T.V. Adverts.

[Roger Kettle]

I realise that, because we're spread around the world, we're faced with different T.V. ads but which have been the most memorable/annoying for you over the years? I find most of the current batch irritating, to be honest---none more so than that *!*!*!* meerkat who is offering some kind of insurance. (I still don't know which company is involved so the campaign has failed miserably as far as I'm concerned). I DID quite like that drumming Phil Collins gorilla for Cadbury's a couple of years back---I thought that worked well but I'm hard pushed to come up with anything else. Maybe those coloured balls bouncing down San Fransiscan streets for some television makers but, even then, the name of the company escapes me.
Over to you and, I'm sure, some nostalgic Milky Bar kids.

[Vulture]

OXO!

[Roger Kettle]

I was only asking, Vulch.

[Tom]

 

Do you remember an advert for some company or other who used an owl in their adverts, and their phone number ended 28 28 20? I thought that was quite clever.

I'm full to overflowing of the operatic Go Compare adverts.

I really like the jingle to 118 twenty four seven (whichever directory enquiries company that is)

Loved the Smash Martians and how they laughed at us.

I may have mentioned this before, but the Woolworth's Christmas ads from years ago were cracking! <Hehehe>

Not keen on those breakfast cereal cavemen who crack boulders over each other's heads... what's that all about?

And I really can't stand the wooden cash for gold type adverts.

[Jack]

Anything that uses the Ghostbusters music is good.

Meerkats and Opera Singers With False Moustaches are not.

I also liked the drumming gorilla.

I dislike the new "Mr. Muscle", in which he's depicted as an animated superhero who IS huge with lots of muscles. The whole point was that the cleaner does the work for you, with precious little scrubbing effort - hence the weedy guy being able to use it. Replacing the weedy guy with the hulking superhero defeats the purpose.

[Diane CBPFC]

I like the current one for the Ford Sonata - black and white cars driving then ending up parking like a piano keyboard - that was clever.

[Malc]

I'll spare yez all my thoughts on advertising, TV ads and the rest, which would lead to a very long post, but Roger makes a very telling point in that the two most important aspects of advertising are that the name of the service or product should 'stick' in the viewer's memory, and secondly, should increase sales.

Clever ads, Golden Rose of Montreux winners, that kind of thing, are just that -clever and prize-winning, but it's amazing how few of them actually end up shifting more of the product off the shelves. They're more like the BMW Formula 1 racing team. Does that racing team end up selling more BMWs? Is the average F1 fan too poor to buy one in the first place, and is the well heeled typical BMW owner going to buy one based on its reputation despite the racing team? If the BMW racing team ends up finishing last in the constructors championship, will BMW sales plummet?

The best ads are the ones which provoke, are memorable AND which sell the product. Gregor Fisher as the Baldy Man in the photo booth apparently sent Hamlet sales soaring, and it was voted (a few years ago) the Best Advert Ever. And I agree.

[Colin]

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq_Ku810Dfk&feature=related

[Rob Baker]

How about these three 'Whitbread Best Bitter' mini-epics (from the early 80's?).  I assume they were based on the 1927 recording of 'Abdul Abulbul Amir' , by the brilliant Frank Crumit. 

value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BCvckXYMBEc&hl=en_GB&fs=1

value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HyRtk92gPdU&hl=en_GB&fs=1

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See if you can get hold of some Frank Crumit CDs - they are brilliantly funny, and a bit near the knuckle.  As well as "Abdul Abulbul Amir", his other hits included "The King of Borneo", "There's No-one With Endurance Like The Man Who Sells Insurance", "What Kind of a Noise Annoys an Oyster" , "Jack is Every Inch a Sailor",  "And Then He Took Up Golf ", "I Learned About Women from Her", "The Pig Song",  and "The Song of the Prune".