BBH London Launches ‘The Welcome of Home’ for British Airways

BBH London has crafted an ambitious online spot for British Airways entitled “The Welcome of Home.”

The four minute long ad tells the story of a Canadian woman named Chitra visiting her grandmother in India, and bringing along a bit of a surprise. It is an emotional journey, perhaps a bit too saccharine for some, dealing with themes of family, love, culture and the true meaning of home. “No matter how many years I’ve been away, home will always be India,” Chitra says at the spot’s conclusion, before the message, “We know how important home is appears onscreen.” There’s little overt branding in the ad until its conclusion, with BBH London instead tying British Airways to the idea of home and the emotional tone of the ad. It’s well produced and, unlike a lot of long-form ads, doesn’t feel stretched beyond its limits. Still, getting people to sit through a four minute long ad for an airline is an uphill battle, making the attempt perhaps too ambitious for its own good. (more…)

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DDB Chicago Lands New CCO

johnmaxhamDDB Chicago has appointed a new chief creative officer in John Maxham, who rejoins the agency after spending the last four years as executive creative director/partner at Seattle-based Cole & Weber United. Maxham, who originally served as SVP/GCD on all things AT&T at DDB Chi for two years, will now oversee the creative product and 100 staffers, working with clients including McDonald’s, State Farm, Mars Inc., Capital One and Safeway in the process. Maxham’s arrival will fill a six-month void left when Ewan Paterson and DDB Chicago parted ways.

His new boss, DDB Chicago CEO Paul Gunning, says in a statement, “I looked very hard to find a partner that would share in my passion for DDB and the iconic American brands we work on. I wanted a true leader with a diverse creative skill set who could not only work across media channels, but also flex from B2C to B2B. This was not an easy task but John is uniquely qualified.”

During his ad career, Maxham (who *shameless plug* talked to us about Super Bowl a couple of years ago) served as a creative director at Team One and an ACD at Lowe.

 

 

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Ewan Paterson, DDB Chicago Part Ways

Well, this agency’s certainly keeping us busy today. We’ve received confirmation that Ewan Paterson, who’s spent over three years as chief creative officer at DDB Chicago, is leaving the agency. Paterson joined DDB Chicago in 2010 from CHI & Partners in London, where he served as executive creative director for five years. Regarding his reasons for leaving, the DDB Chicago camp says, “He will be moving back to London with his family. Ewan intends to take some time off and will remain available to us for the next several months as we make a transition to new creative leadership in Chicago.”

Paterson is no stranger to the DDB fold as he spent a decade in the agency network’s London office working with brands including VW and Sony. During his career, the creative exec also worked at BBH London, where he led campaigns for British Airways, Unilever and Vodafone.

As for his time at DDB and future plans, Paterson himself says, “Its been a fantastic three and half years and I’m proud of the agency’s transformation from the where it was in 2010. With six Cannes Lions over the last twelve months it’s evident that agency is becoming  stronger and more diversified creatively. I’ll miss the people who make up DDB Chicago hugely, but the stars have aligned for me and the my family to go home to London.  I intend to spend three to four months being a ‘dad’ for the first time-ever and then working on setting up my own agency.”

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