1. CADBURY’S SMASH MARTIANS BMP.
Year: 1974
Title: Martians Client: Cadbury’s
Agency: BMP
Art director: John Webster
Writer: Chris Wilkins
Director: Bob Brooks
Production company: Brooks Fulford Coutts Seresin
Who doesn’t remember the ditty ’For mash get Smash’ and the endearing
family of Martians who marvelled at the curious potato-eating habits of
primitive earthlings? The ad broke every rule in the book by showing
robots eating the product, but its depiction of a rather cuddly future
proved a huge hit with consumers. The Martians were an immediate success
and as more of the family - including the cat and the dog - were brought
into the plots, fan mail poured into the agency to such an extent that
it had to prepare special literature to send out in reply. Mrs Smash was
distinguished from Mr Smash by a pinny, hat and handbag - all in
metallic silver, of course. The space-age theme was just right for the
mid-70s and Smash became market leader despite heavyweight competition
from Mars with its Yeoman and Wondermash brands. While Yeoman was
boasting about its blend of potato varieties, the Martians were
persuading housewives to serve Smash more often by implying that this
was the way the world was going - eating instant food was natural,
modern behaviour that Martians would take for granted.
Rather than showing the product as artificial, it was compared with food
of the future, such as tablets, while the ’old-fashioned’ act of peeling
potatoes provoked much hilarity. Such was their enduring popularity that
the metallic-voiced Martians made not one but two comebacks, in 1992 and
in 1999, and the brand still enjoys more than 50 per cent market share
today. A worthy overall winner.
2. GALLAHER IGUANA COLLETT DICKENSON PEARCE.
Year: 1978
Title: Iguana
Client: Gallaher
Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce
Art director: Alan Waldie
Writer: Mike Cozens
Director: Hugh Hudson
Production company: The Alan Parker Film Company
Created by the legendary Alan Waldie during the golden years of Collett
Dickenson Pearce, this classic piece of surrealism inspired many a
creative director who, on first seeing the ad at the cinema, vowed to
get into advertising. The commercial was shot by Hugh Hudson and is
imbued with an ominous atmosphere and mounting tension which are only
released at the dramatic climax. Audiences had never seen anything like
it. Why is the helicopter there? The iguana? We never found out, which
of course was the point. The ad was part of a long-running campaign
produced by CDP for Benson & Hedges which demonstrated how advertising
restrictions could in fact fuel creative potency rather than restrict
it. Indeed the lack of a traditional idea in this commercial openly
mocked the ban on saying anything about cigarettes in advertising. An ad
that changed advertising.
3. CONSERVATIVE PARTY LABOUR ISN’T WORKING SAATCHI & SAATCHI.
Year: 1978
Title: Labour isn’t working
Client: Conservative Party
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Art director: Martyn Walsh
Writer: Andrew Rutherford
With this poster, Saatchi & Saatchi introduced aggressive advertising
techniques into party political campaigning and changed the rules of
elections forever. The ad is often cited as having been instrumental in
the fall of James Callaghan’s Labour administration and the coming to
power of Margaret Thatcher. It certainly worked against Labour as it
forced the incumbent Prime Minister to go on the defensive - in fact, if
Labour had not responded, the poster’s influence would have been greatly
diminished.
The stark depiction of a dole queue snaking out from an unemployment
office - which was not, contrary to rumours at the time, a line of
Saatchis’ staff queuing up in the office canteen - and the copyline,
with its clever double entendre, was aimed directly at traditional
Labour supporters who feared for their jobs. The poster perfectly
encapsulated the dissatisfaction with the Labour Government in the
run-up to the winter of discontent and it stuck to the chief rule of a
great poster: keep it simple.
4. TANGO ORANGE MAN HHCL.
Year: 1992
Title: Orange man
Client: Britvic
Agency: Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury
Art director: Trevor Robinson
Writer: Alan Young
Director: Matt Forrest
Production company: Limelight
Howell Henry’s apparently artless piece of slapstick has become a modern
classic. The commercial is perfectly cast, superbly timed and very, very
funny. In the style of a football replay, the ad shows someone being
’hit’ by the taste of Tango when a bald orange man runs up to him in the
high street and smacks him around the face. The deadpan voice of Ray
’Butch’ Wilkins is heard to say: ’The big orange fella runs on from the
left and gives him a good old slappin’.’ The pay-off line, ’You know
when you’ve been tangoed’, is enunciated in the gravelly tones of the
American singer-songwriter, Gil Scott Heron. ’Orange man’ was banned by
the Independent Television Commission following complaints by parents,
teachers and doctors who were concerned that children might perforate
each other’s eardrums while imitating the ad’s slapping action. Howell
Henry produced a new spot which showed the orange man kissing his victim
instead of hitting him. This ad set the tone for the 90s genre of
cheaper-looking, jerky hand-held camera commercials. Hugely
influential.
5. FIAT STRADA HANDBUILT BY ROBOTS COLLETT DICKENSON PEARCE.
Year: 1979
Title: Handbuilt by robots
Client: Fiat
Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce
Art director: David Horry
Writer: Paul Weiland
Director: Hugh Hudson
Production company: Hudson Films Many people believe this is the best
commercial ever made. The three-minute extravaganza that launched the
Fiat Strada marked the first time an advertiser had occupied an entire
commercial break, and the ad still has impact 20 years after it was
first shown. CDP took a rather dull idea - a car being assembled by
robots - and endowed it with all the production values of a Hollywood
film. This was achieved through Hugh Hudson’s sweeping photography and a
rousing score: Rossini’s Figaro arranged by Vangelis.
The spot shows car body-shells being welded and riveted without a human
being in sight, and culminates in a spectacular stunt as the new models
drive at high speed into a delivery truck. The film ranks among the most
costly ads of all time - to make way for the film crew, the entire Fiat
factory in Turin had to be closed down. Shame about the car.
6. LEVI’S LAUNDERETTE, BATH, TOWING BARTLE BOGLE HEGARTY.
Year: 1985
Title: Launderette (also shown, Bath and Towing)
Client: Levi Strauss
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Art director: John Hegarty
Writer: Barbara Nokes
Director: Roger Lyons
Production company: Mike Dufficy & Partners
Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s ’launderette’ spot for Levi’s was a benchmark
commercial of the 80s and propelled jeans advertising to a previously
unheard-of level of popularity. Beautifully shot, the ad had humour, sex
appeal - in the form of the teenage idol, Nick Kamen - and a wonderful
soundtrack. The agency cleverly exploited young people’s aspirations for
the heritage of the 50s by associating Levi’s 501 jeans with a classic
period of youth culture. Marvin Gaye’s I Heard it Through the Grapevine
entered the charts and became inextricably linked to the brand. In fact,
Motown re-released the record with the 501 logo on the sleeve - an
example of integrated marketing almost before the term was invented. The
ad generated acres of press coverage and was instrumental in reviving a
sagging jeans market. A year after the 501s relaunch, sales were up 800
per cent. After this Levi’s ads - including gems such as ’bath’ and
’towing’ - became events eagerly anticipated by the public and press
alike.
7. HEC PREGNANT MAN SAATCHI & SAATCHI.
Year: 1969
Title: Pregnant man
Client: HEC/Family Planning Association
Agency: Cramer Saatchi
Art director: Bill Atherton
Writer: Jeremy Sinclair
Photographer: Alan Brooking
This poster is now regarded as a classic, although when it was first
shown there were many who thought it overstepped the boundaries of good
taste. As is often the case with great ads, it nearly didn’t happen at
all. The creative team at Cramer Saatchi was concerned about the
potential reaction to the image from the general public and hesitated
before presenting the idea to the creative chief, Charles Saatchi. He
loved it, however, and gave the team his approval to run the poster.
While the image may have been regarded as shocking, the ad nevertheless
found its way into the nation’s consciousness.
8. HEINEKEN POLICEMEN’S FEET, WATER IN MAJORCA, BLUES SINGER COLLETT
DICKENSON PEARCE
Year: 1974
Title: Policemen’s feet (also shown, Water in Majorca and Blues singer)
Client: Whitbread
Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce (then Lowe Howard-Spink)
Art director: Vernon Howe
Writer: Terry Lovelock
Director: Vernon Howe
Production company: The Alan Parker Film Company
Testifying to its status as one of the all-time greats, Heineken’s
’refreshes the parts’ campaign spans three decades, has survived a
change of agency and is still going strong. The famous copyline, and its
’only Heineken can do this’ sign-off, was devised in 1974 by Collett
Dickenson Pearce and was first used in what must rank as one of the
funniest commercials ever - ’policemen’s feet’. The spot shows the
effects of drinking Heineken on the bared feet of six policemen. The
voice of Victor Borge explains how administering a dose of cold Heineken
refreshes the tired feet, ’causing lively movement of the toes and
activating the arches’. ’Heineken is the only beer able to do this,’ he
concludes, ’because it refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach.’
The formula was applied to a host of successful commercials, including
an 80s version of My Fair Lady in which a Sloane Ranger learns
street-credible elocution and Lowe Howard-Spink’s ’blues singer’, one of
the most awarded ads of the early 90s.
9. PARLIAMENTARY RECRUITING COMMITTEE LORD KITCHENER WANTS YOU CAXTON
ADVERTISING
Year: 1914
Title: Lord Kitchener wants you
Client: Parliamentary Recruiting Committee
Agency: Caxton Advertising
Artist: Alfred Leete
Writer: Eric Field
This depiction of Lord Kitchener commanding young men to sign up has
become one of the century’s great iconic images. The now famous line,
’Your country needs you’, was used as part of the same campaign to
encourage young men to enlist. The poster formed part of a concerted and
effective propaganda effort by the British Government during the First
World War that was subsequently criticised when the slaughter in the
trenches became the subject of recrimination. Even Adolf Hitler paid
tribute to Britain’s ’brilliant’ and ’ruthless’ war propaganda in Mein
Kampf. The evocative image in this poster spawned a thousand imitators.
Indeed, the concept was adapted in the US by James Montgomery Flagg
using the line: ’I want you for the US army.’
10. HAMLET PHOTO BOOTH, BUNKER, TENNIS COLLETT DICKENSON PEARCE.
Year: 1986
Title: Photo booth (also shown, Bunker and Tennis)
Client: Gallaher
Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce
Director: Graham Rose
Writers: Philip Differ, Rowan Dean
Art director: Garry Horner
Production company: Rose Hackney Productions
After 36 years and more than 100 commercials, legislation that was to
have sounded the death-knell for this memorable campaign has just been
averted - or, more accurately, delayed - thanks to the High Court ruling
last month that the timing of the planned tobacco advertising ban in the
UK - due to begin on 10 December 1999, well before an European Union
deadline of July 2001 - was illegal. Hamlet ads won us over with their
consistently droll humour and became part of our collective
television-watching memory.
The copyline, famously, came to its creators on the top deck of a
bus.
The copywriter, Tim Warriner, and the art director, Roy Carruthers, left
work late on a rainy night after failing to crack a brief they had been
given weeks before. Once on board the bus, they lit up. ’Happiness is a
dry cigarette on a number 34 bus,’ Warriner sighed, and one of the most
famous campaigns in British advertising history was born. The line was
used to define the ’Hamlet moment’ - when despite the absurdity of
life’s misfortunes, someone could take solace in the pleasure of
lighting up a Hamlet. Jacques Loussier’s languorous arrangement of
Bach’s Air on a G-string set the moment off perfectly. Everyone has
their favourite Hamlet ad. Among the classics are ’Photo booth’, in
which the Scottish comedian, Gregor Fisher, struggles to get his
straggly haired head in the frame in a passport photo booth; ’tennis’,
where a man in a neck-brace tries to follow the ball at a tennis match;
and ’bunker’, the first commercial that Paul Weiland shot, in which a
hapless golfer digs himself deeper into his bunker. Arguably, the most
loved of all campaigns.
11. PG TIPS MR SHIFTER, BIKE RACE DAVIDSON PEARCE BERRY &
SPOTTISWOODE.
Year: 1970
Title: Mr Shifter (also shown, Bike race)
Client: Brooke Bond Oxo
Agency: Davidson Pearce Berry & Spottiswoode
Art director: David English
Writer: Tony Toller
Director: Berny Stringle
Production company: NS&H
PG Tips is one of the most popular and long-running campaigns of the
century, and its stars - the PG Tips chimps - are viewed with great
warmth and affection by the British public. The ads are beautifully
observed sketches on the British character - the inspiration for which
came to a copywriter chancing upon a chimpanzees’ tea-party at London
Zoo. ’Mr Shifter’, one of the most frequently televised commercials,
shows a bowler-hatted removal man/chimp and his son in a ginger wig
struggling to move a piano down a staircase. They are interrupted by the
tea-lady chimp serving light refreshments. Over the years, the chimps
have acquired the vocal talents of many top entertainers, including
Peter Sellers and Kenneth Williams. The campaign was launched in 1956
when PG Tips was ranked fourth by market share. Within two years, it had
toppled Typhoo from the number one slot.
12. CARLING BLACK LABEL DAMBUSTERS, SQUIRRELS, OLD SPICE SPOOF WCRS.
Year: 1989
Title: Dambusters (also shown, Squirrels, Old Spice spoof)
Client: Carling Black Label
Agency: WCRS
Art director: Jonathan Greenhalgh
Writer: Kes Grey
Director: Roger Woodburn
Production company: Park Village
One of the finest examples of cinema advertising, ’Dambusters’ is also
one of the funniest commercials of the past 30 years. The spot, which
won the director, Roger Woodburn, an elusive D&AD Black Pencil, is an
affectionate spoof of the 1954 film classic, The Dam Busters, and
includes the war epic’s rousing soundtrack.
Barnes Wallis’s bouncing bombs dropped by an RAF Lancaster bomber are
scuppered by some nifty goal-keeping from a Carling-drinking German
sentry. The co-pilot’s garbled utterances enhance the joke. Because the
spot was only for cinema and because, at that time, video to film
transfer quality was appalling, the director had to resurrect some old
film-based effects such as front projection and optical printers. A gem
from a highly successful campaign.
13. GUINNESS GIRDER SH BENSON.
Year: 1934
Title: Girder
Client: Arthur Guinness Sons & Company
Agency: SH Benson
Art director: John Gilroy
Artist: John Gilroy
This poster formed part of what is possibly the most famous British
advertising campaign of all time. Certainly the posters put out by
Guinness between 1929 and 1969 rank among the nation’s favourites. Their
success can largely be attributed to the talents of the artist, John
Gilroy, who was an art director at the SH Benson advertising agency. His
bold illustrative style and cheeky sense of humour carried the campaign
for 40 years. The image of the worker carrying the girder is the most
famous of the numerous clever executions in a campaign that suggested
drinking Guinness was beneficial to your health. The powerful graphical
composition in ’girder’ made full use of the billboard medium and would
no doubt have had a strong impact on the monochrome streets of Britain
in the 30s.
14. COURAGE BEST GERTCHA BMP.
Year: 1979
Title: Gertcha
Client: Courage
Agency: BMP
Art director: John Webster
Writer: Dave Trott
Director: Hugh Hudson
Production company: Hudson Films
The quirky boldness of ’Gertcha’ earns it a well-deserved place in
±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s Hall of Fame. The famed cinematographer, Robert Krasker (El
Cid, The Third Man), was persuaded out of retirement to create the
special visual one-take style for this witty John Webster execution.
Having discovered Chas and Dave singing in a pub on the Isle of Dogs,
Webster decided their Gertcha song was rather mournful so he got them to
speed it up for a commercial that prompted a revival of black and white
photography in UK advertising. In 1992, Courage decided to put ’Gertcha’
back on air; it says something about the strength of the ad that the
only change was the end-frame.
15. HOVIS BICYCLE, LEAVING HOME COLLETT DICKENSON PEARCE.
Year: 1975
Title: Bicycle (also shown, Leaving home)
Client: Hovis
Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce
Art director: Ronnie Turner
Writer: David Brown
Director: Ridley Scott
Production company: RSA Films
Ridley Scott shot the Hovis boy pushing his bicycle up a hill in Dorset
to the strains of Dvorak’s New World Symphony and changed the way
commercials were perceived. Until then, TV ads had tended to be made by
directors who didn’t particularly care about advertising.
High-key lighting and product shots were the order of the day. Scott’s
flawless production values, meticulous attention to detail, superb
lighting, framing and editing skills demonstrated that shooting
commercials could be a craft. The Hovis spot was nostalgic without being
schmaltzy and used the backlit, soft-focus photography that was to
become one of the director’s trademarks when his career took off in
Hollywood.
16. JOHN SMITH’S BITTER DOG TRICKS BMP.
Year: 1981
Title: Dog tricks
Client: Courage
Agency: BMP
Art director: John Webster
Writer: John Webster
Director: Ian McMillan
Production company: Park Village
The partnership between Courage and BMP produced some of the most famous
work in beer advertising, including this classic Arkwright campaign for
John Smith’s. Masterminded by John Webster, the ads struck a chord with
the public and ran for more than nine years. The star of the show was a
lovable stereotype: a dour, beer-loving Yorkshireman with a regular
supporting cast including his long-suffering wife and faithful dog,
Tonto.
In this spot, Tonto, who shared his master’s love of beer, moved centre
stage and joined the barflies, performing tricks to earn a share of
Arkwright’s pint. The director, Ian McMillan, shot the spot using a
simple split-screen technique, with the actors imagining the dog’s
actions in between them.
McMillan saw nearly 200 dogs in the casting sessions and picked the only
one that made him laugh just to look at it.
17. BRITISH AIRWAYS MANHATTAN SAATCHI & SAATCHI.
Year: 1983
Title: Manhattan
Client: British Airways
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Art director: Phil Mason
Writer: Rita Dempsey
Director: Richard Loncraine
Production company: James Garrett & Partners
This landmark commercial, in which the island of Manhattan is shown
coming in to land at Heathrow, marked a turning point for British
Airways.
It reflected its increasing corporate confidence and conviction in the
claims it was making in its advertising. The 90-second spot focused on
something the client could deliver, albeit portrayed in a fantastic
way.
Set to an eerie soundtrack, the commercial shows Manhattan hovering over
the London suburbs as its inhabitants gaze up in astonishment. We hear
the exchanges between an air traffic controller and the pilot: ’Roger,
Manhattan, continue your descent to flight-level eight zero.’ As the
’island’ comes in to land, the voiceover reveals the concept: ’Every
year we bring more people across the Atlantic than the entire population
of Manhattan.’ Made with the help of the people who created Star Wars,
the ad presaged the increasing influence of special effects and computer
wizardry in advertising.
18. THE GUARDIAN POINTS OF VIEW BMP.
Year: 1986
Title: Points of view
Client: The Guardian
Agency: BMP
Art director: John Webster
Writer: Frank Budgen
Director: Paul Weiland
Production company: The Paul Weiland Film Company
As far as Paul Weiland is concerned, ’points of view’ is the best ad he
has ever made. Designed to enhance The Guardian’s reputation as an
open-minded newspaper, this intelligent 30-second commercial is a
powerful demonstration of the dangers of bias. It opens on a young
skinhead chasing an elderly businessman.
The skinhead is intent, the audience would immediately assume, on
assaulting him. As the camera pulls back, the viewers realise that the
skinhead is trying to protect the businessman from a pallet of falling
bricks. The copy reads: ’Only when you get the whole picture can you
really understand what’s going on.’ The spot was realised in complete
silence and won many awards, proving you don’t always need language for
an ad to work. The commercial also made legal history when it was used
by the defence in a court case.
19. BENSON & HEDGES PYRAMIDS, BIRDCAGE, MOUSE HOLE COLLETT DICKENSON
PEARCE
Year: 1977
Title: Pyramids (also shown, Birdcage and Mouse hole)
Client: Gallaher
Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce
Art director: Neil Godfrey
Copywriter: Tony Brignull
Photographer: Jimmy Wormser
In pioneering the use of surreal imagery, this famous Benson & Hedges
campaign marked a turning point in tobacco ads and inspired a new style
of British advertising - one in which art direction took precedence. The
ads were Collett Dickenson Pearce’s way of avoiding the regulations
restricting cigarette advertising. The agency’s task was made easier by
an open brief from the client. Forbidden to say anything about the
product, CDP chose to do away with copy altogether and turned to some of
the leading photographers of the day to create a series of intriguing
images. In discarding product shots and copy, the campaign was
acknowledging consumers’ increased level of advertising literacy in the
late 70s. The creative team took inspiration from surrealist artists
such as Rene Magritte, and the campaign worked equally well on posters
and in the glossy pages of the newly emerging colour supplements.
20. RSPCA PILE OF DOGS ABBOTT MEAD VICKERS BBDO.
Year: 1989
Title: Pile of dogs
Client: RSPCA
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Art director: Ron Brown
Copywriter: David Abbott
One of the most controversial campaigns the charity has ever mounted
involved this 1989 long-copy ad by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. It shows a
harrowing photograph of a heap of dead dogs - some of the 1,000 animals
needlessly put down every day in Britain, the society said. The shock
level was maintained in two subsequent campaigns - one showing a black
plastic sack with the caption, ’This doggie bag contains a dead doggie’,
and the other featuring piles of dog excrement from strays. The ads
invited the public to phone a freephone number for a response pack and
to put pressure on their MPs to make the then home secretary, Nicholas
Ridley, change his mind about introducing a national dog registration
scheme.
21. PHILIPS FIRIPS LEAGAS DELANEY.
Script
The shop bell goes, an East-End jack-the-lad type walks in and is faced
by a rather patronising shop assistant.
Morning squire.
Morning sir.
I’d like a videocaster please.
A video recorder. Any one in particular?
Well I’d like it to have some specifications.
Yes.
And functions. I must have some functions.
I see, did you have any model in mind?
Well, a friend mentioned the Hari-kiri, kibuki, kissuni, er
ka-watchamacallit, you know the Japanese one, the 2000, cos I’m very
technically minded, you see.
I can see that, sir.
So I want one with all the bits on it, all the Japanese bits, you know
the 2000.
What system?
Er, well, er, electrical I think because I’d like to be able to plug it
into the television you see. I’ve got a Japanese television.
Have you?
Yeah I thought you’d be impressed, yeah, the 2000, the Hokie Kokie
2000.
Well sir, there is this model.
Yeah, that looks smart, yeah.
8 hours per cassette, all the functions that the others have.
Good, yeah, good.
And I know this’ll be of interest: a lot of scientific research has gone
into making it easy to operate.
Good, mmm, good yeah.
Even by a complete idiot like you.
Yeah ... pardon?
It’s a Philips.
Doesn’t sound very Japanese.
Nah, a Firips. I mean a Firips, it’s a Firips.
Yeah, er, well it is a 2000 is it?
Oh in fact it’s the 2022, mmm.
Mmm, no, nah, nope, it hasn’t got enough nobs on it, no. What’s that one
over there?
That’s a washing machine.
Yeah, what sort, a Japanese?
V/O: The VR2022. A video you can understand.
Year: 1983
Title: Firips
Client: Philips
Agency: Leagas Delaney
Writers: Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Tim Delaney
Production company: TalkBack
One of the most highly lauded radio commercials and arguably the best ad
produced for Philips, ’Firips’ was part of an enduring campaign created
by the comic duo, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. Written in half an
hour and recorded at midnight, in-between mixing a Not the Nine O’Clock
News record, it helped Philips rid itself of its solid, dependable
image, caused brand awareness to jump 24 per cent and inspired many
imitations.
22. MAXELL ISRAELITES HOWELL HENRY CHALDECOTT LURY.
Year: 1989
Title: Israelites
Client: Hitachi/Maxell
Agency: Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury
Art director: Tim Ashton
Writer: Naresh Ramchandani
Directors: Molotov Brothers (Steve Lowe, Martin Brierley)
Production company: Hutchins Film Company
This popular ad won numerous awards. The idea came from the tendency of
pop lyrics to be unintelligible and comically misunderstood. Desmond
Dekker’s Israelites pounds out on the soundtrack while a reggae fan
holds up boards on which misheard lyrics are written. For ’the
Israelites’, read ’me ears are alight’; for ’so that every mouth can be
fed’, substitute ’every monk and beef-head’. The endline reads: ’At
least I think that’s what he said - but I need to hear it on a Maxell.’
The film made a refreshing change from tape ads obsessed with technical
features.
23. PLAYTEX HELLO BOYS TBWA HOLMES KNIGHT RITCHIE.
Year: 1994
Title: Hello boys
Client: Playtex
Agency: TBWA Holmes Knight Ritchie
Art director: Nigel Rose
Writer: Nigel Rose
Photographer: Ellen Von Unwerth
’Hello boys’ - described by ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 as an ’attention-grabbing,
sales-lifting, brand-building blockbuster’ - was the poster that
prompted thousands of column inches. Although more than 20 posters ran
in the Wonderbra campaign, this is the one that captured the imagination
of both the public and the media. Everyone from the Financial Times to
The Sun discussed the merits - or otherwise - of the ’Hello boys’ ad and
the ’bra wars’ that it helped to fuel. Eva Herzigova’s cleavage,
photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth, put bosoms back on the fashion agenda
and pushed up Playtex’s sales by 41 per cent year on year.
24. VW CHANGES BMP.
Year: 1987
Title: Changes
Client: Volkswagen Golf
Agency: BMP
Art director: Graham Featherstone
Writer: Barry Greensted
Director: David Bailey
Production company: Paul Weiland Film Company
’Changes’ beautifully captured the materialistic zeitgeist of the 80s
while providing a perfectly judged story to support the endline: ’If
only everything in life were as reliable as a Volkswagen.’ An alluring
Paula Hamilton tosses aside house keys, ring, pearls and fur coat as she
storms out of the mews house of her lover in the early morning. Only
when she gets to the point of dropping the car keys down the drain does
she change her mind - Hamilton then drives off in a Golf. The pace is
set by Alan Price singing Changes, originally written for his friend,
Zoot Money, when his marriage broke up.
25. HEINZ BEANZ MEANZ HEINZ YOUNG & RUBICAM.
Year: 1967
Title: Beanz Meanz Heinz
Client: HJ Heinz
Agency: Young & Rubicam
Art director: Jean Bird
Writer: Maurice Drake
Advertising lore has it that this famous copyline was written - by
Maurice Drake at Young & Rubicam - over two pints of bitter in the local
pub.
The slogan certainly ranks among the most enduring and popular
advertising lines of the century. With its deliberate misspellings, it
also had the effect of setting the education fraternity on edge at the
time of its first appearance in 1967.
26. CASTLEMAINE XXXX SHERRY SAATCHI & SAATCHI.
Year: 1986
Title: Sherry
Client: Allied National Brands
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Art director: Alexandra Taylor
Writer: Mick Petherick
Director: John Marles
Production company: RSA Films
’Australians wouldn’t give a Castlemaine XXXX for anything else’: the
risque endline characterised the stereotypical Australian mentality that
informed the campaign and catapulted itself into the British
consciousness.
The hilarious storyline of this spot centred on a group of Aussie
shearers who bring along ’two bottles of sweet sherry for the ladies’ to
a party, only to comment that ’it looks like we’ve over-done it with the
sherry’.
The ’XXXX’ endline has recently been resurrected after 15 years - a
testament to its success in building the brand.
27. ARALDITE TEAPOT FOOTE CONE & BELDING.
Year: 1982
Title: Teapot
Client: Ciba Geigy
Agency: Foote Cone & Belding
Art director: Robert Kitchen
Writer: Ian Potter
The great unpublished rulebook of advertising carries the instruction,
’If you can demonstrate, demonstrate’. In what is arguably the most
audacious use of a billboard ever, ’teapot’ did just that - showing
quite clearly, and with great wit, that Araldite glue does what it says
on the packet.
The campaign set a precedent by using the poster as a three-dimensional
medium. The great and the good of the advertising world regularly vote
it as one of the ’best of the best’.
28. LEVI’S CREEK BARTLE BOGLE HEGARTY.
Year: 1993
Title: Creek
Client: Levi Strauss
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Art director: John Gorse
Writer: Nick Worthington
Directors: Vaughan & Anthea
Production company: Lewin & Watson
With ’creek’, Levi’s moved on from the ’boy meets girl’ formula and
sought inspiration from its roots in 1850s America. Shot in moody black
and white and set to an enigmatic score, the ad shows a strait-laced
family picnicking in the open country. The two daughters drift off to a
nearby creek and spot a pair of jeans on a rock and the hero bathing in
the water - naked, it is assumed. The music reaches a crescendo as he
emerges from the water to reveal that he is wearing jeans and shrinking
them to fit and the owner of the abandoned pair is a scruffy old man.
Beautifully shot and edited, the commercial is utterly compelling.
29. GLC WANT ME OUT BMP.
Year: 1984
Title: Want me out
Client: Greater London Council
Agency: BMP
Art director: Paul Leeves
Writer: Alan Tilby
The campaign to retain the GLC must rank as one of the most significant
in UK advertising history. While the advertising failed to prevent the
abolition of the GLC, the scale of what it did achieve was
impressive.
The ads stimulated public and media opposition to the Thatcher regime’s
proposals, transforming the issue from one of obscure local government
administration into a matter of genuine concern. They pushed the issue
up the political agenda and undermined confidence in the Government’s
reforms. ±±¾©Èü³µpk10s such as this also changed perceptions of advertising
and showed it could be a force for social change.
30. VW LAMP-POST BMP.
Year: 1998
Title: Lamp-post
Client: Volkswagen
Agency: BMP
Art director: Andrew Fraser
Writer: Andrew Fraser
Director: Paul Gay
Production company: Outsider
’Lamp-post’ marked the return of the idea in the late 90s. Simple but
devastatingly effective, the commercial showed workmen cladding a
lamp-post to cushion passers-by distracted by a poster advertising the
VW Polo’s low price. The spot won the overwhelming approval of both
consumers and the ad industry and increased VW’s market share. Given the
price-led brief - to persuade consumers that VWs do not cost as much as
they might think - BMP came up trumps with a creative concept pared down
to its bare essentials.
31. SONY ARMCHAIR BMP.
Year: 1995
Title: Armchair
Client: Sony
Agency: BMP
Art director: Jerry Hollens
Writer: Mike Boles
Director: Daniel Barber
Production company: Rose Hackney Barber
In this spectacular commercial a besuited man in an armchair freefalls
through the air and just as he is about to crash into the hangar on the
ground he changes channels on his TV to stop his hyper-real
experience.
The spot ends as he plummets into his living room, closely followed by
his pet cat who has also been caught up in the effect. A top Hollywood
crew were on location in California’s Simi Valley and a skydiving
cameraman fell through the air to capture the ambitious images in
director Daniel Barber’s stunning storyboard.
32. HOLSTEN PILS GEORGE RAFT GOLD GREENLEES TROTT.
Year: 1983
Title: George Raft
Client: Holsten Distributors
Agency: Gold Greenlees Trott
Art director: Axel Chaldecott
Writer: Steve Henry
Director: Richard Sloggett
Production company: Brooks Fulford Coutts Seresin
Nobody could fail to be impressed with the way this campaign seamlessly
meshed Griff Rhys Jones with old Hollywood movie scenes. The sharply
written scripts - in which original lines were spliced in with new ones
spoken by Rhys Jones - added the finishing touch to a witty and
memorable advertising series. The George Raft spot shows the protagonist
being visited in prison by a perky Rhys Jones clutching an enticing
glass of Holsten Pils. The comedian also had close encounters with
Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Edward G.
Robinson.
33. VW WEDDING BMP.
Year: 1999
Title: Wedding
Client: Volkswagen
Agency: BMP
Art director: Neil Dawson
Writer: Clive Pickering
Part of Volkswagen’s ’affordability’ campaign, ’wedding’ demonstrated
once again BMP’s ability to come up trumps when faced with the potential
nightmare of a price-led brief. The ad shows a blurred shot of a wedding
couple with a bus-side poster for the Polo model in sharp focus in the
background.
The strapline reads: ’Surprisingly ordinary prices.’ Originally a press
campaign, it was made into a poster to capitalise on the extensive TV
coverage of Prince Edward’s wedding in June 1999.
34. GUINNESS SURFERS ABBOTT MEAD VICKERS BBDO.
Year: 1999
Title: Surfers
Client: Guinness
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Art director: Walter Campbell
Writer: Tom Carty
Production company: Academy
Director: Jonathan Glazer
’Surfers’, one of the most expensive ads in Guinness’s history, took the
industry by storm. Jaw-droppingly impressive in its use of
state-of-the-art technology, the images of crashing waves that turn into
stampeding horses are stunning. Nine days were spent shooting surfers in
Hawaii, three days filming horses in a studio, and the spot boasts the
same digital technology that was used for Titanic. The ad continued the
theme of ’all good things come to those who wait’ - as surfers wait for
the ultimate wave, so drinkers wait for a pint of Guinness to settle -
and was chosen to feature in the Millennium Dome. A thrilling ride.
35. SMIRNOFF THE 8.29 YOUNG & RUBICAM.
Year: 1970
Title: The 8.29
Client: International Distillers & Vintners
Agency: Young & Rubicam
Art director: David Tree
Writer: John Bacon
Permissible exaggeration - ’It was the 8.29 every morning until I
discovered Smirnoff’ - is as old as the hills in advertising. We know
the product will not transform our life, but we are pleased to be
included in the joke. It is testimony to a great creative concept that
Smirnoff still uses the idea that its brand has the power to transform
in its advertising today. This witty campaign included several memorable
executions, including one with the copyline: ’Advertising was my life
until I discovered Smirnoff.’
36. BBC PERFECT DAY LEAGAS DELANEY.
Year: 1997
Title: Perfect day
Client: BBC
Agency: Leagas Delaney
Art director: Ian Ducker
Writer: Will Farquhar
Director: Gregory Rood
Production company: The Paul Weiland Film Company
This stunning piece of corporate communications was truly a big-time
commercial. With a running time of four minutes, it featured 29
musicians - including Lou Reed, David Bowie, Tom Jones, Elton John, Bono
and Lesley Garrett - and took a year to make. The brief was to show the
range of music on offer to BBC viewers and listeners, and it could never
have been made without the goodwill of the recording stars who earned
just pounds 250 apiece for their efforts. Inevitably attacked for its
cost and scheduling, the BBC response was that it was just good
marketing.
37. BMW SHAKEN NOT STIRRED WCRS.
Year: 1984
Title: Shaken not stirred
Client: BMW
Agency: WCRS
Art director: Cathy Heng
Writer: Robin Wight
’Shaken not stirred’ was born from a technique that BMW’s ad agency,
WCRS, called ’product interrogation’. The agency made an annual
pilgrimage to Munich to ’interrogate the product until it confessed to
its strengths’.
The trip that yielded ’shaken’ has become part of agency folklore.
WCRS’s Robin Wight spent half a day pounding away at a BMW engineer to
understand why six cylinders were smoother than four. Eventually the
engineer explained how a glass of water on the engine of a Mercedes
would be destabilised by the imperfections in the balance of the engine.
But with the BMW, the engineer said, neither the glass nor the water
would move.
38. BODDINGTONS ICE-CREAM BARTLE BOGLE HEGARTY
Year: 1993
Title: Ice-cream
Client: Whitbread/Boddingtons
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Art director: Mike Wells
Writer: Tim Hudson
The decision to be highly selective with the media placement for this
campaign (focusing particularly on the back covers of magazines) helped
to ensure high visibility among the target audience. The visuals and
copy worked well together, while the endline, ’Boddingtons, the cream of
Manchester’, complemented the almost three-dimensional photographs. Part
of the campaign’s success can also be attributed to the fact that it did
not pander to ubiquitous ’yoof marketing’ tactics.
39. NIKE ’66 WAS A GREAT YEAR SIMONS PALMER DENTON CLEMMOW AND
JOHNSON.
Year: 1994
Title: ’66 was a great year
Client: Nike
Agency: Simons Palmer Denton Clemmow and Johnson
Art director: Andy McKay
Writer: Giles Montgomery
Nike, famous for its rebellious appeal to ’just do it’, is one of the
century’s advertising phenomenons. Working in partnership with blue-chip
agencies such as Chiat/Day, Wieden & Kennedy and Simons Palmer, it
produced a catalogue of outstanding campaigns. It also took godlike
celebrity endorsement to a new level as this cheeky poster, launched at
the height of Eric Cantona’s fame, ably demonstrates.
40. NATIONAL MILK PUBLICITY COUNCIL DRINKA PINTA MILKA DAY MATHER &
CROWTHER.
Year: 1958
Title: Drinka pinta milka day
Client: National Milk Publicity Council
Agency: Mather & Crowther
Writer: Bertrand Whitehead
Advertising lore has it that it was in fact the client - the executive
officer of the National Milk Publicity Council, Bertrand Whitehead - who
came up with this famous copyline to promote milk. Mather & Crowther’s
creative department did not take to the idea - possibly because it
wasn’t theirs - but their boss, the late great David Ogilvy, overruled
them and the ad ran to wide acclaim. The poster’s strong design, and in
particular its beautiful typography, gave the slogan added impact.
41. THE ECONOMIST MANAGEMENT TRAINEE ABBOTT MEAD VICKERS.
Year: 1989
Title: Management trainee
Client: The Economist
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers
Art director: Ron Brown
Writer: David Abbott
The Economist has been one of the most consistently inventive poster
advertisers and ’management trainee’ is the cleverest execution in an
inspirational campaign that not only has its own look, but its own tone
of voice. The simplicity of the poster belies its strong branding, which
partly comes from borrowing the magazine’s red masthead. The copywriting
skills of David Abbott are also clearly apparent. This campaign, with
its clever message of ’read this and be successful’, has succeeded in
developing an enduring relationship with consumers for more than a
decade.
42. VW MR FELDMAN DOYLE DANE BERNBACH (LONDON).
Year: 1969
Title: Mr Feldman
Client: Volkswagen
Agency: Doyle Dane Bernbach (London)
Art director: Brian Byfield
Writer: David Abbott
Only Volkswagen could inspire a campaign that focused on the ugliness of
the car. In this low-key but highly amusing press ad, the skill is all
in the self-deprecating copy. The VW is compared to the comedian and
actor, Marty Feldman: ’No-one would ever mistake you for Gregory
Peck.
Yet you’ve made it right to the top. On talent. And that’s kind of
reassuring when you make a car that looks like ours.’ Unexpected,
attention-grabbing and uncompromising in its honesty.
43. HAAGEN-DAZS WORD OF MOUTH BARTLE BOGLE HEGARTY.
Year: 1991
Title: Word of mouth
Client: Haagen-Dazs
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Art director: Rooney Carruthers
Writer: Larry Barker
This raunchy campaign, which unashamedly positioned ice-cream as a
sensual, adult food, may have raised a few eyebrows but it put
Haagen-Dazs firmly on the map and persuaded people that it was worth
spending up to six times more than they would normally pay for
ice-cream. The ads featured black-and-white photographs of semi-clad
couples in amorous clinches with the obligatory ice-cream tub very much
part of the action. The juxtaposition of explicit sexual imagery with
the self-consciously serious text describing the product was a fine
combination.
44. HEALTH EDUCATION COUNCIL FEET SAATCHI & SAATCHI.
Year: 1979
Title: Feet
Client: Health Education Council
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Garland-Compton
Art director: Ron Mather
Writer: Andrew Rutherford
This execution continued the tradition of excellent family planning ads
of the era, which included the popular ’pregnant man’ ad. Readers will
appreciate the irony that The Sun and The Daily Mirror refused to run
the ad, deeming it inappropriate for family newspapers, despite its
educational tone. The execution still has relevance today - the hallmark
of a great piece of advertising.
45. THE INDEPENDENT IT IS. ARE YOU? SAATCHI & SAATCHI.
Year: 1986
Title: It is. Are you?
Client: The Independent
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Art director: Digby Atkinson
Writers: Peter Russell, Tim Mellors
With this campaign, The Independent cleverly decided to concentrate on
what it claimed was its unique selling proposition, namely, that at its
launch, it was the only independently owned and, therefore
independent-thinking, English broadsheet newspaper. The campaign
astutely played on the public’s fear of the increasing influence of
media barons, and its copyline quickly entered the vernacular.
46. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION CARELESS TALK.
Year: 1940
Title: Careless talk
Client: Ministry of Information
Artist: Cyril Kenneth Bird Fougasse
The cartoonist, Fougasse, who worked at Punch when he created this
famous campaign for the Ministry of Information, lent a refreshing and
much-needed sense of humour to the Second World War propaganda
machine.
The ads caught the popular imagination and, by all accounts, were
effective in fulfilling their brief. The campaign even prompted the then
Princess Elizabeth to remark: ’How carelessly we should have talked
during the war but for Fougasse.’
47. BRITISH EGG MARKETING BOARD GO TO WORK ON AN EGG MATHER &
CROWTHER.
Year: 1957
Title: Go to work on an egg
Client: British Egg Marketing Board
Agency: Mather & Crowther
Art director: Ruth Gill
Writers: Fay Weldon, Mary Gowing
As an advertising copywriter at Mather & Crowther in 1957, Fay Weldon
helped to create this, one of the all-time classic advertising
slogans.
The campaign included a TV spot starring Tony Hancock and featured ’egg
chicks’ - women dressed as chickens but with high heels and short skirts
- who rooted through people’s bins for egg shells. If discovered, the
household received six free eggs. Interestingly, the public did not take
to its eggs being stamped with a lion hallmark and the idea was
abandoned.
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