The ads under review this week are: Shelter "Only choice lettings" by Pablo; Ikea "Let play unwind your mind" by Mother; Virgin Atlantic "I am what I am" by Lucky Generals; Virgin Media O2 "Volt" by VCCP; Gorillas "Whatever London wants" by TheOr; What3Words "Neighbours" by Neverland.
Ben Edwards and Guy Hobbs, executive creative directors, Wonderhood Studios
Seems like we just can't catch a break in the 2020s. Turns out the pandemic was just an entrée, and next on the menu for the UK is a big old inflation pie. Real bummer we know, but it got us considering inflation in our industry, too. Think about it. Every time a "Womb stories" or "Londoner" or "Whopper detour" comes out, ideas that were bangers yesterday are now worth pennies on the dollar.
So, with that in mind, let's take a look at six, fresh campaigns. We'll leave it up to you to decide who's lagging, who's tracking and who's beating the creative-inflation-index™.
Shelter
First up, Shelter. It has a history of making great work. The "House of cards" spot is a stone-cold classic. While we're not sure this dark-comedy piece can rival that, it's still bloody good. Well performed, well executed and well crafted. The only thing we can say is why make it so long? Such an important message feels like it's worth delivering quicker, and it's probably doable without losing the impact of the spot.
Ikea
Next up, Ikea. This is objectively beautiful. It's joyful, simple and the message is clear. Sure, there's a touch of Apple "Home pod" in here but it's stylish, slick, and the track is banging. That being said, we can practically hear the creatives wincing at having to include the price points. Given everyone already knows Ikea is good value, they feel like an unnecessary reason to break the carefully orchestrated magic of the spot.
Virgin Atlantic
Sorry, planet Earth, but everyone is very excited to be jetting all over the place again. So, it's nice to see Virgin Atlantic back in the skies and also back on our TVs/mobile devices. We love the fact it's celebrating diversity in such a joyful and non-pious way. The track is great, and it definitely gives the feels. Only thing – and maybe we watch too many ads – but we just couldn't help comparing it to Diesel's "Go with the flaw".
Virgin Media O2
It's big. It's expensive. It's well crafted. It artfully dips Lust For Life when Iggy croons the words "liquor" and "drugs". There's a lot to like in the production values, casting and performances in this Virgin Media x O2 spot. But if the point is to tell people that together these brands supercharge everything, then that could have been slightly clearer from the get-go. Still, it's always nice to see big, pacy, glossy spots like this one coming out.
Gorillas
"London loves acid, poppers, pints, getting smashed... blow...getting wet..." Maybe we've lost our edge. Or more likely we never really had any edge to begin with. Either way we just don't get the connection between sex, drugs, grime music and a food delivery service? The VO performance is strong and the production is tight, but it left us a bit lost and worried about the potentially edgeless contours of our personalities.
What3Words
At the other end of the edgy spectrum is this charming little spot from What3Words. It's not the kind of thing that will set Cannes ablaze but it's super clear, simple, and made these jaded ad-guys smile. Three pretty difficult things to pull off.
And that's it. Congrats to all the folks involved in making these spots. We would suggest a toast, but sadly inflation has tripled the price of drinks since you started reading this article.
Matt Lever, chief creative officer, BMB
Private View is a powerful thing. It’s just got me to watch six ads, all the way through. Without fast-forwarding, skipping or dual screening. It was like being in bloody 2001 (the year, not the Space Odyssey).
Which is quite relevant for the first bit of work in this month’s selection, seeing as it's 21 years since The Office first aired and that Shelter has gone full Brent with this mocku style film that aims to highlight the horrendous conditions that some renters are being forced to endure. I was sharpening my (metaphorical) pencil and expecting to hate this – but the lead guy’s performance (“I love kids” and the little boxing move at the confused child is FUNNY – as is the gilet under the suit jacket) and some well-written dialogue keeps it firmly on the side of "nice homage" rather than "shite rip-off". It’s at its best when the people feel genuinely real (a couple of ‘em feel a bit actor-y for my liking). Brent won’t be spinning in his grave, more gently rotating in his Mondeo (at 70 mph, tops).
I imagine that at Mother HQ there’s a giant arty wooden allen key that’s been fashioned by a young man in a beret and chore jacket, out of all the D&AD pencils they’ve won for Ikea. This film is the next in a long line of beautifully crafted, artfully executed and elegantly paid-off spots. Everyone involved should treat themselves to a 50p hotdog, an industrial-sized packet of miniature Daim bars and a big bag of frozen meatballs.
Virgin Atlantic has done some incredible work over the years. This latest ad didn’t grab me as much as the brand’s previous spots. For me, it lacks the attitude that made the brand’s comms famous.
I can only imagine how hard it must have been to make a co-branded “big ad” for Virgin Media O2 (pretty hard indeed) but I think this energetic, well-crafted film will probably have kept both parties happy, with plenty of nice executional touches and “big ad” feels.
Gorillas’ latest spot has more double entendres than you can shake an inappropriately shaped object at. And it’s the commitment to doing as many as possible in 30 seconds that makes this ad work (plus some smart editing and exquisite corpsing). Its endline poses the question “whatever London wants”. I imagine that viewers’ response to that might be “some more of these amusing ads please”.
Somewhere in a village in Middle England, some errant pensioners are taking advantage of how famously rubbish the current postcode system is (?!) in order to intercept and pilfer their young neighbours’ packages. Or so What3words would have you believe in its latest telly ad. Now, facetiousness aside, it’s quite a funny premise (possibly to a problem that doesn’t really exist for 99.9% of the population, but I’ll suspend disbelief and stop being a grumpy pedant for a minute). The performances are a bit big for me, and I wish that the items the elderly couple have nicked had been funnier/punchier, but I’m sure it’ll pique the general public’s interest to find out what What3words actually is.
Funnily enough, I just searched my desk’s location on What3words: ///Matts.ramblings.end.
.jpg)
.jpeg)
