Adwatch: Phones4u - 'Pub quiz'

Ray Barrett, Creative director, Barrett Cernis

October 27, 2004

How long?

1 minute

Adwatch: Phones4u - 'Pub quiz'

Once upon a time when you set up an ad agency you just stuck your names above the door and threw it open for business. But one day all that changed and people opted for something completely different - and so Circus, Mother, Milk and Naked popped up. It had become a case of opening a dictionary and sticking a pin in it. So it's seems rather, oh I don't know, quaint, to find a sector such as mobile phone retailing where they still tell it to you straight. At the end of the 80s we got Carphone Warehouse (OK, maybe that's a little misleading, as it no longer actually sells car phones and it's not really a warehouse either), but you can't argue with the ballsy Phones4u brand, which is about as in-your-face-honest as it gets. I can imagine that having seen the equally no-nonsense branding campaign for 118 118, the people at Phones4u knew that WCRS was exactly the kind of agency it needed if it was to make its wittily written name known to the great British public.

And what did they get for their money? Twin Peaks meets Phoenix Nights.

A not completely dislikeable American, Jack, smarms about, grinning and winking in front of the country's finest inbreds while hosting a pub quiz where first prize is an impressive array of hunks of meats of unknown origin. All of which is just an excuse for the American to flash a series of hand gestures that my son is already trying to memorise to wow his playground mates with.

And that really is its strength. Because at the heart of all this lovingly crafted surreal nonsense is a very simple and original branding device that stands out in any ad break.

Possibly the only thing wrong with it is that having watched it a couple of times now, I still have no idea what Phones4u actually offers, and a quick poll around the agency suggests that I'm not alone. Which makes me wonder whether or not Phones4u will fall victim to being remembered for its advertising and not for what it actually does. That would be a pity for such a tell-it-to-them-straight kind of company.

Oh, and about that logo - somebody have a word.

Topics

Marketing