Favourite Ad Friday! - Bishop's Finger

The ad featured in today's Favourite Ad Friday is a bit of an outsider.  It has felt the wrath of the ASA's banhammer and rather unjustly, if you ask me.  As the weeks go on you'll probably hear me use that argument a lot.

Advertising Agency: JWT London
Media: Print
Sector: Alcoholic beverages
Client: Shepherd Neame (Bishop's Finger)
Year: 2006


According to the ASA, "We considered that the text 'I love a good session on the Bishops Finger' played on the connotations of drinking and sexual activity. We considered that the woman's pose was suggestive and concluded that, in combination with the headline text, it was likely to be seen as linking alcohol with seduction and sexual activity.
On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clause 56.9 (Alcoholic drinks)."

A medieval wench sitting on a stool with the tagline "I love a good session on the Bishop's Finger" along with "At 5.4% it's near the knuckle". Nothing wrong with that!  In this instance it's probably safe to say that the complainees have had a bit of a lapse in humour and had to spoil it for everyone else.  It's one of those occasions where you read into it what you want, and I think whoever was responsible for complaining about it has a bit of a guilty conscience... 

Favourite Ad Friday! - Awareness Test

Hello and apologies for the sparse updates lately. I was busy sitting exams for University, going to the Edinburgh Fringe and visiting St. Andrews for a long weekend to celebrate my papa's 91st Birthday. 

Fun and games, eh?

So to mark my return to the blogging world, I've decided to make Friday something a little special - Favourite Ad Fridays. I thought it would be a nice change of pace from my creative copywriting stuff on a weekly basis.

I've amassed a sizable list of my favourite ads over the years for two reasons really: They inspire me and I think they're awesome.

Advertising Agency: WCRS & Co
Media: TV, Cinema, Social Media, Viral
Sector: Government, Travel
Client: Transport for London
Year: 2008
Running Time: 1:00
What's it about?:   The purpose of this ad was to raise awareness of cycling safety and also how easy it is for motorists to miss cyclists.

After 2 weeks, the online version of the film received a total of 4.4million views. 

• 1,500 comments video sharing sites;
• circa 34,000 results on Google discussing the ad;
• 4 fan groups on Facebook.
• Page 1 on reddit & digg;
• 6th Most Viewed Youtube film in the uk that month
• 1st most viewed in its category (How to & Style) globally.
• £140k worth of views for £20k, giving us a saving of £120k and an ROI of 600%

Personal Feedback:  I love this ad when I first saw it because it's very clever and because it succeeded in fooling me.  Even though it's several years old now, I can still remember my reactions when I watched it for the first time:

• Mild confidence as I attempted to count all the completed passes
• Smug arrogance when I got the correct answer
• Utter confusion about the moonwalking bear
• Sheer disbelief when sure enough, right in front of my face, a moonwalking bear.
• Complete astonishment as I rewatched the video thinking they just snuck the bear into the replay only to find the bear was there all along.

My brain well and truly left my body that day.  It got blown all over the shop.