White Pages turns to Piano Man
White Pages has returned to TV advertising after an 18 month absence with musical offering “Piano Man”, created by Clemenger Proximity.
The ad features the Piano Man sits crooning at a baby-grand piano before the camera pulls away and reveal he is tapping away at a laptop searching whitepages.com.au.
Geraldine Davys, Sensis Group Manager for brand and marketing communications, said: “White Pages has amazing brand awareness so we used our larger than life Piano Man to tell the story of our products.”
The TV campaign is being supported by radio and digital.
Credits
- Title: Piano Man
- Advertiser/Client: Sensis
- Product/Service: White Pages
- Group Manager, Brand and Marketing Communications: Geraldine Davys
- Marketing Manager: Nick Winbanks
- Marketing Specialist: Victoria Brennan
- Advertising Agency: Clemenger Proximity Melbourne
- Creative Chairman: James McGrath
- Executive Creative Director: Ant Keogh
- Creative Director: Josh Robbins
- Copywriter: Nick Kelly
- Art Director: Quenton Miller
- Executive Producer: Sonia von Bibra
- Agency Producer: Lisa Moro
- Planner: Paul Rees-Jones, Matt Davies
- Group Account Director: Chris Howatson
- Senior Account Manager: Kirsten Darbyshire
- Production Company: Prodigy Films
- Director: Brian Billow
- DOP/Cinematographer: Russell Boyd
- Executive Producer: Jonathan Samway
- Producer: Ben Swaffer
- Offline: The Butchery
- Editor: Jack Hutchings
- Online House: Digital Pictures
- Online Editor: Eugene Richards
- Music Composition: Electric Dreams Studios (featuring Mark Dawson)
- Sound: Final Sound
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Not a bad effort. Could have pushed the camp button a bit harder.
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With all those people watching it, surely one of them had seen this before?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yHtDlSaoj8
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@ Yikes, I agree. This is too similar to the White Gold work from California Milk Process Board to be a coincidence:
– http://www.contagiousmagazine......_board.php
– http://www.contagiousmagazine......_board.php
And on that note, I am usually the last person to highlight resemblances from new campaigns to past ones I have seen. As in general they are done better. In this case, not so much.
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Gual’s right. It is an inferior version of White Gold.
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Gack. “Faster”? Ever since Al Gore thought of the internet, the White Pages has had what has to be the slowest and most inaccurate search in the world wide internets. It’s faster to use the books, or if it’s a company, to go to the company website for their contact details.
70s style schmaltz to match 70s style search speed?
Maybe – and this is a big maybe – it has improved lately, but I’ve so gotten out of the habit of using it that I couldn’t be sure. If that is the case, it’s after years and years of being absolutely POOR and maybe that’s the story they should be telling.
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This is a disgrace. Athough not as half as bad as actually receiving printed copies of the yellow pages in your mailbox once a year, then watching them fill up the recycle bin almost immediately afterwards. Either way, both white and yellow pages seem like yesterday’s news to me, and this ad’s not changing my opinion in the slightest.
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M – time for another look. There have been plenty of improvements added.
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Like this.
Best thing Sensis has done for many years.
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Interesting attempt, to bad that the website is not as interesting. its a complete waste of time.
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Sure Steve@Sensis, that was kind of my point – go back and read my last paragraph. I have a vague idea it might be better.
I don’t need to hear “Faster” – that won’t get it back in my Bookmarks. I need to hear “It sucked, we know it sucked, and we did something about it, so give it another go”. I remember specific situations where I went round and round in increasingly cranky and frustrated circles trying to find the magic word that would give me the phone number that I *knew* was there somewhere…. “Faster” (than what?) in an ad won’t restore confidence.
Thanks to Steve@Sensis (NOT the ad), I’ll give it a go… but most people will just get the ad. If they are half as jaded as me, will it restore their confidence?
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Awful ad, really poor Sensis.
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Its got a credits list that looks like a feature! Not sure some of those people would be happy being listed!! Waste of time and money.
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Thanks M – I can vouch the site had a few issues back in early 2008 but there’s been plenty of work put in since to dramatically improve the experience. Its hard to write a catchy jingle around that though…
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Is it just me, but when I put a name in to search for and add the “Sydney” filter I end up getting people in other states. The fact that it doesn’t seem to be reducing the number of matches the more information I feed it seems to tell me that it doesn’t work properly. Maybe it’s been fixed lately, but I sort of gave up on it probably six months ago. Can someone tell me whether it is just me or are others having the same sort of issues.
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white pages – havnt used it in years. why would i ? i dont really get the product.
all the people i need to contact are stored in my mobile phone
if i need the details of a business i use google or their other product, the yellow pages.
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WOFTAM
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SHOCKING AD….REALLY BAD….I ADVISE ALL MY CLIENTS TO DROP WHITE AND YELLOW PAGE ADVERTISING. WHO WOULD BOTHER WITH SUCH A POOR SEARCH PROCESS.
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+1 on the “Who the hell uss the White Pages?” meme, both hard copy and the website. If I want a particular business, I’ll just search for their name directly. If they’re not online, I won’t be doing business with them anyway. It must be YEARS since I’ve used any of White Pages’ services. Guys, just close it down. Now.
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i just saw this ad again on tv and came on here to see WHO made it.
It is the WORST ad i have seen in a long long time.
It makes me cringe. And not in a ‘we are having an impact on the viewer, getting their attention’ way.
I have seen it 4 times now. And I still (as a consumer not as a marketer) have NO idea what whitepages is trying to tell me.
Pull this ad WhitePages and get BBDO to recify the damage free of charge.
God what a disgrace. I REALLY hope this makes it onto GruenTransfer….. if only for Todd to tell me what the strategy is trying to do and for Russel to tell me that is isn’t helping sell.
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As one of my friends said last night on Twitter, quoting Homer Simpson: ” If I puked in a fountain pen & mailed it to the monkey house I’d get a better ad”.
Sorry, this ad is an unholy abomination The creatives must have been on crack to think this ad was going to enhance brand awareness & perception – its more likely to make someone run for the hills to something they know already works better and is more user friends (internet search, eg Google).
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Interesting. I love the ad, despite being a tad similar to the white gold predecessor.
I wonder – if people aren’t using the product, why are white and yellow pages worth billions in Australia each year? It looks like people (advertisers and customers) are still seeing this as a good value proposition, and good to see white pages pushing the envelope for online.
No matter how you look at the numbers, it’s a model that still works!
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The ad sucks but the credits are a major work… has anyone been left out?? I couldn’t find the caterer
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Equal worst ad I have seen in ages! For me its up there with the AAMI ads & the Lexus one with the guy putting on a suit as complete Turkeys
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@anothermous . i agree. although if i was involved i would have rathered been left OFF the credits!
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Russel Boyd shot it? Jesus.
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So, here’s a thought – imagine being the agency that said “sorry, we don’t think the whitepages has a future, so we are not going to run with this campaign”… But no, Clemengers (and rightly so I guess) took the money, ripped off another idea and ran! Who said agency land was becoming commoditised – never 😉
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Bad Ad,
Would people go direct to white pages to find a business or a person?
When I am tracking down a business or a person I use Google…
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Maybe I’m old school, but I still use the white pages and whereis.com. Hate the ad, but have to admit I still use the service.
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Love the ad !!! In these days of trying to stand out this one really does, and it seems to divide people down the middle – you either love or hate it. The ad elicits emotion in people and emotion anchors in the memory so well done Sensis ! This one and the Allens lolly ad with the big string puppet of a girl walking through Brisbane are my favourites.
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I change the channel every time this comes on, really who thought it would be a good idea to have someone who looks like a pedophile advertise phone numbers. Maybe Conroy will censor the site if he sees that dude using it to search.
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i think its alright trying to work out who the. piano man is good add compared to some others eg “libra invisble pads”
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