Flick through the pages of a glossy magazine and advertising looks sexy. Beautiful models lounge in high-end fashion brands like Vivienne Westwood, Burberry and Alexander McQueen, their lives and images airbrushed for a veneer of effortless luxury.
But, just as this is not reality for ordinary people, it’s also far removed from most of advertising.
Advertising is not glamorous. People need boilers fixed, pain medicine to help that lingering cold, a car to drive to their 9 to 5 so they can fill in spreadsheets and send emails. And swathes of businesses search for customers looking for just that.
But there’s a reason the man known as the “father of advertising” David Ogilvy said: “There are no dull products, only dull writers”.
From British Gas embracing diving briefs, to Currys’ slapstick ads, and Nationwide’s evil bank boss, the best brands and agencies produce a host of eyebrow-raising, giggle-inducing adverts about mundane subjects.
Here are seven from the past month alone.
Tom Daley takes advantage of British Gas’s same-day service
Some might call it a touch risqué, but Tom Daley in a bath calling in a British Gas mechanic and suggestively almost whipping off his towel is a masterstroke.
Created with T&Pm and OMD UK, the advert makes British Gas – which, let’s face it, no one ever calls for a laugh – a bit more fun. Not only that but the fact it opens with Daley visualising the perfect dive creates a link between Olympic-level precision and…boilers.
It’s not quite piña coladas but it might just be as fun as British Gas can get.
https://vimeo.com/1014369023?share=copy
Peugeot’s ‘Born to be wild’
You can place a car in an exotic location with stunning views, but it won’t make the car itself more interesting.
However, Peugeot’s recent advert by Accenture Song for its new electric vehicle range shows its iconic lion emblem coming to life. A lion’s statue in Paris roams the city, which is then shown jumping out of an advertising screen in New York’s Times Square, a mural in Rio de Janeiro, and a Tokyo restaurant.
Set to a reinterpretation of Steppenwolf’s iconic “Born to be Wild” and produced in striking purple colours, it shifts car advertising from being about going through places – albeit in style – to awakening them, just like electricity.
EE customer clocks off from a boring day at work
Aside from the masterclass provided by Virgin’s iconic hand-gliding goat and speed-boat riding walrus adverts, commercials in the broadband category can be as dull as getting your WiFi to actually work.
With an engaging Pet Shop Boys soundtrack, EE’s recent spot created by Saatchi & Saatchi bucks that trend. You could even call it a social commentary. In black and white, it shows a dull day at the office and an even worse commute, before finally experiencing the freedom of home.
When it dramatically switches into colour, the advert is more than just tongue-in-cheek – it cleverly reinforces the product’s benefit by showing a whole family happily using the WiFi at once.
Nurofen fights pain dismissal
Being ill is boring at best and downright miserable at other times. Your average ailment requiring pain relief is neither fun nor riveting.
Spearheaded by McCann, rather than showing how it helps your sniffles, Nurofen has chosen to focus on a wider mission. Its recent installation highlighted instances in which women’s pain has been dismissed – “Your endometriosis will be cured once you have babies” was just one account.
Suddenly a widely available pain medication takes on a much bigger significance. Now that’s memorable.
Currys embraces IRL shopping
Buying an HDMI cable in Currys, or having to replace your dishwasher isn’t a glamorous experience, nor, frankly should it have to be.
But Currys ‘techspectations’ series of adverts is far from dull. Created by AMV BBDO, the latest sees the retailer take it upon itself to highlight that in-real-life (IRL) shopping still exists, but it pokes fun at the modern consumer’s attachment to digital.
A lady swipes as she looks for a kettle knocking them all off the shelf. A man shouts with his head inside a washing machine. If there’s a way to remind an audience that you can actually go and physically pick up an item from a store, it’s this way.
Kwik-Fit leaves customers happy in dead-pan spot
A chain that does MOTs and changes tires doesn’t scream funny, but spearheaded by VCCP and with renowned director Harold Einstein’s comedic touch, the brand is quick to remind customers that in their hour of need they can still smile.
A dead-pan mechanic on a roller talks through all the ways it serves customers needs. “Do we tickle them?”. “No” he said.
“We just focus on our areas of expertise, like tires,” he continues before another mechanic joins him on screen rolling around inside a tire.
If you’re a mechanic chain, don’t try to be more. Don’t try to be less. Take it in your stride. That’s the message.
Nationwide – ‘A.N.Y Bank’
Founded in 1884 as a building society, Nationwide has to face tech-first challengers like Monzo.
Instead of rocking the boat with its tech, Nationwide has instead opted to do so through adverts that poke fun at its direct competitors – so much so that it has received the attention of the Advertising Standards Association.
A year after the banned original spot with Dominic West as the arrogant boss of A.N.Y bank, the bank has once again joined forces with creative agency New Commercial Arts.
This time, after commissioning a Roman Emperor style portrait of himself, the banker’s daughter arrives with a Nationwide card on her person.
“Why them, not me?”
“It just feels good to bank somewhere that’s owned by its members”.
Dominic West’s character might be amusing, but you wouldn’t want to bank with him. You might want to bank with an old school, reliable, building society like Nationwide…even if it is less entertaining.
https://youtu.be/NAlRCwZ0cU4?si=Q-SccvnGLGde6ZiF
