CAMPAIGN DIRECT: REVIEW (IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROYAL MAIL)

The way some creative directors carp on about other agencies’ best

efforts in this column, you’d think they’d never allowed a piece of crap

work across their desks in their lives.

One call from Campaign, a black-and-white mug shot and 500 words of

instant sanctimony.

I, on the other hand, vowed not to deride, not to gloat, to sneer or

mock. My lip would remain defiantly uncurled. Not a hint of disdain, nor

a jot of scorn or derision would you detect.

I’ve just reread the article. I kept it up for 189 words.

Fortunately, the first work to hit the desk was the British Airways

trade incentive piece. The art direction is drop-dead gorgeous, the

style is elegant, the copy succinct, the communication beautifully

simple. The brief said ’upfront, to the point, informative and

friendly’. And that’s precisely what the client got. Pity about the CD

that comes with it. It wouldn’t have found its way on to customers’

desks, and it did not have any relevance to the promotion. An inset in

the style of the rest of the work would have done the trick. But given

my generosity of spirit today, we’ll let it pass and move on.

There’s not a lot wrong with the Metro work from Tesco either. It’s

colourful, it’s bright and unerringly jolly. There’s the kind of clear

strategy you’d expect from Safeway. The photography is sumptuous - just

like you’d expect from Sainsbury’s. It has all the opening offers you’d

get from Asda. Oh, and it has that clever trick that Budgens uses; you

know, the one where they use a round object instead of the letter O.

Still, at least the body copy says it’s fresh, bright, new and

different.

So that’s all right then.

I wish I could say the same of the TSB mail pack. This really does smack

of an art director let loose on a Mac while the typographer went out for

lunch. OK, so I know the younger generation can’t read these days, but

why make the type illegible? Yes, I know the ’woofer’ pun is absolutely

irresistible, but hasn’t it been done before?

And I know it’s cute to make dogs look like the Spice Girls, but the

first time I saw this idea Ginger Spice was probably as old as she

pretends to be today.

All in all, a direct marketing piece with a dog on the outside. And its

dinner inside.

Which leads us on nicely to the Vegetarian Society. Scary stuff

this.

I presume the Veggie Society is some kind of radical pressure group. So

it feels justified in using shock tactics to bully us into giving up

meat.

But its argument is truly tenuous and the evidence seems to be that

people are eating less meat anyway. You’re pushing at an open door here,

guys, so go easy with the high explosives. Someone might get hurt.

British Airways

Brief: Create a piece targeting travel agents detailing BA services out

of Scotland, Northern England and Europe, plus a supporting item of

merchandise

Agency: Claydon Heeley

Copywriter: David Newby

Art director: Rob Scott

Tesco Metro

Brief: Create a coherent and innovative campaign, with a direct call to

action, that is able to work across a variety of formats and typifies

modern town-centre shopping

Agency: Evans Hunt Scott

Copywriters: Terry Hunt, Preston Rutt

Art directors: Ray Howard, Andy Taylor

TSB youth campaign

Brief: Recruit and retain youth customers

Agency: IMP, DMB&B

Copywriters: Nick Ward, Andy Powell

Art directors: Piggy Lines, Ollie Robinson

Vegetarian Society

Brief: Show in as dynamic a way as possible through advertising and an

advice pack that vegetarians tend to suffer less from cancer than meat

eaters

Agency: OgilvyOne

Copywriter: Harvey Lee

Art director: Graham D’Aldry

This article was first published on Campaign