THE BOOK OF LISTS: The 10 Best celebrities in ads

1. Paul Daniels & Debbie McGee/Heineken



Who'd have thought that an excruciating rendition of Close To You by

Paul Daniels, Debbie McGee and Peter Stringfellow would give Budweiser's

"whassup?" such a good run for its money. Fortunately, Lowe Lintas fed

them all to the lions before viewers began gnawing lumps out of chair

legs.



2. Sian Lloyd/Wales Tourist Board



With the Wales holiday industry going up with the smoke of the

foot-and-mouth funeral pyres, Welsh tourism executives decided it was

time to go for broke.Sian Lloyd, the TV weathergirl, was drafted in to

be the face for Golley Slater's £1 million campaign of five

commercials all filmed, edited and screened in a single day to show

stayaway holidaymakers what they were missing.



3. Johnny Vegas/ITV Digital



A couch potato and his knitted monkey companion flogging ITV Digital

set-top boxes? Oh please. Somehow, though, the pairing of Al - aka the

comedian Johnny Vegas - and the woolly primate seems to work. A typical

bullseye shot out of left field by Mother.



4. Ray Winstone/Holsten Pils



Gallant attempt by TBWA/London to rescue the brand from the anonymous

mass of much beer promotion by hiring the movie hard man with attitude

Ray Winstone and portraying Holsten as down-to-earth and mature. Will

his heavyweight presence regain the advertising edge Holsten once had

but seemed to lose?



5. Sir Elton John/Royal Mail



Elton camped it up for all he was worth - no mean feat for somebody

reputed to spend £10,000 a month on flowers - in Bates UK's opus

for the Royal Mail. Elton accepted a minimal fee for the film which

featured his latest single. The Royal Mail literally got him for a

song.



6. Charles Kennedy/Liberal Democrats



Charles Kennedy had a good election. Not only did the Lib Dems end up

with more MPs than at any time since 1923, but Kennedy himself emerged

as a credible opposition leader and a decent bloke, his character well

encapsulated in Banc's election campaign poster.



7. Sir Steve Redgrave/Walkers Crisps



This campaign featuring "nasty" Gary Lineker should have run out of puff

by now. Curiously it never seems to do so and the AMV BBDO film which

has the five-time Olympic gold winner Redgrave chasing the crisp thief

Lineker on a rowing machine matches the best in the marathon series.



8. Thunderbirds/Road Tax Evasion



Briefs from hell don't come much worse than having to persuade drivers

to pay their road tax. So credit to D'Arcy for abandoning the usual big

stick tactic in favour of Lady Penelope and Parker who find their famous

pink Rolls Royce clamped, underscoring the theme of "no exceptions, no

excuses and no escape".



9. Kylie Minogue/Eurostar



A charming and natural performance by Kylie Minogue, everybody's

favourite Aussie, in her first UK commercial - a TBWA/London film for

Eurostar. She runs across bridges, tries on dresses and slides down

handrails. A nice invitation to stop and smell the coffee.



10. Marian Faithfull/Virgin Atlantic



Virgin Atlantic's fortunes since the events of 11 September shouldn't

detract from what has always been a stylish and classy campaign through

Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R. Well expressed in Faithfull's

performance which oozes decadence and over-indulgence.



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