It's Beer Time

If you've missed out on the classics of beer advertising, or fancy a quick refresh (see what I did there?!) I suggest taking a visit to Jeremy Parnaby's blog and watch his Top 10 Beer Ads of all time.

Jeremy Parnaby's Top 10 Beer Commercials

Just don't get too thirsty!

Triple Life

Once in a while an ad comes along that defines a market to a big group of it's customers. An ad that connects and identifies those people so perfectly that it stops being advertising and becomes part of their truth.

Sony's classic Double Life ad for Playstation did just that; seeing the real truth of gamers way before Nintendo opened up the market.

So we come to the new ad for the PS Vita. I'll start off by saying I don't dislike it, I think it's a nice ad that will connect with the core gamers Sony is targeting.

One issue though, it feels a bit like the brief said: "Give us Double Life again". So similar was the ad that after 10 seconds on tv I knew it was an ad for the PS Vita.

It would be almost impossible to hit that sweet spot of message, audience and timing again, and anything new is only ever going to feel weaker by comparison. Although I suppose you could argue that even if the ad isn't as strong, tapping into that golden memory of the Playstation generation will do more than any one ad new ever could.

There's sense in it though, hardcore gamers no longer feeling like they are understood, with smartphone gaming taking away the mass-appeal of consoles that arrived with Wii and DS. For the first time in about 6 years, the core gamers need reassurance and need rousing together; and Sony needs them even more to get Vita off the ground. Even if it's not as good as the original, the strategy seems to make sense.

I'm pretty sure if they just repeated Double Life with a PS Vita at the end, it would do the same job though.

Movie Time

If you're not watching Moneyball this weekend then may i suggest a visit to my colleague Patrick's site: What Movie Should I Watch?

It's got a good set of categories and he offers advice on picking films in the twitter feed.

Have a good weekend all!

Moneyball

I finally got round to seeing Moneyball yesterday, and I think it's a brilliant film to watch if you are into planning, to see how a couple of people changed the way people think about a century old sport by using statistics and data to create a record breaking team from the most undervalued players in the game.

Best thing of all, it's a true story.

Even if you don't like baseball (I don't really either) it's so worth watching.

Talking of Superbowl

This little seen ad is one of the best things Will Ferrell has done in years.


You don't learn much about the brand, but it gives a brilliantly silly tone of voice that feels like it is striving for actual wit against the flurry of cheap gags and overblown spectacle elsewhere in the game.
via The Ad Contrarian

I get a roundup...

So the Superbowl brought with it a ton of ads purpose built to grab attention during the mother of all attention grabbing events. All the while the UK carried on as if nothing was happening...

What about the ads?

Well if you only watch one Superbowl ad this year, watch the Chrysler Halftime in America ad from W+K. It's powerful but paced, it continues last year's ad in making Detroit and Chrysler feel truly American and brave and bold like no other car company. An ad full of pathos and meaning in a show of spectacle and hype. Truly brilliant.

Imported from Detroit is still one of the best endlines of the 21st Century too.


Volkswagon continued their Star Wars themed Superbowl ads, but not in the way most people expected. The main ad is nice, if not as good as last year. The additional bit however feels a little forced. As if they were so focused on wedging in Star Wars they sort of forgot to make it work well. By no means a bad ad, but a bit disappointing after last year.

Now if you want to see an example of how you can throw money at celebrities, write a reaonsbly funny idea and still end up with something that drags a bit. Watch this Pepsi ad. Saved by Elton John mugging and Flavor Flav being himself.

Back in the UK the Meerkat rolls on... another ad that keeps this campaign moving in a way that feels interesting and warm. Sure everyone knows the idea inside out, but they are bringing life to the characters and that makes it still work for me.
Sergei continues to be the lovable part of this campaign, maybe even the real star.

New Model No.15

A number of ad bloggers have talked for a long time about whether there needs to be a new type of agency, and if so what that might be... I've often thought about this, and how you could take advertising forward in some way.

Whilst at my local Waitrose I remembered the story that everyone who works there or at their parent company John Lewis is technically a partial owner of the company, and how that helps inspire great work from people.

I wonder if that model would work for ad agencies...

Every member of staff has a small stake in the agency, this reaps better rewards when things are going well.

In theory you give every team member more motivation to try hard and come up with great ideas. Everyone cares about both the creativity and the effectiveness. People no longer see it as just a place of work, you start to create a feeling of belonging and togetherness that very few agencies have.

It might even help with clients, knowing that every person working on your campaign has a share of the agency means they are likely to try harder and do better work. Or at least that would be a likely perception.

It would be a good way to get neutralise the small minority that works mainly in their own self interest, or those who force their ideas through above anything else.

I wonder...

Time for some big ups...

Lightning...

My brother was part of the team that created this excellent campaign for Virgin Media. Having seen the Speedy Gonzales work and now this, I'm not sure why they moved the account away at all.

They have taken a category full of price ads, annoying comparisons and customer confusion and just said "FAST". You can't fail to take speed away from this ad. That it does this whilst being funny and likeable is a great combination. When you think of the brand you think of fast, and Speedy and Usain who are fast.

Lovely.




This is war...

Mr Dobbie (aka Dobbothy, aka Dobbie the House Elf), one of our former creatives was part of the team that made this nifty competition campaign for Kit Kat. The TV ad sets the scene, but the online videos are where it comes to life.

Web episode number one introduces the characters and the premise with a silly but very funny use of the mad boss idea. These ideas tend to live or die by the writing and the acting, so far so very good; with some quotably funny lines, it's a great way to start. Props! (As they say...)

Judge thy creative, not thy profitability

I do wonder sometimes about the cost of entering ad awards, and whether the current processes are actually fair; or if they (either deliberately or unconsciously) restrict award entries to the big agencies.

I was speaking to a freelance planner about this the other day, how freelancers, small agencies and clientside planners are left out of the IPA awards. Sure a cost of £1-2k is fine when you are part of a global network, but how many small agencies can afford those kinds of entry fees? If your agency employs 5-10 people then that is a huge chunk of money to throw into an award entry.

Given the IPA's role is to promote the industry, agencies and their work, the IPA should be encouraging smaller agencies to join and take part, if their awards (and they aren't the only ones) process is excluding a large part of the industry, surely that needs looking at?

Any awards process that is truly about rewarding creativity should be making allowances and understandings for those that don't have the budgets of the massive agencies; otherwise we don't do ourselves justice. It might also help correct those people who still have this perception that agencies outside London are insignificant and talentless. Just because they aren't in your awards books, doesn't mean they are rubbish - but maybe we should look at how they can have a fair chance to get in there.

It will also help to widen the pool of talent that is known to everyone. This cost-drag stops people in smaller agencies getting their names known and being rewarded, even if they do amazing work. It's not unheard of for agencies to only want to employ people who have won awards - so everyone should have a chance to do so on merit not whether their agency has budget this year.

So what do we do? Should we have an effective tax balance where by the bigger agencies pay more and smaller agencies pay less? I don't see why not. But at the very very least there needs to be some kind of support criteria that allows those that struggle to afford award entries to be able to. We are a creative industry, anything that makes money and finance a factor in judging that creativity seems wrong to me.

Time...

When I think about the concept of this new ad by Thompson, it feels a little like an attempt to "Make me a John Lewis ad"; however in this case I think it's a good job they did.

Sure it has a descriptive voiceover and is far less subtle, but it works with the idea and manages to actually get across the joy and togetherness of a good holiday in a way that feel fresh and full of character that the sector usually lacks.

Then there is that soundtrack. Where is my mind by the Pixies is one of those songs that can absolutely transform something good into something amazing. See the end of Fight Club where it manages to help sum up a crazy scene in one the craziest films ever made. But a cover? Well yes. The delicate piano manages to take the heart and soul of the melody, and make the melancholy sound delicate and moving. Against a market full of travel cliche's and standard tourism shots this stands out a mile. The whole point of most holidays is calm, relaxation and getting away from the clutter and bustle of everyday life; this ad gets that across in a way that feels like it actually means something. A brand making travel feel meaningful and important in a market full of price competition.

So is this as good as John Lewis? No. But it's the only ad by a travel agent I can ever remember seeing and immediately thinking 'Where would I go..?', and that after all is the whole point.