VW - Polo (polystyrene-print)

Yet another variation on the "small but tough theme", but just as good as ever.
Features a street with objects all wrapped in polystyrene... subtle but gets the message across well.

Peugeot 1007 - Tv

What an unusual ad.

Obstacles fall by his wayside as life goes into a cartoon... only much better than that sounds.
Great idea, the car in the tree is genius, and the soundtrack (Gomez- Here it Comes) fits perfectly.

Yet again, another good car ad. Seems like creative pride is at stake!

View here!

McDonalds - Fries (TV)

This interesting ad is supposed to show all the different ways in which people take fries off their mates and partners. A great idea, and some of the examples used are exactly true; especially the girlfriend who says she doesnt want any then proceeds to eat all of yours...

Sadly its a good idea done badly. It seems to flick between the ideas too quickly, ending up as a fairly clumsy mishmash. Perhaps if it wasnt doing the McDonalds thing of trying to be "cool" then it could end up a good ad.

A good idea wasted.

DFS £250 - Radio

The new DFS advert uses an interesting idea; having an advert, then cutting into the 'next advert' and berating the offer in it.

"Thats rubbish, its not £250 off is it?!" kinda thing.

The idea is pretty good, and could make an interest spot.

The thing that gets me is that the ONLY reason they can give you so much money off is because they make like 800% profit on ALL their sofas. To mimick other companies and slag off their offers is fine and good, but it just seems arrogant with that in mind... and I cant think of any time when coming across as arrogant is good in an advert.

Head and Shoulders - ice

Oh dear god no. Not another terrible, badly written, poorly produced, cheesy, downright rubbish ad from head and shoulders.

Take the same principle as the year old Colgate ice white advert (an icy looking place), a flat, weak, and just plain crap version of the same song (Cold as Ice), and mix with non-descript dull message.

Surely someone, somewhere along the line could have said "hang about people, this is awful."

It somehow manages to be almost as bad as the "my girlfriend doesnt touch my head and shoulder" ad; which was a new low in "men vs women" style advertising.

Rubbish.

Classic CDP work

I suggest anyone with a good interest in print advertising checks out the CDP picture gallery at the Historical Advertising Trust site:

http://www.hatads.org.uk/library8.htm

Though looking a little dated now, there are a small number (of their many) excellent pieces of work.

Telewest Broadband - 3for30 - Radio

Oddly, ive noticed a massive increase in the number of good Radio ads recently. My absolute favourite being these wonderful ads from Telewest.

Funny, well written and captivating; they do everything a good radio ad should do.

Example:

"How much would you pay for broadband, a telephone line and cable television?"
'Id expect to pay about £50'
"What about £30?"
'No, id expect to pay about £50'
"Would you like to pay £30?"
'Thats a different question'
"Does it have a different answer?"
'Yes'
"Which is..?"
'Yes...'



Another that should be mentioned is the anti-smoking adverts using the after effects of coal mining dust on peoples fathers as a comparison; it works but its quite rare to see an advert so deliberately aimed at the memories of such a local area.

BT - Swing and Twix - Bike (tv)

Its the sound effects I tell you! Nothing beats the sound of someone getting smacked comically.

BT:

After some disappointingly dull BT ads its good to see something both relevant and funny. Although the question of whether they actually do offer more is debatable, the advert is great.
A guy decides to pick the camera with no zoom despite it being the same money as one with zoom. He then takes a picture of his child on a swing but get so close he gets hit twice in great comic fashion.

Twix:

A nice bow out for Grey with their last Twix ad. A classic scene from a french style romance movie. Two lovers riding on a tandem bike. As they come to a branch the guy ducks and it smacks the woman off.. he then eats the twix. Very well done, it sets the scene of a romantic film and then mocks it fantastically.

This is good stuff after the disappointment of the new Walls sausages ad, the dog is funny but the latest advert is just weak.

Carling - New tv ad

So Coors have decided to try and sell Carling as a refreshing tasty beer in the regions of Stella or Budweiser... the ad is the usual flowing beer shots and closeups of malty coloured stuff.

But this all begs the question, who the hell buys Carling because of how it tastes?!

Even the most ardent Carling drinker must concede that it tastes like out of date sewage water with a bit of fizz. People buy Carling because it is cheap, but most importantly because it is EVERYWHERE. Like McDonalds, you dont think its that good, but you know what you are getting.

I can understand the desire to make more profit on it by going upmarket, but please... Coors have so many beers to choose from to do that, and this isnt one of them.

Tresemme Hair - Tv

I dont understand what it is with haircare ads and rubbish voiceovers. Its not like its been dubbed from another language, they just have a guy who cant read without sounding like a slightly stiff robot.

I had a discussion the other day with an account planner about how cigarrette and alcohol advertising becomes better because clients are forced to go wth better ideas over safe dull ones... and he said about how haircare products have no restrictions, and are all rubbish.

This is case and point, with unconvincing dialogue spoken so poorly as to be cringeworthy. The whole ad sounds contrived and disjointed, yet the underlying principle (the "dont tell anyone about this, its our secret!" message) has the potential for some outstanding creative work.

That said, my parents just bought some Tresemme products... and im pretty sure they had never heard of them before...

So bad it works. The founding principle of Haircare ads.