If you only have ten seconds of airtime, don’t be too
ambitious.
Just say what you have to, use as few words as possible, film it simply,
keep the editing to a minimum and get out quick before you bugger it
up.
Like the Harrods ads. They just tell you what you can buy at Harrods,
cut. Eighteen times. And for my money this is much better than taking 30
seconds with the proposition of ’there are lots of new things to buy at
Harrods’. With 18 ads they become their own evidence. Now, you’ll find
this bit really, really useful, so take note. You can buy cashmere
hot-water bottles on the ground floor. Told you. Christmas wrapped up
already.
Not much else you can say about them. A job well done x 18.
On to another ten-second campaign. This time for HP Beans. They go like
this. Girlfriend: ’You don’t talk to me any more.’ Boyfriend (eating
beans and watching telly): ’Great beans.’ As little beer gags to go
alongside a funny 30- or 40-second spot they’d be OK. Problem is, this
isn’t beer and there is no funny 30- or 40-second spot to go alongside
them. If I am going to believe HP Beans are a great brand I need to see
some brand values. You know the sort of thing, charm, wit and general
cleverness. In short, all the things these spots are missing.
And all the things you’re not going to get in ten seconds anyway. Facing
Heinz, the client at least should have realised 30 seconds was needed to
engage in any sort of battle.
I’m afraid the Paxo commercial doesn’t taste any better. Worse, this is
30 seconds, so there really is no excuse. A mum on the telephone is
trying to get her offspring to come round for Sunday lunch. She succeeds
through sheer manipulation, feigning distress, upset and God knows
what.
I can only assume the agency used the same tactics to sell the
script.
After all, Paxo can’t be adding that much to Sunday lunch if you have to
go to these lengths to get anyone round to eat it. A shame, Paxo used to
buy very good work, the last of which I remember was ’rekindle your love
for chicken’. Though it was about ten years ago.
Going back a bit further, in the style of the 50s public information
posters we have these public information posters. You could call that
synergy. You could also call it a bit of a mess. It’s a pity the retro
art direction didn’t stretch as far as the copy at the bottom, which
looks very Macintosh to me. And I don’t mean Charles Rennie. They are on
behalf of the NHS and, to be fair, they stand out and the message,
’antibiotics don’t work on colds and flu’, is clear enough. Having said
that, I wonder if there isn’t a stronger campaign in not wasting your
doctor’s precious time.
A woman is lost without her handbag.com. So is the client, judging by
this. Heading for some kind of record, the logo makes an appearance no
less than five times. The girl in the ad is unquestionably lost. But is
it because she’s stuck on a hill, map-less, with not even the sun to
guide her?
Or, because she has absolutely crap dress sense? Either way, let’s hope
that handbag.com handbag.com handbag.com handbag.com hand-bag.com can
point her in the general direction of a decent shop.
If you’re anything like me, you don’t laugh at ads. Occasionally you see
something that makes you smile. Not a big smile. A small inward smile is
what we’re talking about. After all, this is advertising, not
comedy.
Comedy is the business of laughter. We’re in the business of inward
smiles.
And this business of inward smiles is bloody hard. It’s so difficult to
achieve that it happens, maybe, annually. So when you see something so
good, so worthy of that little inward smile, there goes with it warm
congratulations to all concerned.
Now where was I heading? Oh yes, the McDonald’s ad. I laughed out
loud.
NHS/COI
Project: Antibiotics
Client: Penny Dolby, chief publicity officer
Brief: Change patients’ perceptions of antibiotics
as a generic cure-all for simple coughs, colds and most sore throats
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Writer: Roland Hefenrichter
Art director: Nils Andersson
Typographer: Steve O’Leary Illustrator: Barry Cradock
Exposure: National and women’s press, 6-sheets
McDonald’s
Project: My Kind of Town
Client: John Hawkes, chief marketing officer
Brief: n/s
Agency: Leo Burnett Writer: Jonathan Budds
Art director: Anita Davis
Director: Chris Palmer Production company: Gorgeous Enterprises
Exposure: National TV
Harrods
Project: Harrods
Client: Andrew Wiles, press and advertising director
Brief: Convince Londoners of the breadth of merchandise on offer at
Harrods
Agency: Leagas Delaney Writer: Tim Delaney
Art director: Tim Delaney
Director: Charlie Stebbings Production company: Park Village
Exposure: Carlton, Channel 4 London, Sky
handbag.com
Project: handbag.com
Client: Alicen Stenner, head of marketing
Brief: Launch handbag.com, the most relevant and useful site for British
women online
Agency: J. Walter Thompson Writer: Steve Clarke
Art director: Joanna Mawtus
Photographer: Perry Ogden Exposure: National press
and 6-sheets
Centura Foods
Project: Paxo
Client: Jonathon Gatward, group product manager
Brief: Increase frequency of usage through associating Paxo with special
family meals
Agency: Advertising Brasserie Writers: Dave Sheldon, Liz Waldron
Art directors: Dave Sheldon, Liz Waldron
Director: Dave Sheldon Production company: Advertising Brasserie
Exposure: National TV
HL Foods
Project: HP Beans
Client: Yvonne Adam, marketing manager
Brief: Position HP Beans as beans with attitude for people with attitude
Agency: Willox Ambler Rodford Law Writer: Alan Rodford
Art director: Tommy Adkins
Director: Lucy Blakstad Production company: Brave Films
Exposure: Ad breaks in the
Big Breakfast and TFI Friday
