Blimey! January looked liked the mother of all retail battles. That's one scrap you don't want to be in the middle of. Nevertheless, we so need them all to succeed. But I wonder if awareness was simply down to a recession-busting media plan that would make Bomber Harris blanch. That, or perhaps consumers were prompted using an electric cow-prod.
I'm not suggesting these super-brands lacked genuine cut-through, just subtlety. Mind you, that might be a luxury that went out of fashion with the Lehman Brothers. What's clearly in fashion is the joyous PG Tips campaign, two wonderful spots that remind us that creative excellence and hard sell are not mutually exclusive.
A 90-second version beautifully parodies the famous Morecambe and Wise breakfast sketch. At its heart, this is a highly functioning semiotic piece that celebrates the great British ritual of making tea. To you and me, it's two blokes enjoying their favourite cuppa. And what a brilliantly choreographed piece it is too - it even features Monkey milking a cow. (Now that's just wrong, yet so right.) It's the taste that makes them do it.
The second spot is essentially a product demo. Monkey coherently explains how PG Tips' pyramid bags give the tea more room to move, which frees up more of the taste.
I could wax lyrical about the unfussy direction, taut editing and inspired 'Stripper' soundtrack on the 90-second version, but it all comes down to tight, well-written scripts that nail a very simple strategy. And let's not forget about another crucial ingredient here: casting.
Why is it that we Brits love nothing more than a hand up the arse of a glove puppet? But Monkey does rock. And his foil is no ordinary straight guy, either: he is the lovably stupid Johnny Vegas.
I do get bored of the argument that the use of celebrities reflects a lack of an idea. Great casting allows consumers to quickly grasp the dynamic of the piece. And, used judiciously, known actors shortcut the time it takes to frame the character they're playing. It just so happens that great actors tend to be, well, famous.
What both of these wonderful pieces of film have in common is that extra creative spark. That speaks as much about a great client as a brilliant agency at the top of its game.
So, hats off to PG Tips. To cut through in this highly competitive market is no mean feat. And isn't it wonderful that the brand can go from chimps, to monkey and chump without losing traction? Fabulous.