Features

Encore Annual 2010: Year in tvc

Carlton DraughtIn an advertising year characterised by commoditised advertising, TV commercials that showed originality and commitment to high production values stood out all the more. Tim Burrowes picks out five of the most memorable.

Carlton Draught – Slo Mo
Ad agency: Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Director: Paul Middleditch
Carlton & United Breweries’long-running Made From Beer series set the benchmark for the funny booze commercial with The Big Ad in 2005.
This year’s instalment celebrated the foolishness of men by applying Photron high speed, slow motion cameras to the bar environment.
Spilled beer, hopeless darts shots and bad dancing never looked so cinematic.
The use of “Nessun Dorma” – with rewritten lyrics – as the soundtrack finished the job.

CommbankComBank – We’ll Cal You Back
Ad agency: Godby, Silverstein & Partners, San Fransisco
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Banking is a sector where it’s hard for the big banks to differentiate themselves.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia chose to go a different way to its previous comical ad agency characters, opting instead for black and white tales in the style of Amelie’s Jean Paul Jeunet.
Indeed, they were so much in his style, he was actually hired to do the job. In a cluttered mediaenvironment, the stylistic ads stood out dramatically.
The effect on public perceptions of the brand is harder to measure though – CommBank will mainly be remembered by the public in 2010 for its aggressive rate rises.

Pure BlondePure Blonde – Pardon
Ad agency: Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Director: Paul Middleditch
The ability to marry epic with comedy is relatively rare in advertising directors.
So Middleditch, director of the much-loved The Big Ad (and Slo Mo – above) was a logic choice for the third instalment in the Brewtopia beer series.
As in previous episodes, the ad explores what happens when the modern world collides with the “place more pure than yours”. In this case, the result was a misplaced belch destroying the kingdom.

Tourism AustraliaTourism Australia – There’s Nothing Like Australia
Ad agency: DDB Sydney
Director: Michael Gracey
In a category with 22 million critics, Australia’s own brand is one of the toughest briefs.
After the disappointments of Where the Bloody Hell Are You and the interim Baz Luhrmann led Come Walkabout campaign around the film Australia, the all singing ad featuring a cast of hundreds was a new direction.
However, critics also pointed to shared characteristics with a Discovery Channel promo.

Kia SportageKia Sporta ge – Grow Up, Not Old
Agency: Innocean (in-house)
Director: Tim Bullock
Other than banks, automotive is probably Australia’s least creative advertising category.
A car ad that is not created using CGI immediately stands out.
One that doesn’t feature a car sweeping through hills even more so.
And a TV commercial that is genuinely funny is highly unusual.
Tim Bullock (who also wrote The Comedy Channel’s advertising adland comedy :30 Seconds) directed with a deft touch.
The ad features cameos from Melle Mel and Scorpio from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five as a mild middle aged man pops out for the nappies and relives his youth.

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