Let’s be clear. I love OOH. I love radio, social, PR. The lot. But if I’m going to be stuck on a desert island bereft of movies, books, my beloved PS5 and a face painted on a football, I’ll take some telly ads for entertainment, thanks. Preferably ones with great soundtracks. On a loop.
Desert Island Ads
The one that made my new job seem awesome.
Ford Puma. McQueen.
So the first of my Desert Island Adverts marks the first day of my career – my long suffering AD Andy and I were hired the day it launched. Everything we’d learnt about advertising went out of the window on day one when we discovered that sometimes all you need is Steve McQueen, ground-breaking SFX and a Lalo Schifrin soundtrack. We learned quite a bit at the launch party that night too. Far, far too much for naive 21 year-old from Shropshire.
The one that dropped the mic.
Blackcurrant Tango. St George.
Everything we learned about advertising from Steve McQueen then went out of the window when we realised sometimes all you need is Ray Gardner, some Harrier jets and a Felix soundtrack. This was HHCL at its very best and whilst the tongue in cheek jingoism was very much of the moment, the quality of writing, direction and performance absolutely stands the test of time.
The tough act to follow.
Levi’s Odyssey
Leap forward a few more years to joining BBH and the launch of Levi’s Odyssey. Not just freedom to move, but a lesson in giving complete freedom to director Jonathon Glazer too. We thought ‘Drugstore’ was the most perfect Levi’s ad ever (with a nod to Mr Oizo too), but then this came along. Handel’s Sarabande hadn’t sounded so cool in 300 years.
(And Lynx. Getting Dressed)
I was torn between Levis and Lynx as my favourite BBH ad, so I’m cheekily sneaking in Axe/Lynx ‘Getting Dressed’ too. Nick Gill’s work in this period frequently tugged at editing timelines, but never better than in this film. Few of the award-winning Lynx ads of old could still run today, but this one’s a contender. It’s sweet over saucy and the soundtrack is timeless.
An even tougher act to follow.
Honda. The Impossible Dream.
I don’t quite know the brief on this one, but I imagine the conversation went like this.
“We’re briefing you on the follow up to Cog & Grrr”
“Great”
“But you have to show a range of products”
“Oh. Okay”
“When we say a range, we mean the complete range”
“Of cars?”
“And quad bikes”
“It doesn’t sound very single-minded.”
“And boats”
“Right. All we need we need is a balding man with unkempt facial hair in white Seventies racing overalls singing the tune from Man of La Mancha. Job done”.
“Sold”
An even, even tougher act to follow. (This is becoming a bit of a theme.)
Channel 4 Paralympics. Yes I Can.
Finally, if I’m taking a film onto a desert island, I might as well make it a long one. C4’s Paralympics film blew away perceptions when it launched. The grit and determination out Nike’d every sports ad around it, turning the Paralympians into absolute heroes. They could easily have settled and repeated the formula four years on with the latest athletes. Instead, C4 shook it up and created something so entertaining it lasted over five minutes. The latest Paralympics work has done wonders to redress perceptions once again, but I’ll take “Yes I Can” with me onto the Isle of McGrann. It’s just more watchable and undoubtedly more listenable.
Richard McGrann is joint executive creative director at creative & brand strategy agency Neverland.
