Brilliant use of the digital medium by BA

From time to time the advertising industry goes and does something really interesting with the media. Back in the 1980s, Araldite glued a real car to a 48 sheet poster to demonstrate the strength of its adhesive. Thirty years on, Ogilvy & Mather has achieved the equivalent creative leap in the digital age.

This brilliant digital poster comes to life every time a BA plane flies over it and a small child runs into view, pointing up at the aircraft. The headline even informs us where each individual plane has come from. It's a beautifully creative way in which to deliver the airline's key message: 'More flights to more destinations.' Thus making the promise both compelling and utterly believable.

Like the Araldite poster, this poster for BA is a wonderfully creative product demonstration. And like the Araldite poster, it deserves to pick up heaps of awards. If it doesn't, I'll eat my bloody hat.

How much schmaltz can you take?

After much speculation, the John Lewis Christmas commercial has arrived. It's a stunningly beautiful piece of Disneyesque animation featuring a bear and a hare. Interestingly, it has divided opinion quite dramatically. People seem to either love it or hate it. And no, the retailer isn't flogging Marmite.

Production values aside, it unashamedly goes for the cheesiest, sickliest form of overly sentimental schmaltz laid on thick with a trowel and served with a side order of schmaltz.

Whatever your view though, I have to say that the idea isn't as fresh or original as the two previous John Lewis productions created by Adam & Eve. But I guess that was always going to be a difficult trick to pull off.

Selling the charms of Paris

This TV commercial created by AMV BBDO for Eurostar appeals to our sense of adventure and the prospect of discovering the charms and delights of Paris. It takes the bold decision not to tell us anything about the train journey and everything about the destination. In doing so, the intention here must be to get more people to visit Paris - thereby getting more derrieres on seats. It might just work, because this delightful little commercial certainly does make you smile. I particularly like the French voice over and the mischievous sense of humour, all of which is very French. Full marks to a brave client and a creative agency.

Chrimbo magic for M&S?

At a time when Marks & Sparks is feeling the pinch, a lot will be resting on this new Christmas commercial to steady the boat and inject some life into its flagging sales performance of late. So the retailer's advertising agency RKCR/Y&R has pulled out all the stops in terms of lavish production values and big names.

This commercial pays homage to 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'The Wizard of Oz' , and employs the likes of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Helena Bonham Carter to add a bit of glitz.

So have they managed to pull it off? Well, yes and no. While it's probably a great deal better than any recent M&S offering, it doesn't exactly ooze charm in the same way last year's 'Snowman' Christmas commercial did for John Lewis. It's all very nicely edited and put together, but I can't help feeling that the use of perfect models who clearly can't act, lets this commercial down, and gives it the feel of a commercial rather than an epic film.

But there's a more fundamental question to be asked here. Is the marketing strategy on which this commercial is based, credible? In other words, can we realistically be expected to buy into the end-line 'Believe in magic and sparkle' in the context of Marks & Sparks? Call me an old cynic, but I'm not convinced that anyone in their right mind will ever associate M&S with magic and sparkle.

Everything Everywhere or just all over the place?

 

There was a time when a certain brand of mobile phone managed for years to adopt a distinct look and tone of voice that we all became reasonably familiar with. At times it was a bit esoteric and self deprecating - but it was always consistent. If you removed the logo, you'd still know the brand.  In the cinema, Mr Dresden and his film board would make us chuckle about mobile phones ruining movies. The line 'The future's bright. The future's Orange' became so ingrained in the public consciousness that even when France Telecom replaced it with 'Together we can do more', six or seven years ago, everyone still remembered the old line.

That's all history now. The merging of TMobile and Orange in the UK has resulted in these two brands coming together and giving birth to Everything Everywhere or EE. The advertising produced by Saatchi & Saatchi, the agency that no longer employs the two famous brothers, is the agency behind the new brand; and with the best will in the world, this was always going to be an impossible task. Indeed, many believe it was a fatally flawed error of judgement to kill off the Orange brand overnight, even if it was to be replaced by a brilliantly creative advertising creation. It's a notion I have a great deal of sympathy with, having worked for three years on the Orange brand myself.

The cinema advertising featuring Kevin Bacon isn't a brilliant creation: at best it's mildly irritating (the shed commercial featured here is particularly weak), while the green and yellow press advertising is frankly dull as ditch water (though ditch water might be a tad more interesting). This aside, whatever happened to Orange Wednesdays? Have they now become Everything Everywhere Wednesdays? Doesn't quite trip off the tongue, does it?

Powerful anti-gun campaign from New York

The fact that America still can't get to grips with its archaic gun legislation in the wake of so many hideous shootings, and overcome the brute force of the gun lobby, leaves most of us Brits in a state of utter bewilderment. So there's always a place for powerful anti-gun marketing, of which this is a very good example by Grey New York. The headline reads: 'Bullets leave bigger holes than you think.'

Anti phone and drive campaign from Israel

This very simple ad produced by Gitam BBDO in Israel to convey the dangers of trying to drive while attempting to key a number into your mobile phone, is a lovely example of an ad that makes you think and shudder at the thought of doing something so incredibly stupid. Sponsored by Opel (otherwise recognised as Vauxhall in the UK), this piece amply demonstrates that less can sometimes mean more.