EmailBNP Paribas: “Tent” (Starts at 00:06) – Belgium
A young man, waking dazed and wrapped in his tent in the wake of a music festival, finds himself propelled through a series of events, amorous and workaday, before he’s stopped in his tracks by a glass window. Bringing to mind John Lennon’s lyric about life being what “happens to you while you’re making other plans”, this Belgian commercial presses home the value of having a reliable bank alongside you during the journey.
Agency: Publicis Brussels
Director: Koen Mortier
Reebok: “I’ll Show You The Future” (Starts at 01:11) – UK
This unusual piece of work for Reebok promoting the Classics range takes us to the north-west of England where the brand began, and where music made history. Reflecting on the way nostalgia mellows the way we look back on the past, the voiceover – provided by Paul Popplewell, who played Happy Mondays bassist Paul Ryder in 24 Hour Party People – tells us that it’s not true that everything was better back in the day and that it’s what’s happening now that really matters.
Agency: The Rig Out
Director: Antony Croo
Temptations: “Time to Play Ball” (Starts at 03:20) – USA
Usually, cat food adverts feature doting female owners dishing up something that looks like foie gras which they sniff appreciatively before serving, in a desperate bid to prove that it smells slightly better going in than it will once it’s been through their cat’s digestive tract. Not here though. In this offering, athletic types emerge one by one against a dark background; flexing their fingers in readiness … to throw treats for their equally sporty feline counterparts.
Agency: adam&eveDDB
Director: Adam & Will
Marks & Spencer: “Adventures in Imagination” (Starts at 04:23) – UK
Marks & Spencer is known for making the food in its adverts look like the basis of an unforgettable spiritual experience, rather than your next meal and the marketing teams at other retailers must watch their rival’s commercials with open-jawed envy. If that’s the case, then they might want to make sure they’re sitting comfortably with a consoling cigar within easy reach as the bar has once again been raised in this amazing advert which was directed by a pair of Paris-based food specialists.
Agency: RKCR/Y&R
Director: Michaël Roulier/Philippe Lhomme
Stand up to Cancer: “Payback Time” (Starts at 05:28) – UK
The tone of the advertising industry’s communication about cancer has radically shifted in the last year or so. Where once fund-raising adverts were fearful and hopeful, now they are angry and in-your-face. Cancer has been told: ‘we’re coming to get you and it’s your turn to be afraid’. The tables have been fully turned in this animated trail for an evening-long series of programmes on Channel 4.
Agency: 4 Creative
Director: Smith & Foulkes
Remember a Charity: “Wing Walker” (Starts at 07:32)– UK
“There is a legend in all of us,” says 94-year-old Tom Lackey, as we watch him wing walk to raise money and awareness for Remember a Charity. There’s certainly one in him. Since his beloved wife died, he hasn’t been one to sit around in decline – he wants to live and do some good for as long as he has left, and this marvelous film demonstrates how indomitable the human spirit can be.
Agency: Atomic London
Director: Sam Rowland
Jason Stone is the editor of David Reviews
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