Entertainment is back in a big way for ads (yesterday we had Jamie Dornan for Diet Coke) and now it’s Steve Buscemi for Aussie telecoms leader Telstra, playing an evil alien emperor trying to scam you with his bungling cohorts.
From a combo of creative agency Bear Meets Eagle On Fire via the +61 partnership of TBWA and OMD. (Diet Coke was another joint effort.)
Entertainment and, indeed, Hollywood stars have always played a role in ads but they seem more prominent just now. Some like Ryan Reynolds and various imitators are doing it via their own agencies.
Back in the day UK agencies including CDP, BMP and Lowe built global reputations with the help of actors and others – even Muhammad Ali for a UK milk brand – but they did it by crafting top of the range scripts. This gets close, even if you’re resistant to alien emperors (Buscemi, as ever, delivers.)
Maybe it’s the Netflix-ication of ads…
MAA creative scale: 7.
