My Favourite Dougal Wilson Commercials
This is another in the globally popular ACES series of featuring commercial filmmakers and directors that I admire for their skills in bringing creative concepts and storylines to enthralling life.
Dougal Wilson
British filmmaker and director Dougal Wilson, after studying astrophysics at Durham University, worked as a Copywriter at Leith Advertising in Edinburgh before successfully turning his hand to directing music videos and becoming a maestro storyteller of many noteworthy commercials of global acclaim and accolades.
1. AT&T, The Train
Advertising Agency: BBDO, New York, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Greg Hahn
Group Executive Creative Director: Matt MacDonald
Executive Creative Directors: David Povill, and David Cuccinello
Creative Directors: Kevin Mulroy, and Dan Kenneally
Production Company: Furlined, New York, USA
Director of Photography: Joost Van Gelder
Visual Effects Company: Method Studios, New York, USA
Filmmaker Dougal Wilson’s superb direction of BBDO New York advertising agency’s 2019, AT&T ‘Wild West’ movie genre commercial, is engagingly watchable.
Entertainingly combining live action drama and animation,’The Train’ has a surprising ending that very effectively communicates the commercial’s consumer proposition; “From Westerns to Family Films, More For Your Thing, Is Our Thing”.
2. IKEA, The Joy Of Storage
Advertising Agency: Mother, London, UK
Creative Directors: Tim McNaughton, and Freddy Mandy
Copywriter: Rich Tahmesebi
Art Director: Pilar Santos
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Puppeteers: Jonny & Will: Blinkink Production Studios, London, UK
Post Production and VFX Studios: MPC, London, UK
Part of ‘The Wonderful Everyday’ IKEA campaign series of commercials, Mother London agency’s 2017, film-scenario about the joy of having proper storage at home and the order it can bring to one’s life, was brought to spectacular life by filmmaker and director, Dougal Wilson.
The superbly produced flock of t-shirts taking flight across land and sea, in all conditions, as they embark on a cinematic journey home to their designated wardrobe units, is magical to behold.
3. Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Barbers
Advertising Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Los Angeles, California, USA
Creative Director: Sam Oliver
Art Directors: Alan Buchanan, Ben Carter, and Mark Hannibal
Copywriter: Brooks Jackson
Production Company: Furlined, Santa Monica, California, USA
This charming story about a small barber shop in New Orleans, and the iPhone Plus 7’s camera Portrait Mode, that plays out to a soundtrack of Nigerian funk musician William Onyeabor’s song “Fantastic Man”, was masterly directed by maestro storytelling filmmaker, Dougal Wilson.
At the ADC’s 97th Annual Awards, held at New York’s One Club for Creativity, iPhone’s ‘Barbers won a Black Cube for Best in Show, plus a Gold Cube for Best in Motion and Film Craft, and Furlined was named Production Company of the Year.
4. John Lewis & Partner Waitrose, Bohemian Rhapsody
Advertising Agency: adam&eveDDB, London, UK
Chief Creative Officer: Richard Brim:
Creative Directors: Paul Knott, and Tim Vance
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Director of Photography: Linus Sandgren
Post Production Company: MPC, London UK
Directed by filmmaker Dougal Wilson who skilfully elicits sterling performances from his cast of 82 children and 11 adults, the charming story, filmed over 5 eventful days, and featuring Queen’s resonant ‘Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack, makes for utterly delightful viewing.
5. John Lewis & Partners, Eva & Excitable Edgar
Advertising Agency: adam&eveDDB, London, UK
Chief Creative Officers: Richard Brim, and Tammy Einav
Creative Directors: Matt Gay, and Simon Lloyd
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Director of Photography: Joost van Gelder
VFX and Post Production Company: Untold Studios, London, UK
Filmed in a picturesque Hungarian village, and directed by filmmaker Dougal Wilson with his masterly storytelling skill, the ‘Eva and Edgar’ scenario makes for charming Christmas viewing fare for the whole family.
The Integrated campaign about friendship and caring, included in-store merchandising of a variety of ‘Excitable Edgar’ gift offerings.
The soundtrack of singer-songwriter Mara Carlyle, and British Conductor Hugh Brunt’s music arrangement, performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra, features the classic Bastille band’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, with lead singer Dan Smith.
6. Arla Skyr Icelandic Yoghurt, The Messenger
Advertising Agency: Wieden+ Kennedy, London, UK
Executive Creative Directors: Tony Davidson, and Iain Tait
Creative Directors: Dave Day, and Larry Seftel
Art Directors and Copywriters: Thom Whitaker, and Danielle Noel
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Director of Photography: Karl Oskarsson
Production Service Company: Truenorth, Reykjavík, Iceland
(Skyr is a thick and creamy, cultured dairy product, of fresh, sour milk cheese yogurt, that has been a part of Icelandic cuisine for centuries)
Wieden+Kennedy’s inspired scenario turns the clock back to the 60’s, when young Icelanders in remote villages with only one telephone, worked as messengers to keep the hardy inhabitants of this sparsely-populated island connected to each other.
Superbly directed by filmmaker Dougal Wilson, and filmed during sub-zero temperatures on the south coast of Iceland, in the scenic fishing village of Eyrarbakki, with a population of about 570 people, the commercial depicts one such messenger, charmingly portrayed by young Orri Sigurdsson who, sustained by his daily diet of Skyr, goes to extraordinary lengths to deliver his messages.
7. John Lewis, Buster the Boxer
Advertising Agency: adam&eveDDB, London, UK
Chief Creative Officer: Ben Priest
Executive Creative Directors: Richard Brim, and Ben Tollett
Copywriter: Ben Stilitz
Art Director: Colin Booth
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Director of Photography: Joost van Gelder
Post Production Company: MPC, London, UK
Directed by filmmaker Dougal Wilson, ‘Buster The Boxer’ according to Campaign magazine, motivated 137 million views in the first week of its festive season campaign’s launch.
Chief Marketing Officer of Brandwatch, Will McInnis, summed up the campaign’s consumer appeal as follows:
“As marketers, we know that a great ad is all about eliciting emotions. It’s classic big brand storytelling, meets distribution in the social age.”
“Essentially people won’t share boring content and John Lewis knows it. In a world where our attention is pulled in so many different directions, it’s a reminder that a good story still matters.”
The soundtrack, which features a cover version of Randy Crawford’s 1980 hit, “One Day I’ll Fly Away”, performed by British electronic trio the ‘Vaults’, was recorded at the famous Abbey Road studios and topped the YouTube’s annual festive leaderboard globally.
8. John Lewis, Sam & Monty The Penguin
Advertising Agency: adam&eveDDB, London UK
Executive Creative Directors: Ben Priest, Ben Tollett, and Emer Stamp
Art Directors: Richard Brim, and Andy Kelly
Copywriter: Daniel Fisher
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Director of Photography: Joost Van Gelder
Animation and VFX Studios: MPC, London, UK
Superbly directed by filmmaker Dougal Wilson, with the MPC VFX team lovingly crafting Monty for over five months for integration in a real-life environment, this 2014 Cannes Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix, and Film Craft Grand Prix winner was described by jury president Andrew Robertson as follows:
“Everything the Cannes festival stands for. It’s beautiful, emotional work for a retail brand that was proven to have contributed to revenue growth of 132 million pounds”.
‘Monty The Penguin’ motivated 212,000 tweets, 165,000 online views and ‘shares’ across all social channels, that totalled 29 million. Overall, the campaign delivered a staggering 568 million impressions.
The integrated campaign included a ‘Monty App’ that hit the ‘iTunes Kids’ chart top spot with more than 500,000 interactive sessions.
9. Stella Artois, The Race
Advertising Agency: Lowe, London, UK
Creative Directors: Christina Yu, and Joseph Bonnici
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Director of Photography: Jan Velicky
Stella Artois Nostalgia: ‘The Race’ is one of my favourite commercials from the time Stella Artois commercials were at the height of their lauded and famed storytelling.
Lowe London advertising agency’s ‘Do it for Papa’ story about two brothers in a vintage bicycle race, was superbly directed by filmmaker Dougal Wilson, and filmed in the town of Muro and surrounding mountainous areas, on the island of Majorca, known in Spanish as Mallorca.
The painstaking attention to detail of the props and cycling gear of that time, adds an enchanting feeling of authenticity that makes for rewarding viewing.
Many of the props were provided by the island’s cycling enthusiasts, who also took on roles as film extras, and the featured ‘Papa’ photograph, was provided by a widow of a local cycling legend.