcher Bozell
Writer: Richard Warren
Art director: Tim Peckitt
Director: Mike Stephenson
Production company: The Paul Weiland Film Company Exposure: National
cinema
Virgin Vie
Project: Virgin Vie cosmetics
Client: Axia Gaitskell, communications director
Brief: Convey the different environment of Virgin Vie
Agency: Quiet Storm
Creative team: Trevor Robinson, Dylan Ingham
Director: Trevor Robinson
Production co: Quiet Storm Exposure: National cinema
