Brian Cox has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a character actor – some may remember him as the wily intelligence officer in ITV’s Sharpe – “I’ll see you right Sharpe, you’ll see me dead Sir” – but Succession, the barely disguised show about the Murdoch clan, has lifted to him to a new level, not least in terms of the ad starring roles that keep rolling in.
Here he is again, this time in ‘Clock Off’ for Malibu, courtesy of Wieden+Kennedy London.
As ever there’s some data method in the madness, a Malibu survey of 13,000 adults shows 79% of across the UK, US, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain regularly work overtime, logging an average of two working days (16 hours) per week. The US ranked highest with the average worker clocking 60 hours overtime per month, UK came second with 40 hours and Germany third with 31 hours per month. Enough to drive anyone to a drink.
Cox says: “Contrary to the characters I play, I’m all about celebrating the enjoyment of life and taking time off for the people and things that matter. In some roles I was consumed by work, control, and power, and never knew when to clock off. But the reality is, we all need to disconnect if we want to enjoy what life has to offer. The ‘Clock off’ campaign by Malibu is about reminding people that their free time is sacred and should be enjoyed, and this is a message I support.”
W+K CDs Freddy Taylor and Philippa Beaumont add: “In a world where working yourself into the ground is a badge of honour, we wanted to remind people that, well – that’s stupid. Enter Malibu, a brand best known for piña coladas on the beach, and Brian Cox like you’ve never seen him, with a very important message; Put down the phone, set the O.O.O. and CLOCK OFF (even if you only have 15 mins).”
Not sure if nipping out of the RTO for a quick snifter isn’t frowned upon these days (even if you’re near a beach.) But it’s fun and Cox is clearly having a whale of a time. Good to see W+K London returning to its roots (may remind some of you of W+K’s epic effort for Southern Comfort.
MAA creative scale: 8.
