The sky is blue, Tony Blair is prime minister, Campaign comes out
on a Thursday and John Webster is a genius.
The first three statements are obvious, but the fourth is a revelation
to me. I mean, of course, I knew that John Webster was a genius (Smash,
Cresta, The Guardian and a thousand others). No, the news to me is that
John Webster is a genius. Right now, today, falling out of the Campaign
jiffy bag and declaring himself through the peerless, seamless
perfection of his new ad for Compaq’s Alta Vista search engine. It’s
like finding out that George Best never touched a drop and is still
playing, more brilliantly than ever, for Manchester United at the age of
65.
I promise I will write about the other ads on this spread somewhere near
the bottom of the page but I’ve really got to talk about every frame of
this 50-second masterpiece. The basic idea is that a determined
blackbird tracks down a worm, but the basic idea is not what’s clever
about this ad. Lycos is also on TV promoting its search engine with a
determined black labrador. Its proposition is identical too: ’we’ll
track it down for you, fast.’ But the executions are worlds apart
because one is written by a genius and the other isn’t. Lycos’s dog acts
like a dog. Compaq’s bird acts like a search engine.
It pops its head up from a bunch of pecking crows and begins to walk at
an unstoppable, constant pace, looking in or under everything it
passes.
The bird’s emotionless, systematic determination perfectly mirrors the
way a search engine works. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that the
click track for the music was based on the little ticky-wurr noise that
a Mac makes while it is looking for something on the net. The animation
is the communication. Actually, there isn’t much point in going into any
more detail. You have to watch it. And then you have to watch it again
and again, because it teaches you your craft.
Now on to all the other clever people who just aren’t John Webster.
D’Arcy seems to me like a resurgent agency. Do I detect the nicotine
stained hand of Nick Hastings steering the big ship away from the
rocks?
These Tetley ads are 20 seconds long and really rather good. Tetley man
lost in desert, ’water, water’, gets water, carries on searching,
’Tetley, Tetley’. Funny, simple and well branded.
Kinko’s digital copying is not a well-known brand and these ads are
probably not the best way to change its status. I thought the pubic hair
on the egg was a good way to show that ’presentation is everything’. But
I’m not sure the art director read the headline.
Sky Digital is a well-known brand that thinks it can afford to insult
its potential users by telling us we are dummies. Do you think that’s a
good idea?
Virgin tends to arrive late in the market hoping to mop up the
dissatisfied.
These commercials for its new mobile phone company are beautifully art
directed, charmingly executed and make good use of the Virgin V to brand
its product claim ’v. different’. I just don’t think they will be quite
different enough to turn Virgin into a major player in this cut-throat
market.
Finally, Heart 106.2 has a sweet ad on air. It’s well shot, cast and
acted, but it also has two faults which undo some of the good work.
Firstly, it is yet another smart girl, stupid bloke ad and secondly, it
features the music of Simply Red and Robbie Williams. You can hear them
on every station, so why should I choose Heart?
Best copywriter of the week, Robbie Williams for: ’In the morning when I
wake up, I look like Kiss but without the make-up.’ Best art director of
this and every other week, Mr John Webster.
Compaq
Project: Compaq Alta Vista
Client: Debbie Yardley, advertising manager
Brief: Tell IT buyers that Compaq is an important part of the
infrastructure of the internet
Agency: BMP DDB
Writer and art director: John Webster
Director: Mario Cavalli
Production company: aka Pizazz
Exposure: National TV
Kinko’s
Project: Kinko’s
Client: Michael Taylor, sales and marketing director
Brief: Create awareness of Kinko’s as the pre-eminent source of visual
communications solutions
Agency: TBWA GGT Simons Palmer
Writer: Ben Priest
Art director: Brian Campbell
Exposure: London press
Chrysalis Group
Project: Heart 106.2
Client: Miriam Neville, marketing and promotions director
Brief: Create reappraisal of the Heart brand by demonstrating an
understanding of our listeners’ lives
Agency: Elliott Borra Perlmutter
Writer: Julian Borra
Art director: Adrian Borra
Director: David Hartley
Production company: Brave Films
Exposure: TV in London region
BSkyB
Project: Sky Digital
Client: Scott Menneer, director of marketing
Brief:Increase Sky Digital’s subscriber base with free dish and box
offer
Agency: St Luke’s
Writer: Seyoan Vela
Art director: Colin Lamberton
Director: John Birkin
Production company: Concrete
Exposure: National TV
Virgin
Project: Virgin Mobile
Client: James Kydd, brand director
Brief: Communicate the difference of the new Virgin mobile
Agency: Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R
Writers: Phil Cockrell, Richard Hartley
Art directors: Graham Storey, Giles Hepworth
Director: Kevin Thomas
Production company: Godman
Exposure: National multimedia campaign
Tetley Group
Project: Tetley tea bags
Client: Nigel Holland, marketing director
Brief: Tetley make the best tea
Agency: D’Arcy
Writer: Jonny Pittard
Art director: Steve Wakelam
Director: Richard Ollive
Production company: Richard Ollive Animation
Exposure: Regional TV
Peter Souter is executive creative director of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.
