The cheeky girls and boys working on the Velvet toilet tissue account deserve to be pretty chuffed. They've created an ad starring a load of bare botties. Each trumper is accompanied by a word such as "curvy" or "firm". Don't worry, these aren't descriptions of stool samples, they're compliments to the bums. The endline goes on to encourage us to love our bums too. It's lovingly produced and is a welcome change from the bunch of arse usually employed to advertise this category.
I've just watched the Levi's Type One ad. I don't understand it. I think it's rubbish.
But I love my bum, and I love the new Hula Hoops campaign. It celebrates the second coming of Steve "celebrity" Threlfall. In a world of dubious celebrity endorsements, this lad is the people's champ. The branding is relentless and the decision to use Take That's Back for Good is inspired. Oh, and it's also got a hamster and some dead-fit cheerleaders in it. What more do you want?
The T-Mobile posters are elegantly crafted. The snag is, I can't help feeling that the baby's face in the launch campaign truly demonstrated how a picture could speak a thousand words, whereas these ads just tell us. Photos of lampshades and stepladders simply aren't as emotive. Still, if it leads to more people sending photos and less people doing that annoying tippy-tappy text thing, that's fine by me.
I've just watched the Levi's ad again. It's not bad you know.
The Weetabix work is OK. It manages to communicate that Weetabix is now available in a smaller size, and that it's crunchy, and that it now comes in a range of flavours. All of which is pretty good going for a six-sheet.
I've just watched the Levi's ad again. It's brilliant. The jeans are made from indigo denim, have dobbing great buttons, and in-your-face stitching.
However, unlike recent Levi's commercials, this isn't a dramatisation of a specific product feature. It's all about "the bold new breed".
The breed in question is a gang of young humans with mouse heads. (It could happen.) They razz around town in a big shiny MPV to a cool soundtrack that we'll probably all buy. And anyone that doesn't understand on first viewing that the mice people had kidnapped a cat and were blackmailing its owner, who they were arranging to meet in a multi-storey car park, is obviously too old and too thick.
Finally, you know those nights when you pitch a tent on the roof of your house, listen to a tape of safari sound effects and slurp coffee with your loved one? No, neither do I, which is why I can't imagine anyone finding anything remotely in common with the couple in the new Nescafe Gold Blend commercial. At one point, the girl actually turns to her bloke and says: "This is silly." You're not wrong, luv.
Anyway, it claims to be "the coffee lovers' coffee" and I'm a tea man myself so what do I know?
That reminds me, I've got to go and pop the kettle on as I've got the Borrowers, Stuart Little and Jeannette Kranky coming round for a cuppa.
Now, what ingenious little device can I serve the tea in?
WEETABIX
Project: Weetabix Mini Crunch
Client: Tony Corp, marketing controller
Brief: Announce that Mini Weetabix are now available in your favourite
flavour
Agency: Banks Hoggins O'Shea/FCB
Writer: Brian Riley
Art director: Matt Lee
Photographers: David Gill and Anthony Burrill
Typographer: Martin Crockatt
Exposure: National posters
HULA HOOPS
Project: Steve Threlfall "an apology"
Client: Mandy Ferguson, marketing director, KP Snacks
Brief: Bring back Steve Threlfall as the bemused face of Hula Hoops
Agency: Publicis
Writer: Rob Janowski
Art director: Keith Courtney
Director: Steve Dell
Production company: Method Films
Exposure: National TV
VELVET
Project: "Love your bum"
Client: Nick Dudman, senior brand manager, SCA Hygiene
Brief: Break the creative and strategic rules of the sector
Agency: Publicis
Writers: Paul Quarry and Peter Gatley
Art directors: Paul Quarry and Peter Gatley
Director: Tony Kaye
Production company: Harry Nash
Exposure: National TV
T-MOBILE
Project: T-Mobile MMS picture messaging
Client: Tracey Follows, advertising manager
Brief: Invite people to join a visual movement
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Writer: Gavin Kellet
Art director: Nik Studinski
Photographer: Luke Kirwan
Exposure: National specialist press, outdoor
LEVI'S
Project: Launch of Type One jeans
Client: Kenny Wilson, president, Levi's Brand
Brief: Launch Type One jeans as the bold new breed of denim
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Writer: Dave Chalu
Art director: Stephen Rutterford
Director: Michel Gondry
Production company: Partizan Midi Minuit
Exposure: Pan-European TV and cinema
NESCAFE GOLD BLEND
Project: "The coffee lovers' coffee"
Client: Georgia Field, category marketing manager, Premium Coffees,
Nestle UK
Brief: Emotionally re-engage consumers and reinforce the positioning of
Gold Blend as a premium coffee
Agency: McCann-Erickson
Writer: Mike Lawrence
Art director: Andy McAdie
Director: James Wood
Production company: Outlaw Films
Exposure: National TV and cinema