Ricky Gervais parts with artistic integrity in Australia for Optus’ ad to sell new iPhones
Comedian Ricky Gervais admits he’s prepared to undermine his artistic integrity in Australia, as Optus looks to capitalise on the release of the new iPhone today.
The two new spots, created by content marketing agency Emotive, follow the same format as the telco’s successful Netflix launch ads from earlier this year, with the creator of The Office speaking directly to camera in an anti-ad format.
In the first spot the Office creator reveals Optus called again asking him to do another advert, adding “what about people thinking I’ve undermined my artistic integrity? They said ‘it’s for Australia’, I said, ‘Yeah, alright'”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su6h866DrK4&feature=youtu.be
In the second he says he is getting “even more money for less effort”, relying on the voiceover at the end to sell the new iPhone offer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WViNZSIlxMs&feature=youtu.be
While the Netflix launch campaign only played across digital channels the next instalment is set to air on TV as well, and with some out of home elements.
Corin Dimopoulos, head of brand and communications at Optus, said: “We took a risk releasing the initial Ricky video earlier this year and it paid off. Ricky clearly resonates with consumers who want a more authentic take on traditional advertising and we’re excited to continue to produce engaging and entertaining content.”
Charlie Leahy, ECD, Emotive added: “Our approach to content creation always starts with the audience. The first Ricky piece released earlier this year delivered over eight million streams with record sharing levels. The audience enjoyed it and wanted more.
“This follow up once again allows Ricky to take control of the scripts and deliver it with his globally renowned comedy style. It was a privilege to work in a true collaboration with Ricky and the team at Optus on this content campaign.”
Credits:
Creative Director, Emotive – Charlie Leahy
Director Social Marketing & Creative Services, Optus – Nigel Lopez-McBean
Director – Sam Washington
Writer – Ricky Gervais
UK Production Team – Caviar
The Netflix spots had some relevance, with Ricky being a well known celeb and at the time the format was vaguely original.
This seems to be over-stretching that with a derivative execution and weird unrelated message tacked on the end.
Do we know if these ads actually sell phones?
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Last time i liked him this time I don’t.
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More quality comedy from Ricky. Well done Optus! I’d literally swap to them just for these ads. I left 3 Mobile for what they did to De La Souls ‘3 is a magic number’. Brutal
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Ricky Gervais could read the phone book and it would be funny.
He just gets funny in the best way.
Simple
His laugh is funny
His character Derek and all the other characters are funny.
He writes funny
He is funny.
Of course, any commercial he does is going to be funny.
That’s a no-brainer…
His is the best kind of funny b/c it has kindness and compassion attached
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Always liked Ricky, but really hate this ad. I’ll flick it off now every time it comes on. I think it’s insulting
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Lazy. The first version was surprising and authentic to the Netflix stuff, the follow-up looks like it’s an ‘it worked last time, let’s just do it again’ strategy. Shame, Optus was starting to look interesting.
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