Martyn Hurst wants to know where all the ideas for good advertisements have gone
When I was creating TV commercials, we always searched for ‘the big idea’, to exploit the unique selling proposition of a product or service. Charm, wit and, above all, relevance were key to the success of any campaign.
Today’s ‘creatives’ seem to ignore these principles. As long as you use some whizz-bang graphic animation, mimicking a video game, you can get away with anything.
Yes, those Russian meerkats have wheedled their way into our consciousness, but the premise of mispronouncing ‘market’ for ‘meerkat’ in the comparethemarket brand is pretty thin, isn’t it?
And those car ads in which hybrid models whizz through empty cityscapes, detached from reality, never needing recharging? Life’s not like that.
Gone are the days of Frank Muir declaring on behalf of Cadbury’s, in 1976, ‘Everyone’s a Fruit and Nut case.’
Remember the Maureen Lipman commercials for BT in 1988? Praising her grandson for passing one O-level exam – sociology: ‘Anthony, you got an “ology” – you’re a scientist!’
Famous British film directors cut their teeth making TV commercials, among them Sir Alan Parker and Ridley Scott. Wardour Street in Soho was a fertile breeding ground for emerging talent in the ad world. Editors, recording studios, production companies and preview theatres rubbed shoulders with Soho’s less salubrious residents.
It was truly a golden era, when Heineken refreshed the parts other beers couldn’t reach, and a million housewives every day would pick up a tin of beans and say, ‘Beanz meanz Heinz.’
And when Leonard Rossiter was sharing a flight with Joan Collins, savouring his in-flight Campari, the inevitable always happened and Ms Collins’s drink ended up soaking her blouse.
Glorious days.
