PRIVATE VIEW

There was a time when creative people always asked, as they were

being briefed: ’Is there a USP? Does our product have something the

others don’t?’ Those days seem to have gone, but with their passing

comes my chance to make a million. Recycling ads. If a client hasn’t got

anything special to say about his gear/ gizmo/gubbins, perfect! We match

him up with someone else’s slightly used campaign.

Yes, I’m talking second-hand ads. They’re cheap but, by golly, they

could just work. Take the ads up for review today. Could any of them be

rehashed and made to sell a completely different product?

Mais oui! In the Peugeot 206 spot, David Blaine performs card tricks in

the streets of New York. The car itself only gets five seconds at the

end, then disappears. It’s magic, geddit? Still, this leaves around 115

seconds of excellent footage for someone else. The City of New York,

say.

Hey! How many other cities have magicians at large? Since you last got

mugged here, it’s become a more amusing place, really.

Then again, British Airways could use the ad. Fly with us to the Magic

Apple.

Come to think of it, anyone who has a product that could be described as

’magic’ could use this film. If they wanted to. Miller, for sure. At the

end of a busy day in Harlem, keeping the kids out of mischief, ha ha,

there’s nothing genuine guy David Blaine likes more than Miller Genuine

Draft. It sorts out thirst, like magic!

Instead, the Miller people have made their own film. However, it could

sell a range of other products. Three-In-One oil, perhaps. Or Dunlopillo

beds. Or, with Enn Reitel saying, ’Wanna see the original film the

commercial ripped off?’, it could even be another Blockbuster Night

In.

What you get is 55 seconds of the famous squeaking bed scene from

Delicatessen, followed by five seconds of product. I guess the thought

is: ’Miller, perfect on a hot summer’s night.’ Original? No. But that’s

what makes it re-usable.

Now, I like the Malibu ’fishermen’ film a lot. Witty idea, nicely

shot.

Several Jamaicans try to get urgent about fishing but since urgency is

doomed to failure in the Caribbean, chill, man, and enjoy 70 per cent

proof coconut oil. Bet it gets in The Book. That being said, since the

product only appears in the last three-and-a-half seconds, once again we

have a lot of re-usable celluloid. For the Jamaican Tourist Board, why

not? Come fishing in Jamaica. Since we haven’t caught a thing, you can!

Is there a John West ad in there, perhaps? Tesco, even? Now you know why

our fish are cheerful. Just a thought.

I love the new British Airways film. It’ll be as famous as Graham Fink’s

’face’. It’s a full minute of PJ O’Rourke taking the piss out of us

Brits. ’Still, you must be doing something right, since 17 million of us

Johnny Foreigners like to fly with you.’ Yet, even this great ad could

be rehashed on behalf of the British Tourist Authority, or anything with

a Royal Warrant. ’Still, you must be doing something right, since 17

million of us Johnny Foreigners eat your marmalade/ drink your

whisky/watch your costume dramas/wear your Burberrys etc.’

As for the Abbey National ad, any product or service in which you could

say, ’you won’t tear your hair out’, could go at the end of it. The

Science Museum, for instance. ’Don’t tear your hair out, take the little

darlings along to Exhibition Road.’ Rather than do anything second-hand,

though, the museum’s agency has come up with a good old-fashioned

campaign that probably couldn’t work for anyone else. No good to me in

my new venture, but good for the client. I’m sure the place will be

packed throughout the holidays.

Finally, since starting this piece I have discovered there are at least

two agencies already recycling ads in America and Spain. Like a lot of

my ideas, then, it seems this one isn’t new either. Maybe I’m just not

cut out to be a millionaire.

PEUGEOT

Project: Peugeot 206 Gti

Client: Kel Walker, director of advertising

Brief: Capture a new generation of drivers whose ambition is to drive a

sharp, fast, urban car

Agency: Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper

Writer: Mark Wnek

Art director: Paul Shearer

Directors: Liam & Grant

Production company: Great Guns

Exposure: National TV, cinema, poster and press

SCOTTISH COURAGE

Project: Miller Genuine Draft

Client: Jerry Goldberg, director of lagers

Brief: Demonstrate the spontaneous community that exists around Miller

Genuine Draft

Agency: Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe

Writer: Phil Cockrell

Art director: Graham Storey

Director: Jeff Stark

Production company: Stark Films

Exposure: National TV

THE SCIENCE MUSEUM

Project: The Science Museum

Client: Mark Pemberton, assistant director of public affairs

Brief: Highlight a range of stimulating and interactive galleries at the

museum

Agency: TBWA GGT Simons Palmer

Writer: Stuart Harkness

Art director: Kerry Hawkins

Illustrator: Tim Hunkin

Exposure: 48-sheet posters, bus-sides and the London Underground

BRITISH AIRWAYS

Project: Corporate campaign

Client: Derek Dear, general manager marketing services

Brief: Raise national pride in BA by highlighting that 17 million people

overseas choose it over their national carrier

Agency: M&C Saatchi

Creative team: Paul Hodgkinson and Malcolm Poynton

Director: Chris Palmer

Production company: Gorgeous

Exposure: National TV

UDV

Project: Malibu

Client: Alison Ashworth, brand manager

Brief: Overcome Malibu’s 80s image by attracting a new generation of

drinkers

Agency: Lowe Howard-Spink

Writer: Charles Inge

Art director: Charles Inge

Director: Traktor

Production company: Partizan Midi Minuit

Exposure: National TV

ABBEY NATIONAL

Project: Savings

Client: Keith Moor, group marketing manager

Brief: Offer an easy solution to the complexity of the savings market

Agency: Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper

Writer: Dom Gettins

Art director: Olly Caporn

Director: John Lloyd

Production company: Spectre

Exposure: National TV

This article was first published on Campaign