Panasonic is to roll out a new series of ads for its Power Alkaline
battery, headed by what is billed as the longest ad in the world, which
will appear on the longest day of the year, Saturday 21 June.
Saturday’s Mirror will run a strip across the bottom of 19 consecutive
pages in its TV supplement using Enid Blyton’s Noddy character. Noddy
made his Panasonic debut two years ago through the battery brand’s
agency, the Grange, but this weekend marks the character’s first
national appearance.
The plot is centred around what happens when Noddy’s hovercar stops
working because the bad goblins in Toyland have stolen its battery. In
several humorous situations - including Big Ears being ’frozen’ by PC
Plod by mistake - the goodies try to get the battery back. In the end, a
diminutive knight catches the goblins, arrests them for ’assault and
battery’ and explains that: ’The longest day also has the shortest
knight’. A photographic cut-out of the battery appears in each frame,
though not as a main focus of the ad.
Paul McCarthy, the Grange’s media buyer, said: ’The Mirror is very
pro-active and is always coming to us with ideas. This ad is brilliant
for us, in all ways enhancing the long-lasting nature of our brand, and
it’s good for the Mirror as it illustrates its innovative approach to
media.’
Chris Zandonati, the account director responsible for Panasonic, added:
’Using Noddy in the Panasonic work has been hugely successful so far and
the client’s spend has, in turn, increased year on year.’
The ad was written by Nick Primmer and art directed by Mark Lane at the
Grange. Media buying was also handled by the agency.
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