A road safety ad by AMV BBDO is sparking cries of victim-blaming in the U.K. for warning cyclists to hang back from trucks that are making left turns—the driver’s blind side on that country’s roads.
Channel 4 in Britain recently made one of the greatest ads ever about disability with “We’re the Superhumans.” The spot, timed to the 2016 Paralympic Games, was a follow-up to 2012’s “Meet the Superhumans” but went well beyond the original to create its own brilliant, freewheeling world of fun.
But it didn’t end there. Channel 4 also dreamed up a companion contest called “Superhumans Wanted,” which challenged U.K. brands to develop a bold, creative campaign with disability and diversity at its core.
The winner has just been announced, and it’s pretty great—though quite different than the larger-than-life “Superhumans” spots. It’s a campaign for candy brand Maltesers, and the ads, by AMV BBDO, feature disabled actors telling amusing stories of awkward everyday situations that involved their disability in some way.
A packed bar is a lot like the prom. You look forward to having this epic night, but most of it is spent waiting in line for one thing or another.
It’s a problem tailor-made for brand-hacking. With help from AMV BBDO, Italian alcohol brand Martini has created the Smart Cube, a piece of connected “ice” that tips the server off, via Bluetooth, when your glass hits slurping point.
U.K. retail giant Sainsbury’s is “is in talks with a number of top creative agencies” in a review being led by recently-promoted (last August) director of marketing planning and propositions Mark Given, The Drum reports. According to that publication, the account is estimated at around £60 million (or almost $87.5 million). Media buying and planning is not part of the review and will remain with PHD.
AMV BBDO has been Sainsbury’s agency of record for nearly forty years. Its most high-profile work for the client has undoubtedly been the yearly holiday campaigns it created for the brand. In recent years, these high-budget spectacles have included the children’s book-inspired “Mog’s Christmas Calamity” and “Christmas is for Sharing,” the somewhat controversial 2014 spot depicting the 1914 Christmas Truce between Britain and Germany during World War I.
“Sainsbury’s and AMV have a well-established relationship that stretches back over 35 years and, as you would expect, from time to time it’s important for us both to take a fresh look,” a Sainsbury’s spokesperson told The Drum.
Sainsbury’s three largest competitors — Tesco, Morrisons and Asda — have all switched agencies in recent years. Tesco moved its $170 million creative account from W+K London to BBH London in January of 2015, Morrisons dropped nine-year incumbent DLKW Lowe for Publicis London a year later and Asda left VCCP for Saatchi & Saatchi this April.
So, when taken in conjunction with its senior marketing shakeup last year, the news is not entirely surprising. Sainsbury’s also recently made a takeover bid for Argos, who currently works with WPP’s CHI&Partners. AMV BBDO is presumably defending in the review, but details about which other “top creative agencies” are involved are currently unavailable.
The past couple of years have given us numerous disruptive examples of advertising in the feminine care space, including comical ones from HelloFlo and the award-winning inspirational video from Always. Bodyform joins the fray with its latest spot, and it’s pretty badass.
Fallon London appointed Gareth Collins as its new CEO, Campaign reports. He will begin the new position this summer, after leaving AMV BBDO, where he currently serves as a managing partner. Upon arrival, he will lead a management team including executive creative director Nick Bell and chief strategy officer David Hackworthy. The news coincides with the departure of managing director James Townsend, who is leaving to become CEO of 360i London.
Collins began his position at AMV BBDO in March of last year, following over five years in Australia with Clemenger BBDO, most recently as a managing partner. He first joined Clemenger BBDO as a group account director, becoming a client service director the following year and managing partner in April of 2012. Prior to that he spent five years as a board account director with AMV BBDO. He also spent three years with Ogilvy & Mather as an account manager and served a brief stint as service manager with Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Magnus Djaba, chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon UK Group, told Campaign, “When Pat Fallon picked a management team to start Fallon London, he chose people who didn’t know the rules but just wanted to create new ones. Gareth has that same spirit and attitude.”
Digital agency 360i has appointed James Townsend as its new CEO, replacing Rob Connolly, 360i CEO since December of 2013, who The Drum reports will “move back to Northern Ireland after six years within the Dentsu Aegis Network to pursue a new venture.”
Townsend arrives from Fallon London, where he has served as managing director since the beginning of 2013 and as head of account management since arriving in April, 2010. Prior to joining Fallon, Townsend spent seven years as a client services director with exposure London.
“James’ experience and accomplishments in helping clients creatively build their brands, as well as his alignment with 360i’s ‘Powered by Curiosity’ ethos, make him the perfect fit to lead our London office,” Bryan Wiener, chairman of 360i, told The Drum.
In related news, Fallon appointed former AMV BBDO managing partner Gareth Collins as its new CEO.
BBDO’s UK wing, AMV, earned a bit of attention from industry press last month for a new campaign starring Stirling Gravitas, a twist on the Most Interesting Man in the World who just happens to have a problem…in his pants.
The earlier spots highlighted Mr. Gravitas’ ability to maintain a health lifestyle despite his desperately leaky bladder and gave the rest of us tips to follow his lead.
The newest chapter in the ongoing campaign elaborates on that theme by facetiously reminding viewers that there are other ways to prevent incontinence–like clenching your related muscles really hard.
You know, like holding in a fart:
Gravitas’ Twitter feed has yet to truly take off. Maybe he needs to let himself go:
.@KingJames @kobebryant Always ballin’ https://t.co/96pcCkYZio
— Stirling Gravitas (@S_Gravitas) April 23, 2015
Today I’m running the #LondonMarathon. Might hit the gym afterwards. Then go for a swim. #lazysundayhttps://t.co/nrmHK1RvnP
— Stirling Gravitas (@S_Gravitas) April 26, 2015
He does, however, have some nuggets of encouraging wisdom hidden in his press release, writing:
Guess what. Advertising works. 1.3 million people have watched my film and TENA Men’s UK website has had a 700% increase in traffic.
We knew it!
For context, this is the product he’s promoting:
It’s a maxi pad for men. Maybe that’s a British thing…
New brands typically have a hard time standing out amidst the vast array of competition, so AMV BBDO developed a spot for UK cloud-based engagement software platform Thunderhead that’s pretty hard to ignore.
The ad imagines the software platform as a superhero named Thunderhead. When a car salesman is having trouble connecting with a customer, Thunderhead bursts through the door. Soon the salesman is suckling at Thunderhead’s nipple while he telepathically delivers engagement insights which help the salesman find the perfect car for the customer. Um, yeah, that’s one way to get attention.
“We are a cheeky British technology upstart who are lucky enough to have the best customer engagement software in the business world,” Gav Thompson, Thunderhead’s chief marketing officer, told The Stable. “We asked AMV to develop an idea for us that would ensure that CMOs became aware of our unique customer engagement capability and our ability to deliver happy customers. We also liked the idea of a product demo that was a bit bonkers.”
A bit bonkers, indeed.
AMV BBDO released its latest work for telecomm client BT today, and the campaign allows Ewan McGregor to share his thoughts on ad industry practices with the help of some familiar stock characters:
McGregor’s basic message? Keep it simple, stupid. As you’ll see in the first spot “Big Stunt,” it’s all a bit meta.
Here’s a “behind the scenes” clip of McGregor shooting the rhetorical shit with Mr. Cyclist:
The press release describes the new, “epic” campaign as “a parody of the advertising process,” and future spots for the client will feature other famous UK actors, celebrities, and athletes in “amusing situations that poke fun at the world of advertising.”
Stephen Foster of the More About Advertising blog is not quite impressed, writing:
“…viewers may come to the conclusion that everybody in advertising – and therefore all advertising – is mad.
Are you sure you want to do this, AMV?”
We’d say the campaign itself serves as a resounding “yes” in response to that query. The next spot in the series, titled “Silence,” gives more screen time to the client reps (and the CD’s donut/hip-hop habit):
Whatever your thoughts on the campaign’s depiction of a shoot, we think you’ll agree that the work is very Cannes-friendly — and VERY British.
Credits:
Creative Director: Paul Brazier
Agency Creatives: Richard Peretti & Gary Lathwell
Director: Randy Krallman
Production Company: Smuggler
Producer: Yvonne Chalkley
For a campaign that’s five years old, Snickers’ “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” is having quite the creative renaissance this year.
The Super Bowl ad was fantastic (as was the New York City billboard that teased it). The Medusa ad on the back cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue was inspired. And now, we get a very fun campaign in which the brand got video bloggers all over the world to post intentionally bad videos—pretending they recorded them while they were hungry, and thus weren’t themselves.
The “You’re Not YouTube” campaign launched simultaneously in eight countries and included 13 popular “how-to” vloggers on YouTube. In each video, it’s clear something is wrong as the usually sure-footed hosts appear completely off their game.
For example, in the one U.S.-based video, style and motivational guru Jessica Harlow, who’s usually so put together, apathetically shows fans how to “let yourself go.”
U.S.
There are two videos from Puerto Rico. In one, high-energy comedian Alex Diaz demonstrates yoga-inspired relaxation techniques. In the other, political commentator Jay Fonseca totally switches gears and offers step-by-step instructions on how to make hand-made floral scrapbooks.
Puerto Rico
The others vloggers are from the U.K., UAE, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon and Brazil. You can check out their videos below.
“Vloggers are such dynamic content creators, it’s quite interesting—and funny—to see what happens when hunger strikes and their faculties fail them,” says Allison Miazga-Bedrick, Snickers brand director. “Between them the international vloggers in this campaign have over 7 million subscribers, generating huge global reach for this innovative digital extension of our campaign.”
U.K.
United Arab Emirates
Egypt
Turkey
Lebanon
Brazil
CREDITS
Client: Snickers
Campaign: “You’re Not YouTube”
Creative Originator: AMV BBDO, London
Copywriter, AMV BBDO : Diccon Driver
Art Director, AMV BBDO: Alan Wilson
Creative Agency: BBDO, New York
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director, BBDO New York: Gianfranco Arena
Executive Creative Director, BBDO New York: Peter Kain
Associate Creative Director, BBDO New York: Matt Herr
Associate Creative Director, BBDO New York: Justin Bilicki
Group Planning Director, BBDO New York: Crystal Rix
Senior Planner, BBDO New York: Alaina Crystal
Managing Director, BBDO New York: Kirsten Flanik
Global Account Director, BBDO New York: Susannah Keller
Account Director, BBDO New York: Joshua Steinman
Account Manager, BBDO New York: Tani Corbacho
Account Executive, BBDO New York: Jocelyn Choi
Media Agency: Digitas
Media Supervisor: Chad Lewis
Media Planner: Martha Williams
Multi-Channel Network: Maker Studios
Director / Editor: Cody Buesing
Executive Producer: Michael Reilly
Producer: Austin Bening
Director of Photography: Steven DiCasa
Production Designer: Samantha Hawkins
Hair & Makeup Artist: Thadius Lajara
Sound Mixer: Luke Tilghman
Production Coordinator: Rita Warkov
Production Assistant: Audrey Ketchell
Several hard-hitting outdoor campaigns have protested soaring home prices in the U.K. lately, including these bleak billboards narrated by people who’ve been priced out of London. Now, AMV BBDO has unleashed a clever campaign on behalf of Homes for Britain, which advocates pressuring politicians to help build homes people can afford.
The centerpiece is an outdoor campaign in the Westminster subway station. The ads call attention to their own square footage and calculate how much that amount of space would cost if it were part of a home in London, Edinburgh, Bath, York or Oxford.
In addition to wall posters, there are more intriguing placements, including ads on escalator steps (the area of a single step would cost £6,111 in central London) and inside train cars (a single car would cost £618,375 in Westminster and £302,182 on average in London).
Check out more ads below. Via The Inspiration Room.
It would appear that the daily obliviousness of human traffic makes for the same sad story in both London and New York City.
Therein lies the concept in a new ad from AMV BBDO for Cancer Research U.K., where passersby on a sidewalk in London continue on their (merry) way while a concrete growth encased in fiberglass and created by model-makers Artem begins to persistently bubble up until it reaches critical mass. The hard-surfaced metaphor only casts light on how one should visit a doctor in case he or she can handle early cancer detection.
The PSA cleverly demonstrates how metastasis can not only affect the daily grind but, more importantly, your own health.
Take heed.
Client: Cancer Research U.K.
Agency: AMV BBDO, London
Creative Directors: Mike Crowe, Rob Messeter
Copywriter: Charlotte Adorjan
Art Director: Michael Jones
Agency Planners: Emily Harlock, Sarah Sternberg
Account: Gareth Collins, Emily Atkinson, Ally Humpherys
Agency Producer: Sophie Horner
Media Agency: Mediacom
Media Planner: Lucy Mitchell
Production Company: Rogue
Producer: Maddy Easton
Director: Sam Cadman
Sound: Gary Turnball / Grand Central Recording Studios
Postproduction: Joseph Tang / The Mill
Editor: Kev Palmer / TenThree
Model Makers: Artem
Music: The Sound Works
Never underestimate people’s power not to give a damn about what’s right in front of them.
We’ve seen this time and again in outdoor ad stunts, and this latest one from AMV BBDO in London is quite amusing to watch. It’s a PSA for Cancer Research U.K., which wanted to communicate that British people are missing the first signs of cancer. Well, no wonder they ignore small lumps in their bodies when they just walk right past weird giant lumps growing in the real world.
Model makers Artem built the lumps.
“The road lumps had to match the paving bricks of the street used for the shoot, and be distorted in such a way that made it appear as if a ‘tumor’ was growing in the road,” the company says. “The lumps had to be light enough to carry on and off set, but durable enough for a van to go over them; one of the lumps was reinforced in fiberglass to allow for a road sweeper to go over it.”
CREDITS
Client: Cancer Research U.K.
Agency: AMV BBDO, London
Creative Directors: Mike Crowe, Rob Messeter
Copywriter: Charlotte Adorjan
Art Director: Michael Jones
Agency Planners: Emily Harlock, Sarah Sternberg
Account: Gareth Collins, Emily Atkinson, Ally Humpherys
Agency Producer: Sophie Horner
Media Agency: Mediacom
Media Planner: Lucy Mitchell
Production Company: Rogue
Producer: Maddy Easton
Director: Sam Cadman
Sound: Gary Turnball / Grand Central Recording Studios
Post: Joseph Tang / The Mill
Editor: Kev Palmer / TenThree
Model Makers: Artem
Music: The Sound Works
In case you doubted that absurdist advertising is now the go-to approach for candy companies, this new spot for Mars Bar should be a good reminder.
Created by U.K. agency AMV BBDO, “Winning” features a soulless ginger who’s trained his dog to jump, only to be outdone by the guy with a Mars Bar.
The ad hits all the typical checkpoints for a modern zany ad: funny animals, a surreal punchline that takes too long to deliver and a retro reference to the 1980s (the song is Crockett’s Theme from Miami Vice).
“Winning” isn’t a bad effort, even if it is built around an Internet term that quickly wore out its welcome four years ago.
Here’s a unique twist on the classic anti-drunk driving PSA from AMV BBDO in the UK.
It’s the government’s way of celebrating the success of its 50-year-old Think! campaign in reducing the number of drunk driving deaths in the Kingdom by setting the usual rescue scenes to what may be the least appropriate music available: Jersey City’s own Kool & the Gang.
The numbers tell a story that’s somehow both encouraging and pessimistic as the end of the spot shows us exactly why the campaign matters. And of course the whole thing is set to a song best fit for roller rinks and the dentist’s office.
UK press has called the ad “shocking“; if an American group ran it, we’re fairly certain that scandal would follow.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
The 50th anniversary of England’s first drunk-driving PSA inspires a sobering celebration in this Department for Transport campaign.
Kool & the Gang’s 1980 hit “Celebration” anchors the new spot spot from AMV BBDO. Usually, the iconic dance track suggests parties and good times. Here, however, it’s sung karaoke-style by emergency responders at the scene of a car crash and by ambulance and hospital personnel as they struggle to save victims’ lives. (The song’s joyous “Come on!” exhortation becomes a doctor’s impassioned plea for an injured driver to pull through.)
The final scenes, which I won’t spoil, are immensely sad, their impact heightened by sudden silence as the music unexpectedly cuts out.
The spot stands in stark contract to Britain’s first drunk-driving ad (posted below). Created in 1964 by animation firm Halas & Batchelor, it shows an office party, complete with balloons and silly hats. The voiceover says, “Four whiskeys, and the risk of an accident can be twice as great … Eight, and the risk can be 25 times as great.” (Eight whiskies—that’s some bash!)
The ad concludes, “Don’t ask a man to drink and drive”—a line that is sexist today, but true to its era, when only a small percentage of English women had driver’s licenses.
Of course, we’ve come a long way since then. Thanks in part to aggressive public-service campaigns, drunk driving has been stigmatized, and rightly so. Text at the end of the “Celebration” spot notes that in the past 50 years, annual drunk-driving deaths in the U.K. have fallen from 1,640 to 230, but then cautions: “That’s still 230 too many.”
Overall, the ad, expertly directed by Mark Zibert via Rogue Films, provides a compelling and slightly surreal viewing experience. Though neither gory nor emotionally over the top, its message—propelled by a cruelly ironic soundtrack—might just get stuck in viewers’ heads this holiday season and make them think twice about drinking and driving.
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This PSA by AMV BBDO for the British Coast Guard, titled “Every Second Counts,” pairs Hallmarky imagery of children playing on the beach with audio from a frantic 999 emergency call in which three children were being dragged into the water by a powerful undertow.
“Conditions on our coastline change in seconds,” the ad warns.
Many ads like this would have included footage of those changing conditions. But in some ways, keeping things quietly sunny and calm is even more jarring against the terror of the audio, and reinforce the point better than added drama would have.
In news we missed last week, Ogilvy & Mather signed creative veteran Keith Anderson as ECD/Head of Art in its New York office.
Anderson brings a particularly extensive resume to his new role: he previously led creative for BlackBerry at AMV BBDO. Prior to his stint at that shop, Anderson spent nearly two full decades at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, rising to the level of associate partner/director of design and–according to the press release–playing a crucial role in the agency’s transition into the digital age.
Following his New York move, Anderson will handle IBM, BlackRock and new business while reporting to Ogilvy North America CCO Steve Simpson.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
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