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Seriously Good
Sauces for Causes
TV/Cinema
isadn 78372
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The Fool on the Hill
sees the world going round
sees the world going round
Mon 02 November 2009
I found this ad rather enjoyable. It’s quite amusing and Gordon Ramsey’s chat from his bottles of sauce is very nicely handled. In fact it’s the best performance I’ve seen from Gordon Ramsey in a long time. The slight irritation he expresses as he has a chicken dropped on his head is an uncharacteristically charming moment from the normally foul-mouthed, sweary chef.
So the ad is good, I’m sure that the sauces are OK, and the whole thing is in a good cause, so what’s there to dislike? I’m afraid that I can’t help feeling a slight whiff of smug self-satisfaction about the initiative. I’m sure that charity has always had a bit of this about it, but the very cleverness and thoughtfulness that we have recently achieved gives an unwelcome gloss to what should be a simple and natural act of kindness.
I don’t know what we do about this. Somehow we have to get some sense of humility back into our charitable activities. We should not think of ourselves as Lady Bountifuls, but merely as citizens of our tiny world, rolling along through the empty vastness of space with a duty to help each other along the way – it’s as simple as that, and no reason for self-congratulation.
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Ferrero Rocher Chocolates
Share a Special Secret at Christmas
TV/Cinema
isadn 78390
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Nowhere Man
but used to be big in business
but used to be big in business
Mon 02 November 2009
There is a legend in adland about a client many years ago who produced an ad of such stupendous naffness that the bloody thing became a cult hit and sold loads and loads of product. Well, that product was Ferrero Rocher, and the ad was called the Ambassadors Party, and if I’m not mistaken they’ve just trumped themselves.
This ad is a worthy successor to the Ambassadors Party, and in fact I reckon it could become even more of a cult hit than its predecessor. It is truly awful, and the scale has been cranked up a good deal. We’ve gone from the ambassadors residence to the home of the Gods. Obviously it was unlikely that Ferrero Rocher would be handed round at any Ambassadors party, but it is even more unlikely that they would have been handed around on Mt Olympus. It is completely and unashamedly laughable, and I can only hope that the creative team are in on the joke. If, on the other hand, they all think that it is a perfectly wonderful ad then they should possibly be considering alternative career options.
To be honest I don’t really care either way, however they did it, Ferrero Rocher have after many years of dickering around, finally produced another absolutely classic turkey, and just in time for Christmas too.
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very.co.uk
Winter Fun in the Online Department Store
TV/Cinema
isadn 78766
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Dear Prudence
she's out to play
she's out to play
Mon 02 November 2009
Very is very very anonymous. I haven’t been watching much telly recently, a result of a welcome upsurge in my social life, but I caught this one at some point over the weekend, and quite frankly I couldn’t work out who it was going to be for. It’s the first of the full on Xmas ad extravaganza that I’ve seen, though I may be a bit out of the loop, but who was it for? It could have been for John Lewis, Debenhams, M&S, Littlewoods or Tesco – any of those ever-so-slightly middle class ads that roll out before Christmas.
It turns out it’s for Very which is a new online store, I think, but if they are going to make an impression on anyone they’re going to have to do a little bit of original thinking. I suppose if you are a big player you can get away with those nicey-nicey, samey-samey blockbusters, because lots of people know who you are. But I don’t know anything about Very, and after watching this ad, I still know nothing. I’m sorry lads, but you’re going to have to give me a little something to get hold of here. Why should I do any of my Christmas shopping at Very? Is it cheaper, is it better, is it funkier, has it a better selection? I’m not asking for much, just a bit of a hint, but so far I’m not getting anything at all, and you’re not very on my Christmas list.
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ExxonMobil
Accessing Gas in Rocks
TV/Cinema
isadn 78420
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"Fair point Ruby..."
"I think you've.."
Dr. Robert
he's always on the case
he's always on the case
Mon 02 November 2009
Blinding with science, I think that’s what’s going on here. You come across it quite a lot at medical conferences. Throw a lot of heavy looking equations around the place and talk in a very serious fashion and everyone may not notice the great big holes in you argument. Frankly I don’t know what Exxonmobil are doing to try and diminish our dependence on fossil fuels, very little I suspect, but they certainly give the impression that they are taking it all very seriously.
Since that is no doubt the purpose of this piece, the ad can be seen as a success, and if you had not sat through as many medical papers as I have, you might be tempted to believe that Exxonmobil were very clever chaps, dedicated to making a better, cleaner world for us all.
For me however, all it does is remind me of Exxonmobil’s continued existence. I rather thought that they had disappeared in a welter of litigation after the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989, in which several million tons of crude oil were splashed all over the Alaskan coastline. Well, they are still around apparently, and I for one am not convinced by the purity of their motives.
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Nokia Mobile Phones Range
Get to the Good Things with N97
TV/Cinema
isadn 78772
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Mr Mustard
he's so mean
he's so mean
Mon 02 November 2009
Another terribly weary ad from Nokia. All I can say is that they must feel incredibly confident about the appeal of their products, because this ad isn’t going to help shift anything. Sometimes their ads are incomprehensible, sometimes merely banal, but they do seem to be consistently useless. You’d have thought that a big, successful company like Nokia would have been able to sort their ads out by now wouldn’t you? Perhaps they really don’t care, or maybe their ad agency is just taking the money and running.
This particular little item falls into the banal category. A group of anonymous euroyouth wander round an anonymous eurotown as a voice over helpfully explains that if you are going to a ‘house party’ – how hip is that, you can find out where it is by using the map app on your Nokia. The kids themselves look so dull and conventional that they might do better to use the map app to locate a friendly drug dealer who might be able to supply some enlivening party ingredients. Seriously though, this is in fact quite an interesting and potentially useful feature, but it might benefit from a slightly less dull ad.
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Hoping to be one. 
she's out to play 
