Paul Simons: MAA blast from the past – Heineken

Heineken 1985 by Lowe Howard-Spink

I joined Gold Greenlees Trott (GGT) in 1984 and found a place with widely diverging social backgrounds from Dave Trott’s proletariat view of the world versus my assistant Bella who was from the Hanson family, owning a brewery amongst other assets, posh school and from the Sloane Square set.

I first saw this new spot for Heineken one evening at home and collapsed in laughter because it reminded me of what it was like working at GGT. (A day or so after starting at GGT someone knocked on my office door and said “There’s a man in reception in a sherbet for you.” I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about*. I did learn that the movie The Blues Brothers had made a big impression on the staff at GGT that had led to the adoption of Cockney rhyming slang for some reason.

The Heineken spot is a classic piece of social differences amplified to create comedy situations as in Only Fools and Horses. The young lady being trained for a part in EastEnders (one Sylvestra Le Touzel in real life) can’t crack the accent, then has a swig of Heineken, then gets it right. The funniest moment is when the office boy, a bit of a geezer (“Get your laughing gear round this”) congratulates his boss for succeeding with the Sloane Ranger only for his accent to switch to posh boy. Very funny.

After watching this spot a few times I started wanting a cool can of Heineken.

* A sherbet is a taxi derived from the rhyming slang of sherbet dab (confectionery) meaning cab. Dog and bone, frog and toad and all that stuff.

You May Also Like

About Paul Simons

Paul joined Cadbury-Schweppes in brand management and then moved to United Biscuits. He switched to advertising in his late 20s, at Cogent Elliott and then Gold Greenlees Trott. He founded Simons Palmer Denton Clemmow & Johnson in the late 80s, one of the leading creative agencies of the 90s. Simons Palmer then merged with TBWA to create a top ten agency. Paul then joined O&M as chairman & CEO of the UK group. After three years he left to create a new AIM-quoted advertising group Cagney Plc. He is now a consultant to a number of client companies. Paul also shares his thoughts on his blog. Visit Paul Simons Blog.

4 comments

  1. Sorry, I’m no creative but worked at Cannes Lions for 34 years so have a desert island list of favourites and classics:

    3 favourites are:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYA2Qy0SEpo

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTLO2F_ERY

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZNoznbIXSo

    Carolyn Lowery

  2. Shame Paul didn’t know that was a great CDP ad, not Lowe Howard Spink

    That ad followed in the footsteps of the great Penelope Keith ad for Parker pens and another anarchic ad for Harvey’s Bristol Cream.

    CDP were always great at taking the piss out of the sloanes.

  3. Not sure about that Chris. The writer was Adrian Holmes – where were you Adrian?

  4. Paul was correct. It was Lowe by then, part of Frank’s escape kit when he quit CDP. One of Adrian’s best!