Hegarty gives audio tour for Johnnie WalkerBBH London has posted a series of "audio walks" on the Johnnie Walker Web site, in which folks like Richard Branson, Ranulph Fiennes and, yes, John Hegarty are heard ruminating about life and work while walking around places that mean something profound to them, personally or professionally. In the clip above, BBH founder Hegarty strolls through Carnaby Street and Soho in London, recapping his career. He covers lots of ground—why he was petulant and angry as a young creative, his advertising philosophy now, the interplay between inspiration and fear, what he learned about business from playing tennis, etc. The best moment comes early on, when he talks about his early days at Benton & Bowles. Told that he's being paired with some guy named Charles Saatchi, Hegarty despairs at the very sound of the name. He recalls thinking: "Charles Saatchi? He's obviously Italian, he lives at home with Mum, and he can't spell. Just my bloody luck. Anyway, I was right on two of them, but not on the third. He did live at home with Mum, he couldn't spell, but he wasn't Italian." —Posted by Tim Nudd |
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Published on December 8, 2009 | Permalink
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Axe encouraging sex in the snow this winter
BBH London counsels guys to "be prepared this festive season" and to carry their Lynx (Axe) Bullet portable body spray with them, because you never know where spontaneous sex might occur. The three ads in the series seem a bit menacing, though, with the dark alleys and lonely frozen roads evoking non-consensual encounters. Maybe the ladies should carry a different kind of spray. (As Adland points out, Old Spice Red Zone did a similar though more angelic ad several years ago.) Of course, even if both participants are willing, they'll catch colds at the very least. My advice: If you must behave this way, keep the mittens on. Via Ads of the World. UPDATE: In comments, Steve notes that BBH has manufactured a personal alarm for women through its Zag product-development unit. The ila Dusk, "emits a piercing, high-decibel female scream designed to shock and disorientate an attacker." The perfect defense against Axe-toting lunkheads. Nice synergy, BBH! —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on November 30, 2009 | Permalink
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Never stop talking again, with Virgin Mobile!
Virgin Mobile's new ad campaign takes garrulousness to a new level. The commercial posted below shows a woman yammering into her phone while in a gym locker room. As she heads off to the shower, she leaves her mouth behind with the phone, where it keeps chattering away, as another woman has to listen to the indiscrete conversation about the first woman's disgusting medical condition. Two more ads show women in a store and poolside. The effect is less creepy, more reminiscent of bad Photoshop. Maybe that's what BBH New York is going for with the "Never Stop Talking" push, which promotes a $49.99 unlimited calling plan. There's also the obligatory social-media element, a Facebook contest launching next week to find "the sexiest mouth in America." —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on November 18, 2009 | Permalink
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BBH staffer's Mrs. O blog, now in book form
Everyone in the ad industry loves stories where agencies do things for themselves rather than clients. The success of these projects can be debated. See Honeyshed. Now, BBH New York is celebrating the fruits of its labor with the release of Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy, a companion book to the Mrs. O blog that BBH account planner Mary Tomer started last fall to celebrate the style of Michelle Obama. The blog has remained popular. According to Quantcast, it gets about 27,000 visitors a month. Brain Pickings has an interview with Tomer. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 28, 2009 | Permalink
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Beauty of Vaseline ballet not even skin deep
Dancers in white bodysuits perform an aerial ballet "to illustrate the powerful penetrative abilities of Vaseline's Sheer Infusion body lotion" in this new spot from BBH. Note the keywords: Vaseline, moisture, bodysuits, penetrative, lotion. I naturally got kind of, you know, intrigued. And by intrigued, I mean I expected to see something that was at least mildly titillating in a tongue-in-cheek/SFW way. What the ad delivers, alas, are 60 long seconds of eye-stinging whiteness with acrobats in get-ups that vaguely remind me of the sperm costumes in Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask. That old movie segment is a bit of comic genius that you can watch over and over. You'll be hard-pressed to sit through this ad once. —Posted by David Gianatasio Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on October 13, 2009 | Permalink
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A stroll through history with Johnnie Walker
Best ad of the year so far? It just might be this brilliant five-minute-plus spot by BBH London, in which Robert Carlyle, in a single continuous take, narrates the progression of Johnnie Walker whiskey from the backroom experimentation of a humble shopkeeper to the multinational powerhouse it is today. The combination of bagpiper abuse, well-timed visual cues, pitch-perfect writing and music, and Carlyle's charisma keeps the mini-movie chugging right along. (When was the last time you sat through an ad this long, and one that really just puts in motion the boring brand-history page from the Web site?) It's also nice to see the renowned gloomy Scottish countryside put to good use. UPDATE: Shots has an interview with the director, Jamie Rafn of HLA in London. See also: |
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Published on August 7, 2009 | Permalink
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Mentos perfect for flappy-lipped beatboxing
This Mentos ad from BBH London suggests the brand has fallen on hard times. Those little mints used to get you out of any scrape imaginable. These days, all they can do is help you out-beatbox chavs at rural gas stations. You get hot chicks, too, sure. But until they make something that can return your lips to their normal state, it's still not worth it. |
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Published on July 16, 2009 | Permalink
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BBH ready for British Wimbledon champion
Robinsons drinks and BBH London made a decent bet with this commercial, which has been airing during Wimbledon coverage in the U.K. over the past fortnight. It dreams of the moment when a British player will once again win the prestigious London tennis tournament. (The last British men's winner was Fred Perry in 1936; Virginia Wade won the women's draw in 1977.) The ad is a clear reference to Andy Murray, the Scotsman who's ranked No. 3 in the world. And sure enough, Murray is heading to Friday's semifinals. There, he meets Andy Roddick, the American player who so memorably screwed up AmEx's 2005 U.S. Open ad campaign by losing in the first round. UPDATE: Murray lost to Roddick on Friday. Oh well, there's always next year. |
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Published on July 2, 2009 | Permalink
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Banks make their latest wild bets on poniesAdweek's Mark Dolliver says this Ally Bank commercial from BBH dilutes its positive message by accentuating the negative aspects of its "evil" competitors. Fair enough. But here's an even more salient point: If the spot's to be believed, some bank out there is giving away free ponies! Once I find out which one, I'll open up an IRA, 401(k) or whatever it takes to make them pony up with the horse! As freebies go, this is exciting. I normally can't even take a few "complementary" lollipops at Citizens in Boston without the tellers giving me dirty looks. Those jerks. (Note: I retract the word "jerks" if Citizens is the bank handing out the horsies. Make mine a Shetland, please.) |
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Published on May 22, 2009 | Permalink
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BBH's J2O juice spots get all turned aroundBBH London has created a goofy new campaign for J2O fruit drinks. The ads show two scenes each, one after the other, but with their audio tracks switched, which creates not-that-funny gay and bestiality jokes. The tagline is, "It's metter to bix things up," which is also somewhat lame. In the world of weird juice ads, Sweden's Jokk and the U.K.'s Innocent still rule. |
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Published on April 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Hitching a ride is always weirder with boozeHere's a compelling and surreal new spot for Johnnie Walker from BBH London and director Walter Stern, who seems to be channeling David Lynch. Stern is a steady, quirky and often overlooked talent in the world of music videos. But hey, his video for The Prodigy's "Firestarter" inspired a great Venture Brothers scene, so don't doubt his role in shaping the cultural landscape. |
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Published on February 24, 2009 | Permalink
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Everybody run from LG's washing machine!
Smoke billowing down a city's streets, enveloping buildings, pushing through the canyons in between, chasing down everything in its path. No, it's not a terrorist attack—it's this new commercial from BBH London for LG's steam washing machine! (The imagery really is remarkably familiar, though I suppose less so in the U.K.) Even without the Sept. 11 echoes, the spot's weird. The steam (not smoke) whipping through the empty streets of San Francisco cleans up a Chinatown parade float, a teddy bear, a car tarp, a stone column and a brass sculpture of kids playing. Not sure I'd put any of those in a washing machine, except maybe the teddy bear. |
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Published on January 8, 2009 | Permalink
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Violent British PSA captures cycle of abuse
Barnardo's, a British children's charity fond of shock ads, is causing a fuss with the PSA above, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty. The spot literally dramatizes the cyclical nature of abuse with looped scenes of a girl getting slapped in the head by her father, failing in school, mugging someone on the street, shooting up, and crying in prison. Text at the end reads, "For thousands of children in the U.K. the story will keep repeating itself, until someone stops it." The ad has drawn more than 400 complaints and is now being investigated. Adland has more, including some bizarre infant-themed Barnardo's print ads from 2003. |
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Published on December 2, 2008 | Permalink
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Airborne wants to sweep you off your feet
Not to split long, flowing, gorgeous, full-bodied hairs, but why is Sebastian the Romance Novel Trope distributing Airborne cold remedy in this Bartle Bogle Hegarty spot? Couldn't they have sprung for a non-creepy spokesperson? Or at least one who knew his role? Men in romance novels don't frolic in the wilderness—that's what their devil-may-care tomboy love interests do. The menfolk are supposed to spend their time either brooding or doing sit-ups in the darkness between swordfights. They certainly don't go around improving the immune systems of beleaguered men wearing baby harnesses. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Published on September 22, 2008 | Permalink
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