Hovis is UK’s most “iconic” ad – 45 years later
Ridley Scott’s ‘Boy on the bike’ ad for Hovis and agency Collett Dickenson Pearce has been voted both the UK’s most iconic and heart-warming TV ad in a Kantatr poll of 1200 consumers.
The Hovis ad dates back to 1974 and purports to show a delivery boy cycling up a steep hill, somewhere up north. It was actually filmed in Shaftesbury, Dorset.
Runner-up in the iconic category was Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’ (2007) from Fallon. The heart-warming runner-up was JR Hartley for Yellow Pages from David Abbott and Abbott Mead Vickers.
Other ads to feature were from John Lewis, Coca-Cola (I’d like to teach the world to sing), Levi’s and Cadbury Smash (‘Martians.)
Hovis marketing director Jeremy Gibson says: “We are thrilled to see our ‘Boy on the Bike’ advert voted as the most iconic and heart-warming advert. At Hovis, we are so proud of this piece of film history as it evokes the nostalgia for great bread making still prevalent within the company today, and we are delighted the nation feels the same way about it.
“Audiences have placed huge pressure on the advertising world, demanding entertainment as much as information, for example through the much-anticipated and highly emotional Christmas adverts. With this in mind, it is great to see that adverts such as the ‘Boy on the Bike’ remain classics that continue, even 45 years on, to resonate with audiences today, standing the test of time.”