Ad of the Week

This week my ad is the new one from Clipper, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, it's for teabags, but you wouldn't know it. What I particularly like is that during ad breaks, they show little snippets which just say the caption 'she's having an affair' so you become intrigued and want to watch. Very clever!

Ad of the Week

This week my ad is a new viral from Snickers created by Clemenger BBDO, and it is genius! A great snippet of social commentary, it really sends a message about stereotypes, and to see the women's initial reactions of fear/disgust at the builders, to their shock/surprise at what they're saying actually says a lot about the state of things, but it's done in a funny way so it doesn't feel too heavy!

Ad of the Week

If you've been anywhere near the internet this week, especially social media, you'll have probably seen the First Kiss advert. It was for clothing brand Wren, and it's blown the internet up. However, that isn't my Ad of the Week. I've gone for the parody, which really isn't an ad for anything, but it's funny. It's by Mother London and it's called First Sniff. There's not much more to say than that!

Ad of the Week

This week I'm going for something a bit different that my usual TV adverts. I saw this over on http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com and thought it was great. The advert is a digital billboard for a Swedish pharmaceutical brand which was created by Swedish advertising agency Åkestam Holst. The advert was placed on subway platforms and features a moving image of a woman, who's hair blows with the approach or departure of a train, it's very clever and interesting, certainly something I could see happening on the London Underground in the next year.

Ad of the Week

This week I was going to try and stray from the usual TV ads I've been picking, but then I saw an advert that I just had to pick. It's the new advert for mobile network 3, created by Wieden & Kennedy (a dab hand at making excellent cat-based adverts (see Cravendale's Cats With Thumbs campaign)).

In Britain, our mobile networks have all taken a similar approach to their advertising over the past year. A mobile network was become such a standard thing people have, and they all offer largely the same things, so they've all gone for humour to sell themselves. Vodafone have Yoda, EE have Kevin Bacon, and 3 have a small ginger-haired girl dramatically miming along to We Built This City by Starship with a small cat (who also sings along, why not). It's a fantastic advert because it's memorable. Of course, ideally 3 would like more customers from it, but because you find yourself singing the song or just having a little smile to yourself when you remember the cat, it works. 

So you go, #SingItKitty!

Ad of the Week

This week, I'm going for another trailer. This time for Locke. I picked it because for once it's a trailer that really gives nothing away. I know the basic plot of the film, which stars Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke. I know that it's a thriller, and set in real-time film, following Locke on a 90-minute drive, and the only other stars in the film (including Ruth Wilson and Olivia Coleman) are just voices you hear on the phone. The trailer tells you nothing more than that, in fact, without that knowledge the trailer tells you very little at all, and yet it intrigues, I know I definitely want to know what's going on!

As a film, it looks really interesting, it's really not often you see a film with only one actor, even if there are others, they're only on the phone. I can't wait to see it!

Ad of The Week

This week my Ad of the Week comes courtesy of Channel 4. As you'll probably be aware, it's the Winter Olympics right now and there's quite a bit of controversy about it being held in Sochi, Russia due to Russia's stance on LGBT rights. In light of this, a lot of people and organisations have come out in support of the LGBT community which is great to see, and Channel 4 have done it in a big way.

They have created an advert/music video called Gay Mountain. I think the only thing I can say is you should just watch it. It does pretty much speak for itself, it's hardly trying to be subtle about things! But it makes an impact.

And what a fitting day to have this as my Ad of the Week, being that it's the day of love and all.

Ad of the Week

So the Super Bowl has been and gone, and to pay a little tribute to those huge adverts, this weeks Ad of the Week is the non-Super Bowl advert from Newcastle Brown Ale, created by Droga5. It's a pretty genius way of advertising really. An advert all dressed up as not an advert at all, starring a popular actress (Anna Kendrick) and sent viral.

By using an American actress and making it central to the Super Bowl, or should that be S****r B**l , it reaches a new demographic for brand. In England, a lot of people have heard of Brown Ale, but I don't know how popular it is in America, so it's a great way to get the brand out there.
The advert's tagline - "No Bollocks" sums up the advert, the brand, and the place it was born. I live in Newcastle, I can vouch for this.

I just think it's an incredibly clever way of creating a whole campaign without even having to put it on TV.

Ad of the Week

So, it's nearly the Super Bowl, and of course, nearly time for the halftime adverts. So this week I've chosen, you guessed it, a Super Bowl advert! This offering is from Jaguar, created by Spark 44, and personally I think it's great. Car adverts so often bore me half to death, they're all the same! And while this one doesn't stray away from the analogy angle so many car adverts take, it does it really well.

We're in the age of the anti-hero, these days the baddies in films are often more popular than the goodies, and with the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hiddleston (who features in the ad) getting a lot of love in the States, it's no coincidence that this advert has come about now. It's certainly very clever, very well done, and if I'm honest I would 100% go and see a film with Tom Hiddleston, Ben Kingsley and Mark Strong all playing those classic British villains. The only thing, however, is that the car it's actually advertising gets a little lost. Apparently it's the F-type coupe, which I had to look up myself! Still, I suppose if you know it's for Jaguar, that's probably enough!

Ad of the Week

This week I thought I would choose a little bit of a serious Ad of the Week. I've chosen the #TimeToTalk campaign by Time To Change, an organisation run by charities Mind and Rethink. Mental health is an issue that does affect people I know so it's really nice to see a proper ad for it being shown on TV (I can't find the TV ad online anywhere though).

The idea behind the campaign is super simple, all it says is that if you know someone who has mental health issues, you should talk to them. Easy as that. Ask them how they are, the same as you would with someone who has a physical illness. It's simple, effective, plays on an emotional selling point, which I always think works great, and it raises awareness for something so often stigmatised that really shouldn't be. 

I'm happy to see adverts like this, it doesn't guilt you, it simply informs you on ways you can help someone who is suffering from mental illness, which is a good message to give.

http://www.time-to-change.org.uk

Ad of the Week

This week's ad is a little different. It's the trailer for Game of Thrones season 4.

I chose it because it's great to see something get so much hype and buzz about it, it got shared around loads the day it came out and that's just the trailer! Trailers get overlooked in terms of advertising but they are pretty crucial really. I am looking forward to this new season of Game of Thrones a lot, they get better as they go on I think, and this trailer is perfect at giving just the right amount away for people like me who have not read the books!

Ad of the Week

My very first Ad of the Week is: Innocent Drinks - Chain of Good 

I've always been a fan of Innocent's advertising, especially the ones created by RKCR/Y&R. Their latest, created by London agency 101, is no different. Never ones to take themselves too seriously, the advert moves away from Innocent's previous ones that focus on the taste of their drinks and this time focuses on the brand's efforts to do good in third world countries.

It's a nice little message, thinking that every time you buy an Innocent drink you're doing some good for the world (I, for one, am a very big supporter of The Big Knit). I suppose that's why I like Innocent, tasty drinks and you get to feel like you're doing your bit.