Ads of the Week 07 Feb 2014
It’s been a week of brave new industry leaps and campaign launches. Ryan Watson breaks down the highlights.
This week shots leapt into a whole new world of possibilities when we launched our brand spanking new website that your eyes now feast upon. After months of meetings, dotting i’s, crossing t’s and making sure each and every ‘s’ is lower case where the word shots is concerned, the day finally came when we went live.
Leap of love
Another brand taking a jump into new territory is Lacoste, via its French agency BETC Paris, with a new film based on the tagline Life is a Beautiful Sport. Entering into a busy café setting where two friends sit casually at a table, the film diverts to a rooftop where the male friend paces furiously with pent-up aggression before leaping off the side of the building. Cutting between the two scenes, the rest of the film is an invigorating metaphor for the rush of romance.
Marking the first TV commercial launch for the clothing label, the piece is skilfully shot by Seb Edwards through Wanda Paris and features a powerful, uplifting soundtrack that will spin you into the weekend. Timed to coincide with the Winter Olympics, kicking off in Sochi tonight, the commercial will be aired during the coverage.
Rolling with it
Switching to the West Coast of America, the idea of a leap seems much too strenuous if you’re a tattooed, hip-hop-loving local; a laidback gangster lean is much more appropriate. That’s the stance the lead character in Nick Gordon and Mother’s new campaign for MoneySupermarket adopts, having managed to save money on his car insurance. The film, produced by Somesuch & Co, features narration by (plus a cameo from) the inimitable Snoop Dogg.
It pays to plan
Saving money has always been the aim of the game for old school retirement insurer, Scottish Widows, and having launched some darker ads through the years it’s about time someone came along and lightened the mood. That someone is 101 London, the agency who this week launched a new campaign and brand refresh for the firm, including a makeover for its iconic Widow character, who returns after a six-year hiatus.
The commercial, which champions the idea of having a life plan, but this time with a positive and optimistic tone, was shot by Leila & Damien de Blinkk and once again Wanda takes care of production duties, this time via its London base.
Signs of the times
Turning our attention to the weekend ahead and here’s another cool campaign for a newspaper supplement (after The Guardian and Observer’s Use in Moderation made our pick of the bunch a few weeks ago). Icons, from Grey London and directed by Academy’s US, is for The Sunday Times.
The piece is an elegantly choreographed, continuous shot promoting references to culture in art, film, TV and music with specific nod to electronic duo Daft Punk, for example. Grey also released this brilliantly weird and wonderful campaign for McVities this week, via Passion RAW director Owen Trevor, which is well worth a watch.
