My Most Popular September and October LinkedIn Posts
The featured commercials are by Advertising Agencies; Collett Dickenson Pearce London; Specsavers Creative Guernsey; Clemenger BBDO Melbourne; Ogilvy Cape Town; Area 23 New York; and The Nine Shanghai China.
1. Hamlet Cigars, Photo Booth
Advertising Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce, London, UK
The famous Benson & Hedges “Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet” advertising campaign, ran from 1966, to the year all tobacco advertising on British television was banned in 1991.
Collett Dickenson Pearce conceived many humorous commercials, of remarkable creative diversity and scope, during the campaign’s engaging 25 year lifetime, with a jazz rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air on the G String, played by Jacques Loussier and his trio, as the Hamlet brand’s signature soundtrack.
With probably the unlikeliest scenario character ever to represent a brand, the most strikingly memorable commercial, of the campaign, is undoubtedly the 60-second ‘Photo Booth’. The 1986 ‘Selfie’ of advertising fame.
The bold choice of starring comedian Gregor Fisher, as an unfashionably attired balding man, with a ‘comb-over’ of long stands of remaining hair, was an intuitively inspired decision of enduring comedic effect.
Directed by filmmaker, and co-founder of Rose Hackney Productions, Graham Rose, ‘Photo Booth’, in 1997 was voted ‘Ad of The Century’, by The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity’s special jury.
2. Specsavers, Hotel Sauna
Advertising Agency: Specsavers Creative
Filmmaker Daniel Kleinman must have had great fun directing this scenario for Guernsey based Specsavers, in the Channel Islands, about a hotel guest’s hapless sauna experience.
The commercial features a surprise appearance by world-renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay who amusingly, is left uncharacteristically speechless by the guest’s ‘steamy’ encounter.
3. Carlton Draught, Beer Chase
Advertising Agency: Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne, Australia
Production Company: The Sweet Shop, Melbourne Australia
Carlton Draught’s ‘Beer Chase’ scenario, is a humorous spoof of a classic Hollywood, L.A. cops chase scene, superbly directed by filmmaker Steve Ayson.
The New York Festival Gold World Medal, (can’t drive while holding on to your pint, mates) cop chase, features a soundtrack of singer John Farnham’s song, “Thunder in your Heart”.
4. Carling Black Label, Bride Armour
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy, Cape Town, South Africa
Production Company: Darling Films, Cape Town, South, Africa
For Carling Black Label’s no excuse for abuse, social responsibility, ‘Bride Armour’ advertising campaign, Ogilvy and Anheuser-Busch InBev, teamed up with LifeLine, and award-winning fashion designer Suzaan Heyns.
Winner of two Gold Lions, two Silver Lions, and a Bronze Lion, at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the insightfully conceived advertising initiative, was motivated by true stories of domestic abuse.
Suzaan’s spectacular bridal gown and ‘armour’ creations, served as a powerful symbolic representation, of what women should never have to don, in order to protect themselves from marital abuse.
Directed by filmmaker Jeanna Theron, ‘Bride Armour’s’ compelling call for a new wedding vow for men to ‘Love, Protect, and Never Abuse’, motivated much needed public debate about the urgency of protecting women from being regarded as mere male possessions for compliant servitude and wilful abuse. #NOEXCUSE
5. Boehringer Ingelheim, The Unwearable Collection
Advertising Agency: Area 23, New York, USA
Production Company: Dalmatian Cow, Los Angeles, California, USA
Pharma & Medical Craft Grand LIA, and Clio Heath Gold, 2022.
Headquartered in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany, Boehringer Ingelheim is a research-driven group of private companies, dedicated to the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing, of innovative health care products.
Area 23, Cannes Healthcare Agency of the Year 2022, and Boehringer Ingelheim, engaged world-renowned Dutch artist and designer, Bart Hess, to create an ‘unwearable collection’, of cognitive representations of the suffering caused by the rare skin disease, generalised pustular psoriasis (GPP).
GPP is a lifelong, and potentially life-threatening skin disease, characterised by flares of painful blisters that appear all over the body, a burning sensation on the skin, and life-threatening physical pain, that lead to social exclusion.
Directed by filmmaker Jean Paulo Lasmar, ‘The Unwearable Collection’ documentary-styled film, inspired by the real-life stories of people living with GPP, featured four Bart Hess creations, inspired by the real-life stories of people living with GPP.
For his individually crafted symbolic expressions, Bart Hess used brightly coloured foil for ‘GPP Flares’, sharp glass for ‘Pain of Isolation’, blades and knives for ‘Life-Threatening’, and sharp wooden shards for ‘Physical Pain’.
6. Volvo X Durex, Safely Feel The Real Word
International Cannes Short Film Festival, Best VFX Award, 2022
Advertising Agency & Production Company: The Nine Shanghai, China
Directed by multi-talented creative visionary and filmmaker, Jody Xiong, founder of integrated technology agency of design, The Nine Shanghai, the monochromatic ‘Safely Feel The Real World’, is a mesmerising VFX dual-branding epic, of surrealistic imagery and masterful artistry.