I forget who it was that said ‘a small truth is more powerful than a big
lie’. Maybe it was my accountant. Anyway, it’s a maxim I’ve always felt
applied particularly well to ads. It is obvious, really. If an ad is
convincing and also contains a truth - either about the brand or about
you, the consumer - you buy. If not, it’s a weasel.
Most mobile phone ads fall into the small, vicious furry-creature
category. Mostly because, for all their ‘low price promises’, they’ll
sink their teeth into you in the small print. Orange, however, has
always given me the impression, via a lot of clever advertising, that it
has designed a service for my needs, not just for Orange’s. Its latest
commercials show me a lovely, bright orange asterisk while below it
various small print disclaimers appear. However, these ones say things
like ‘offer only applies to all customers’ and ‘not subject to
availability’. This demonstrates admirably that telling the truth is
more persuasive than trying to conceal it.
Lemsip also tries very hard to slip under my guard, using an old trick:
a big observation about the world, which is then attached to a truth
about the brand. So we are promised a history of the 20th century in 30
seconds, because, ‘the pursuit of speed is the story of the 20th
century’. Before I have time to argue that there are some other stories
worth including (such as war, famine, Spurs’ failure to make a
significant signing this season), I am told that ‘not even the ’flu will
slow us down’, and Lemsip’s new speedier formula is given equal billing
with the development of Concorde. And why not, I say? It’s handier sized
and a lot more useful when your nose starts running. And, unlike
Concorde, Lemsip is available at your chemist.
British Gas follows a well-worn path by hiring a TV personality to try
to liven up a potentially uninspiring message. In this case, Mrs Merton
is made to impart information about getting your central heating
serviced for nothing. Towards the end Malcolm, her ‘son’, utters the
line: ‘Oh mum, you’re not still going on about British Gas, are you?’ To
which I couldn’t help replying: ‘As long as they keep paying her loads
of money, chuck, yes, she is.’
In contrast, Paxo’s chosen advertising spokesperson is much more
convincing. Charlie Chicken spends eight hours a day with his hand up a
chicken (of the glove puppet variety) so he wants to do something
different when he gets home. He is, therefore, the perfect person to
tell us about cooking Paxo separately, that is, not up a chicken’s rear
end. This thereby solves the Paxo marketing problem: how to get more
share of oven without losing share of sphincter.
Glenfiddich’s ad is an ambitious epic about a son and his father re-
bonding in a Las Vegas hotel over a wee dram or 20. It looks beautiful
but the subtlety of the story is difficult to grasp after one, or even
two, viewings. This is a pity because there is real emotional power in
their reconciliation. It also links well to a truth about the brand -
the fact that it allows the drinker time to reflect as well as time to
enjoy another’s company.
I guessed that the Co-operative Bank ad was made for a cinema rather
than a TV audience, when the voiceover referred to ‘those sitting in
rows A to G’ which could only refer to Michael Jackson’s living room.
The ad’s message is actually very serious and an unusual one for a bank.
The film shows a land mine with a trip-wire while the voiceover tells us
of the effects of the explosion on the cinema audience if the mine is
triggered. It also tells us that these mines cost just pounds 30 each
and that many British banks lend millions of pounds to regimes that use
the money to buy such weapons. But one bank doesn’t: the Co-operative
Bank. It is, of course, just one view of the world. No doubt those
regimes, and other banks, would have a different view. But I believe the
ad. I think the Co-operative bank is telling the truth.
William Grant and Sons
Project: Glenfiddich
Client: Tony Hunt, international marketing director
Brief: Show that Glenfiddich transcends generations
Agency: McCann-Erickson
Writer: John Lewis
Art director: Roger Ackerman
Directors: The Douglas Brothers
Production company: D Films
Exposure: Granada and Central TV regions
Business Performance League
Bisto Foods
Project: Paxo
Client: Not supplied
Brief: Reposition Paxo from being used as stuffing to being used as a
separate food
Agency: The HHCL Brasserie
Creators/directors: Elizabeth Whiston, David Shelton
Production company: The HHCL Brasserie
Exposure: National TV
25 November 1996
Orange
Project: Orange Christmas campaign
Client: Sean Gardner, head of marketing services
Brief: With Orange everything is inclusive
Agency: WCRS
Writer: Sean Toal
Art director: Andy Dibb
Director: Dylan Kendle
Production company: Pink Films
Exposure: National TV
The Co-operative Bank
Project: The Co-operative Bank
Client: Jim Sinclair, group marketing manager
Brief: The Co-operative Bank is the only bank that cares about the same
things you do
Agency: BDDH
Writer: Owen Lee
Art director: Gary Robinson
Directors: Gary Robinson, Owen Lee
Production company: Hungry Eye
Exposure: National cinema
Reckitt and Colman
Project: Lemsip PowerPlus
Client: Justin Lord, marketing director
Brief: Single-mindedly exploit the hot-drink format of Lemsip PowerPlus
by focusing on the speed of action it delivers
Agency: BST-BDDP
Writer: Tom Hudson
Art director: Paul Leeves
Directors: Graham Wood, Jason Kedgley
Production company: Helen Langridge Associates
Exposure: National TV
British Gas Home Energy
Project: Celsia Three Star Service Cover
Client: Susan Brooks, advertising manager
Brief: Inform customers of the added value services offered above and
beyond basic supply of fuel
Agency: BMP DDB
Writer: Paul Burke
Art director: Stuart Buckley
Director: John Lloyd
Production company: Limelight
Exposure: National TV
