Virgin Media is launching its biggest ever multi-channel marketing campaign as it prepares to double the broadband speeds of over four million UK households.

DDB UK uses iconic figures Usain Bolt and Sir Richard Branson to reinforce Virgin Media’s position as the fastest broadband provider in the UK and sees the introduction of the brand-line ‘Keep Up’.

Against an early backdrop of predictable 2012 advertising, the ‘Keep Up’ campaign has veered away from showing the athlete in performance mode. Instead we see Bolt – the fastest man ever to walk the planet – resplendent in running kit and spikes, trying to persuade us that he is, in fact, Sir Richard Branson. In an attempt to convince, he talks to us direct from the Virgin founder’s office wearing a Branson-esque blonde goatee beard. Much to Bolt’s frustration, his efforts are interrupted by the real Branson, who repeatedly tries to get the usurper out of his office.

The ads are directed by Seth Gordon, most recently known for hit comedy movie Horrible Bosses, with the initial execution airing for the first time on Saturday 14^th during primetime ITV1 show Take Me Out. The campaign launches on TV and Facebook the night before with a series of innovative five second ‘Bolt-on’ teasers.

The campaign has already started with Usain Bolt pretending to be Sir Richard Branson on Twitter during the week, with the evolving banter between the two using the hashtag #IamRBranson.

The theme continues across all media, including TV, press, outdoor, social, retail and online, with a new campaign site to promote the benefits of the UK’s fastest broadband and to remind current and prospective Virgin Media customers of the company’s supremacy in the broadband market.

All media points customers to Virgin Media’s dedicated website which goes live Friday evening where they can find out when their broadband speed will be doubled. The TV ads end with Bolt pulling his famous ‘To Di World’ lightning pose and waggling his finger at the web address www.virginmedia.com/doublespeed. Media planning was by Fifty6.

Jeff Dodds, executive director of brand and marketing communications at Virgin Media, said: “We’ve got a long history of giving our customers more and we wanted to let them know about the exciting boost they’ll soon get from us. Our competitors’ customers might also feel a twinge of envy when they hear about this as what better spokesperson for our superfast broadband than Usain Bolt? He’s the living embodiment of speed! It’s a brilliantly simple idea but the trick was to avoid the obvious sportsman endorsement clichés. This is where DDBUKhas done us proud by taking a refreshing, and typically Virgin self-deprecating and cheeky approach to the brief.”

Xavier Rees, managing partner at DDBUK added: “This was an exciting campaign to work on as it’s not often a brand gives something so significant back to its customers. It’s also not often that you get to do something original with two icons of this magnitude. Keep Up is a fantastic campaign idea and plays strongly to consumers’ desire to avoid missing out on the latest innovations so all the ingredients are in place for a highly effective campaign with massive cut-through.”

16 January 2012

DDB UK reveals a new Christmas video for Harvey Nichols, it drops audiences into the embarrassing reality of the morning after the office Christmas party… the dreaded Walk of Shame.

The creative plays on the theme of ‘the morning after the night before’. A big Christmas party perhaps, followed by an early morning journey home, complete with the tell-tale symptoms: the slight limp from the killer heels (which seemed a good idea at the time), accompanied by under-eye bags that would rival even Victoria Beckham’s largest tote and bed hair. Party-goers making their way home, eyes down, cheeks ablaze, trying to ignore disapproving stares of the 8am commuters; and the wolf-whistles from the builders perched on scaffolding above.

The film culminates with our ‘hero’ girl walking back to her flat doing what looks more like a ‘stride of pride’. She clearly never made it home, but something sets her apart from the others. Her Harvey Nichols outfit still looks fantastic and she walks with her head held high. The line reads: “Avoid the Walk of Shame this Season. Harvey Nichols Womenswear.”  The ad ends with a call to action to: Share your #walkofshame on Twitter.

The Christmas video aims to promote the luxury fashion retailers selection of eveningwear, alongside international fashion designers and those beauty essentials to help you look and feel fabulous throughout the party season. 

The video was written by Mike Crowe and Rob Messeter and directed by James Rouse through Outsider.

5 December 2011

We are celebrating Christmas spirit by embarking on a continuation of the Give in to Gü campaign, which first launched in May 2011.

A new festive standalone 10” TVC has been created, designed to showcase a new range of temptingly tasty Christmas products by Gü. The assortment consists of giant baubles (Gü Splendidly Sumptuous Cherry & Chocolate Bauble and Gü Gloriously Glam Raspberry & Chocolate Bauble), packs on mini baubles (Gü Fantastically Festive Cherry & Vanilla Cheesecake and Gü Deeply Decadent Raspberry & Vanilla Cheesecake Baubles), plus the ramekin range in limited edition gold and silver packaging.

The camera delves inside a fridge, brimming with all the usual Christmas dinner ingredients; roast meats, cheese and seasonal veg, before homing in on the indulgent treat you can’t help but try straight away – the new Gü Christmas range.

There will also be a revised version of the original 30” advert from May 2011 featuring a selection of new seasonal scenes; such as freshly laid snow awaiting the first crunch of a footprint, and a pool of molten candle wax that lures the viewer in to touch it.The TV activity is part of Gü’s £1.2 million marketing investment across TV, PR, and experiential, sampling, packaging and social media.

Joseph Liu, Senior Brand Manager at Gü Puds said: “Our Give in to Gu campaign centres on the idea that giving in to indulgence is perfectly acceptable, which is especially relevant during Christmas.  Many consumers are entertaining friends and family during Christmas, and our new showstopping Christmas Baubles are perfect for that occasion.  This Christmas, we’re making our largest ever marketing investment to support our new seasonal puddings. Building off our successful “Give in to Gu” summer campaign, we remain focused on communicating the brand’s indulgent positioning, whilst ensuring the brand is relevant to consumers shopping for high quality desserts during the festive season.  Additionally, our new experiential and digital activity will provide consumers with an unique opportunity to directly engage with our brand this Christmas.”

5 December 2011

DDB UK has created a timely execution that captures the crisis in an intelligent, thoughtful way underlined by a hint of humorous mischief.

With the Euro and EU in deep crisis – the member nations are getting picked off like a duck shoot in a fairground.

The print and online advertisements will appear in the Financial Times and on FT.com

Jeremy Craigen, Executive Creative Director, DDB UK commented: “This is a typical Financial Times execution that captures the crisis in an intelligent, informative and witty way.” 

This latest work follows as part of the global marketing campaign, launched by The Financial Times in September. DDB UK previously created ads featuring an ‘SOS’ written in Morse Code with global currencies and a St. Bernard rescue dog carrying an FT on its collar.

15 November 2011

DDB UK and Volkswagen announced the availability of the Golf GTI Edition 35 in theUK with a new campaign that celebrates 35 years of the much loved and iconic model by turning it into a ‘time machine’ and sending it back through the decades.

The online and experiential campaign launched in October with a live event staged at the Truman Brewery in East London, and hosted by TV presenter and racing driver Amanda Stretton. Spectators watched as two engineers clambered into the GTI ‘time machine’ and accelerated towards a wall, only to see it vanish in front of their very eyes and apparently reappear at Volkswagen’s German headquarters in Wolfsburg in 1976.

The event has been made into a viral film which is being broadcast on the Volkswagen UK Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/VolkswagenUK) and seeded to a wide range of blogs and websites. 

However, the event itself marks only the beginning of the journey; over the next four weeks, fans will be able to follow the story of the Golf GTI and its two intrepid engineers on Facebook as they make their way back through the decades, dropping in on a range of historic moments along the way. Their adventures will be documented through a series of daily posts from the front line of time travel – a mix of film footage, competitions and photographs. 

The campaign has been created by DDB UK with the live event and videos produced by Passion Raw.

 Jeremy Craigen, Executive Creative Director, DDB UK commented: “What I love most about this campaign is that we have avoided being unduly reverential when it comes to marking this milestone in the history of Volkswagen’s most iconic car; instead, the campaign is both irreverent and totally inclusive – two characteristics that are entirely in keeping with the original philosophy behind the GTI.”

Nigel Brotherton, National Communications Manager at Volkswagen said: “What we love about the GTI time travel campaign is that it not only reflects the unique personality and heritage of the brand but our creative relationship with DDB. The event perfectly celebrated the heritage of our much loved GTI, while warmly welcoming the new Edition 35 to theUK.”

14 November 2011

Volkswagen UK and DDB UK have joined forces to mark the return of the Golf Cabriolet after 9 years away from market. The aim of the campaign is to drive awareness of the new Golf Cabriolet, add some fun to the Volkswagen brand and ultimately drive conversion to sales of the VW Golf Cabriolet.

Remember how the cars you had most fun in never had a roof?  From dodgems and pedal cars to go-karts, there’s something special about driving an open-top car. The TV execution taps into the childhood nostalgia around having fun in cars without a roof, relating this to the fun that can be had driving with the roof down in the new Golf Cabriolet. Using filmic techniques and shooting on a variety of formats, DDB UK have created a montage of scenes, representing children of all ages, from a variety of eras, having fun in open-top cars, aiming to bring to life this universal truth. The music track, The Kinks “Days”, adds to the nostalgic feel of the ad.

As Paul Billingsley, Business Director, DDB UK comments: “Like all the best Volkswagen advertising, this is a brilliant insight beautifully executed. Why do we love cabriolets? Because they remind us of the roofless go-karts, dodgems and pedal cars of our happier yesteryears. Simple.”

The original Golf Cabriolet was a soft-top, a ‘proper’ cabriolet. The new car is also a ‘proper’ cabriolet, and as such represents the welcome return of an icon.  The VW Cabriolet also benefits from its Golf parentage – with the high quality engineering and robustness you’d expect from a Volkswagen Golf, this car is real fun to drive.

Josie Taylor, Communications Manager, Volkswagen UK “What we love about the advert is that it should invoke emotions in our core target audience; those who longed for the iconic car in the 80’s and who may now be in a position to make that dream a reality.  That said, the simplicity of the idea will also give it the universal appeal typical of a classic Volkswagen advert – it’s all about the pure pleasure of driving a car with the top down. “

18 August 2011

This week sees the launch of DDB UK’s first TV advert for Bakers ‘Meaty Meals’ product. On air from the12^th August, the campaign is intended to drive trial of this soft, meaty variant of the Bakers range of dry dog foods.

This execution sees the return of Pippin and the rest of the Bakers Gang, who have headed abroad to intercept a Bakers Meaty Meals delivery van and its cargo of delicious succulent meaty chunks.

The heist goes well, but in the escape over the mountains the team comes a cropper. Luckily Pippin has a great idea. And it’s down to the smallest member of the gang to show her bravery and rescue the Bakers Meaty Meals.

With a cinematic look, this commercial for Bakers Meaty Meals gives the traditional Bakers caper a more epic feel, but retains all the doggy charm and fun of the work that has come before.

Bakers have a history of creating fun, tongue-in-cheek advertising that highlights dogs’ enjoyment of their products. This execution keeps these sentiments at heart, and stretches the scale of the dogs’ endeavours.

As Daniel Taylor, DDB UK Business Director, comments "This latest canine caper shows that 'Dogs will do anything' is not only a hugely effective long-term campaign idea but a lot of fun as well".

Vicky Bates, Senior Brand Manager at Bakers says “This ad will hopefully be fun and entertaining for viewers whilst showcasing the great lengths that dogs will go to in order to get their paws on the delicious taste of Bakers Meaty Meals”.

Nestle Purina have a portfolio of quality pet foods. DDB also produce advertising for their Felix, Winalot, Go-Cat and Gourmet brands.

14 August 2011

Our new multi-million pound ad campaign for Virgin Media's TiVo service is fronted by Marc Warren, star of Hustle and Mad Dogs. Promising to be the best way to watch TV, ever, the TiVo service combines the live TV schedule with catch-up TV, a huge library of on-demand programming and popular web-based applications alongside a market-leading personal video recorder. With a simple way of finding great content and intelligent recommendations based on a household’s telly habits, the new service makes it easier than ever for Virgin Media customers to discover new types of entertainment they’ll love.

The campaign involves TV, digital, print, retail, experiential and social media, beginning with three ten-second TV spots and a raft of print ads which highlight the hugely positive reception the Virgin Media: TiVo Service has enjoyed since it launched in December 2010. The campaign continues with Marc Warren featuring in three 30-second TV spots, exploring the TiVo service’s simple solutions to the increasingly complex choices facing viewers today. Set against a clean, white backdrop, Marc is faced with a carousel of spinning TVs, catapulted screens and falling TVs, before demonstrating the TiVo service’s ability to search through a wide choice of programmes to find your favourite shows quicker than ever; avoiding clashes by recording three shows whilst watching a fourth; and making sure you never miss the start of your favourite series by setting a WishList^TM, providing the viewer with the ultimate control of their TV.

Nigel Gilbert, chief marketing officer, Virgin Media, said: “Virgin Media is leading a much-anticipated revolution in the way people enjoy their favourite shows and our new advertising campaign is focused simply on the great stuff on offer from our new TiVo box. We know the features and functions our customers have already fallen in love with and are making the most of a fully integrated campaign to cut through the noise and highlight these stand-out attributes. We’re inviting people to take a look at our brilliant new service and interact with TiVo’s iconic ‘thumbs up’ and ‘thumbs down’ buttons online to discover even more.”

Guy Bradbury, creative director at DDB UK said “We’ve developed a campaign with the necessary depth for Virgin Media’s new TiVo service. The campaign sign-off of ‘We think it’s the best way to watch TV, but what do you think?’ invites the audience to interact with the campaign, showing the confidence Virgin Media has to engage with consumers which comes from the game changing nature of the Virgin Media: TiVo Service itself.”

Visit www.virginmedia.com/tivo to explore an interactive video journey and discover more of the TiVo service’s next generation features for yourselves. From a 1TB hard drive, able to record up to 500 hours of content, the ability to scroll back in time and through the past seven days on the EPG and the ability to rate shows with thumbs up and thumbs down buttons and receive recommendations based on a viewer’s preferences, visitors to www.virginmedia.com/tivo can interact with the site and give their favourite Virgin Media: TiVo Service feature a big thumbs up.

5 August 2011

In a brave , game changing play for the Remember A Charity consortium, DDB UK are seeking to raise awareness around leaving legacies to charity through the ‘One Stuntman, One Legacy’ campaign, fronted by real-life stunt man Rocky Taylor.

One Stunt Man, One Legacy seeks to make a personal, sensitive subject more accessible and inspire conversation on the topic amongst the 50+ age group.

The lack of awareness and consideration to leave a legacy demanded a bold, unique campaign to grab attention and make a sensitive subject easier to talk about. Due to a tight budget, neither a broadcast nor direct approach would have efficiently reached the target audience of the over 50’s. In order for the campaign to cut through, particularly amongst the challenging, provocative work associated with the third sector, and earn media, DDB UK had to think outside the box. And so ‘One Stuntman, One Legacy’ was born.

Remember A Charity have teamed up with an aging stuntman named Rocky Taylor to perform a series of stunts to remind people of the importance of leaving a gift to charity. At 60 something he’s relevant to the target audience, and with his death defying job he’s able to talk about death and the importance of looking after your loved ones and what you care about when you’re gone, while delivering this important message in a charismatic, entertaining way. Rocky Taylor is definitely not your average pensioner.

The campaign has been designed to be interactive. On Remember A Charity’s Facebook page members of the public will be able watch his short film, find out more about Remember A Charity and the One Stuntman, One Legacy campaign - and ultimately vote on how his final stunts will be performed. Remember A Charity hopes the eye-catching campaign will attract thousands of viewers to watch the stunts live online. On 2^nd August he will recreate the stunt that nearly killed him and hit the headlines in 1985 during the filming of Death wish 3, at Battersea Power Station, London. In September he will perform another stunt to mark Remember A Charity Week – the details of which will be revealed on the Facebook page. 

As Chris Lapham, Creative Director at DDB UK says: “It’s not just the stuntman who’s brave in this new advertising campaign, but the client as well. To get people talking about a difficult subject, we’ve had to be ballsy and thanks to Remember A Charity having the guts to do something different, we feel we’ve created an idea that breaks the charity sector mould. And maybe a few bones too."

4 August 2011

Our new campaign for Marmite, ‘Hate Cuisine’, firmly positions the nation’s most divisive yeast extract against pretentious food and exploits the product’s versatility, presenting it as the perfect cooking ingredient to help banish bland meals for good.

The activity  introduces animated characters Dave and Geoff (a frog and snail) who champion no-nonsense cooking. The ads will run till the end of September, rolling out across TV, digital channels and print exclusively with the Evening Standard, directing consumers to a campaign Facebook page, recipe app and competition which will be launched to coincide with the ads.

DDB’s evolution of the classic love hate positioning is aimed to attract a younger, twenty-something audience than the spread’s family heartland. The ads present Marmite as the ultimate flavour-enhancer of the simple, uncomplicated dishes that are staples in the often busy and spontaneous pre-family lifestyle. Amongst the dishes showcased are spaghetti bolognese, poached egg on crumpet and BBQ chicken.

The campaign will be amplified with Splendid’s ‘Marmite Mondays’ PR activity, comprised of an online mini-series starring Trigger Happy TV comedian Dom Joly spoofing celebrity chefs whilst cooking easy and tasty Marmite meals. The mini-series will be launched on Monday 18^th July and will be supported by a research-led news story. The idea is based on the insight that the target audience often view Mondays as the worst day of the week. This presented the opportunity for Marmite to take ownership of the day and provide inspirations to brighten up the start of the week, with all activity launching on Mondays.

The campaign is a collaboration between DDB (advertising), Splendid Communications (PR and digital), Mindshare (media planning) and Iris (ECRM).

Tom Denyard, Marketing Manager at Unilever, commented, “We’re delighted to be launching the new ‘Hate Cuisine’ campaign and expect the different elements, including the Dave and Geoff animations and Marmite Mondays concept, to particularly appeal to our lapsed audience who love the brand but would welcome more inventive ways to incorporate the product in their every day meals. It’s a really exciting time for Marmite and we hope the campaign to be a huge success.”

Patrick McClelland, Art Director for Marmite  at DDB UK commented, “Feargal and I thought the ideal characters to debunk the pretentious culture of ‘Haute Cuisine’ would be Dave and Geoff - a frog and a snail. Not only do they have a vested interest in doing so but, coincidentally, they also just happen to be huge Marmite fans”.

3 August 2011

Focusing on the idea that 'Great tasting juice doesn't just grow on trees' our new campaign takes us through the journey of nurturing Tropicana oranges from caring for the seedlings through to gently hand-picking the oranges and then squeezing them within 24 hours to capture as much flavour as possible. The emphasis is on the passion, dedication, and 60 years of experience and craftsmanship that goes into making the best tasting juice.

The new campaign is driven by the consumer insight that reveals people increasingly want to see the journey that their food or drink goes on before it gets to them. Previous advertising campaigns for Tropicana have been more focused on the beauty of the final product - the juice in the glass.

Alongside the 30 second advert, we have also developed a series of 16 broadcast idents featuring different juices in the brand's range that will be used as part of their sponsorship of Channel 4 and UKTV food programmes. The TV ad campaign will also be supported by Tropicana's year-long media partnership with Guardian.co.uk.

2 August 2011

People have always been fascinated by the weather but their interest is set to reach new heights in Ireland this summer with the launch of Budweiser Ice Cold Index. To drive trials of Bud Ice Cold in an innovative way and own summer, the key season for beer sales, DDB UK have developed a revolutionary participation platform ‘The Bud Ice Cold Index’. The centrepiece is an innovative mobile app that utilises cutting edge e-vouchering technology that matches real Irish temperatures to the offers Irish consumers receive off their pint.

The Budweiser Ice Cold Index means that on days reaching 20°C and over, consumers will enjoy a free pint.  There will be €2 off when it’s 18°C or 19°C outside, and for 16°C or 17°C weather, there will be €1 off at participating Index bars. You can check the day’s offer via the App which will update you on the temperature of your region each day at 1pm. Simply put, the hotter the day the less you pay.

By using daily weather feeds and linking a discount at the bar directly to the weather, Bud Ice Cold are not just talking at the consumers but making them an active part of the campaign by encouraging them to download and engage with the app before passing it on to friends.

Budweiser Ice Cold Index will be supported by a heavyweight ATL summer campaign  which includes outdoor, print, radio, online, POS and TV. Shot on location in Cape Town and directed by James Rouse, the TV ad features the Bud Ice Cold Index Weatherman Scott Campbell on a beach location explaining the concept of Index. With participation at the core of the campaign, the weatherman we’ll be delivering daily news, competitions, Index updates and invitations to the hottest events throughout the summer on the Facebook page.

31 July 2011

Volkswagen is currently focusing on value - specifically the widely held, erroneous belief that their cars are more expensive than most of their competitors. They wanted to show that, over time, Volkswagens almost always work out to be cheaper. This was an awareness message that needed to reach beyond the people who were thinking about car purchases in the near future.

We created a miniature interactive village through which visitors could roughly calculate the long term costs of various aspects of their life: family, fun, holidays, food, home and of course, a Volkswagen car. The aim was to show that the little things really do add up over time, and that Volkswagen is on the case. Once calculated, visitors can share and compare their surprising results with Facebook friends.

The beautifully detailed village was shot using a tilt-shift style to exaggerate the small scale feel. Multiple camera passes allowed us to incorporate the streets and buildings into an interactive environment that users can move through as they explore the cost of living their lifetime.

The site is a great way for Volkswagen to engage with people in a fun and interesting way while addressing the complex subject of the whole life costs of owning and running a car.

30 July 2011

This £2m campaign is the first work produced by DDB UK for Gü since winning the account back in December. Working to the line 'Give in to Gü', the campaign reclaims the uncomplicated joy of eating a chocolate pudding from the conventional approach of the desserts category -- positioning desserts as naughty secrets or transgressions that have to be justified with excuses. Gü believe, and we agree, that it's absolutely fine to treat ourselves with a delicious pudding and encourages consumers to feel free to indulge and unapologetically revel in the pleasure of giving in.

The TV execution, which will run until July on Channel 4 stations nationally and VOD in London, highlights the brand's unique positioning. As Grant Parker, Creative Director at DDB UK explains, "We wanted an idea that wasn't another typical dessert ad where you have to just watch people enjoying eating chocolate."

Quirky and fun, the advert features a series of mischevious everyday scenarios which people find hard to resist such as the popping freshly un-popped bubble wrap, tipping a line of dominoes, or kicking a large pile of crunchy autumn leaves. The end frame features a steaming hot ü chocolate soufflé and the tagline 'Give in to Gü.'

11 July 2011

At the heart of the family since 1927, Winalot, a brand under the Nestlé Purina portfolio of pet foods, believe a dog makes family life complete. The launch of our new ‘What a Lot’ television commercial – the first to air since 2003 – celebrates of the central role active, healthy dogs play in British families.

Ingrid Hayes, Senior Brand Manager at Winalot, comments that “This ad will hopefully serve to remind people that Winalot will always be, at its heart, a great British family brand.”

We were tasked with making an advert that shows just how much having a Winalot dog  can contribute to family life in Britain. We did this by using real, street cast, dog owners from all across the country - from North Yorkshire’s Ribblehead viaduct to the South Downs of Sussex.  An ‘ode to dogs’ is read over a series of portraits of families with their dogs, in a wide range of recognisably British settings and circumstances. We see dogs who run a lot, dig a lot and even put up with quite a lot. The result is an honest, natural and emotive portrait of Winalot dogs and their families in Britain in 2011.

David Mackersey and Jonathan John, the creative team here at DDB UK that worked on the campaign state that “with honesty, wry observation and emotion, this ad touchingly demonstrates the bond between British familes and their dogs. A lot.”

7 July 2011

DDB UK unveil our new advertising campaign for Virgin Media, 'A More Exciting Place to Live'. Celebrating families, couples, professionals and friends making the most of the digital world, the ad gives us a glimpse into every room in the home where we see people listening to music, watching films, staying in touch, learning, sharing and living in the digital world.

The ad features lyrics from the Madness anthem 'Our House' set to the soundtrack of Dan Black's 'Symphonies'.

Richard Larcombe, advertising and sponsorship director at Virgin Media, said: "Our new campaign celebrates the integral role technology plays as part of life today. People are using more services, devices and gadgets more of the time and Virgin Media is helping families lead a limitless digital life. We're enabling the next generation of digital entertainment and putting our brilliant services at the heart of UK homes. With superfast broadband, next generation TV and innovative mobile services, a Virgin Media world is a more exciting place to live."

The ads are part of a multi-million pound media campaign, including outdoor, social media and online, print and radio. Virgin Media's 'A More Exciting Place to Live' launches on www.virginmedia.com on Friday 4th February. Virgin Media will then takeover Facebook's homepage on Saturday and launch a dedicated online destination at www.virginmedia.com, enabling visitors to explore a range of interactive videos and helping to bring Virgin Media's next generation digital services to life.

5 July 2011

This is the summer sale campaign for the Harvey Nichols; with the most fabulous designer items available at unbelievably affordable prices, you’ll feel like you’ve committed daylight robbery.    

Harvey Nichols is renowned for showcasing only the most coveted, exclusive fashion around, and in this campaign we see shoppers with their faces covered in various disguises, stereotypically used in robberies. They are poised, ready to get their hands on the hottest steal of this year’s Harvey Nichols sale.

In the first execution, the female shopper disguised with a black stocking, wears a Lanvin blouse and skirt and carries a Givenchy Pandora Bag. In the second we see our female shopper has opted for a balaclava to hide her face whilst wearing a Stella McCartney dress and Alexander McQueen clutch. The final execution showcases our male suspect in a Paul Smith suit and Jil Sander shirt, hidden behind a clown’s mask.

Julia Bowe, Group Press & Marketing Director at Harvey Nichols, comments, “This campaign highlights the fun we like to have with our customers, and the fact that our sale is a perfect opportunity for everyone to get themselves a real steal this summer.”

2 July 2011

DDB UK joined forces with paper folding experts Andersen M Studios to show the amazing things that Star Alliance can achieve with just 2 plane tickets.

As part of their Biosphere Connections campaign, Star Alliance gave spare seats on their flights to scientists and field workers, assisting environmental projects all over the world. The tickets came together to become scenes from these places through stop-motion.

These idents introduced documentaries, made in association with National Geographic, explaining the projects in more detail. The National Geographic TV channel will also screen condensed films linking to the Biosphere Connections information on the Star Alliance website.

8 June 2011

 ‘Find Barry’s Key’ is our latest campaign for Tourism Australia - intended to grow the number of 18-30 year olds from the UK and Ireland arriving in Australia for holidays and working holidays. It took the form of an online competition housed on Australia.com that then links back to Tourism Australia’s Facebook group.

This competition is based on a ‘treasure hunt’ mechanic; over the course of 5 weeks, players will solve clues to bring them closer to the grand prize of return flights to Australia for 4 people, 3 night’s accommodation on arrival and campervan hire for up to three weeks. Through both clues and their answers, players will be presented with information on Australian destinations and experiences – this educating and inspiring content will reinforce the motivation to visit Down Under, and the opportunities available to them when they get there.

Participants will work their way through clues to reveal a fictional backpacker’s (Barry’s) journey through Australia.  From voicemails contained on Barry’s mobile phone, to receipts found in the van, his experiences will be depicted in a variety of ways. Once Barry’s journey is revealed on a map, elements from the clues will be pieced together to help players find Barry’s lost campervan keys.

Based on the propositio ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia for inspiring young experience seekers to express themselves’, the competition aims to educate the target audience through a combination of entertaining, useful and innovative destination content; increasing the awareness and desire of Australia as a travel destination.

www.findbarryskey.australia.com

8 June 2011

DDB UK launch a strategic marketing campaign in print and online, as well as selected retailers, to drive awareness of The Financial Times UK Budget coverage.

The new execution, called ‘Spring. A time for Growth?’ is the latest advert in the award-winning ‘We live in Financial Times’ campaign. Designed to promote the FT’s upcoming coverage of this year's Budget; announced on the 23rd March. The campaign plays on the widely anticipated view that the Budget will include policies to kick-start growth in the UK, and drives readers to a dedicated microsite: www.ft.com/indepth/budget-2011.

The campaign will run across the UK until 23rd March and will include posters, point of sale for retailers, and adverts in the FT and on FT.com.

Caroline Halliwell, Director of Brand and B2B Marketing, Financial Times, comments:
“Our new creative helps promote the FT’s unrivalled coverage of the Budget. We want the FT to be the first point of call for all the news, comment and analysis our readers need.”

8 June 2011

Copella’s passion is the English apple. The brand is rooted in the soil of Boxford Farm in the Suffolk countryside where the Copella orchards have lain for 40 years. Using 25 different varieties of English apples to make its juice, it tastes just like biting into a fresh apple. They use nothing but 100% pure fruit.  All their apples are handpicked by a dedicated team of apple lovers and selected and blended by experts to get exactly the right taste.

Copella’s commitment to the English apple means they are determined to bring to more people’s attention to the riot of flavours and distinct characters of our national fruit. Unfortunately we have forgotten the depth and rich heritage English apples. We have lost touch with the wonderful and locally grown. Copella believes we should be as proud of our orchards and apples as the French are of their vineyards and wine, and the Italians of their olive groves and oils, to ensure that English apples are cherished and enjoyed for years to come

Through this campaign DDB UK sought to make Copella synonymous with apple expertise, and celebrate the 25 English apple varieties that make its apple juice taste just like biting into a fresh apple.

8 June 2011

Brief
MONOPOLY’s brand essence is all about negotiation. Those players that are best at negotiation, are best at MONOPOLY. So, our brief was to amplify this brand value whilst also bringing to life Hasbro’s latest release, MONOPOLY City, through an intense, rewarding and social experience for MONOPOLY players.

Solution
We created the biggest online game of MONOPOLY ever.  A global online campaign that takes the game into the real world with a live worldwide game of MONOPOLY, using Google Maps to turn the globe into one giant game board!

First, we started momentum in the campaign by creating a competition for MONOPOLY fans to design their own MONOPOLY building using Google SketchUp to be included in the game. The community then voted for the top 3 designs which were included in the game. The game then went live and, armed with $3 million in virtual cash players purchase and construct MONOPOLY buildings on any street in the world. They earn rent from their properties and can increase the earning potential of their streets by adding schools, eco-friendly parks and much more.  With Chance Cards, players can sabotage their opponents by erecting prisons or sewage plants, negating all rent on a street, and even demolish buildings altogether. The campaign ended on 9th December with overwhelming results.

Results
•  It now ranks in the top 20 biggest online games in the US by UVs
•  Over 17 million visits to date
*  1.4 million active registered players
*  Over 5 million unique visitors to date
*  15 billion dynamic page impressions per month
*  70% of visitors spent 10+ minutes per visit, 50% spent half an hour or more
*  Total streets bought 8,927,643
*  Total buildings built 175,002,384, a new building element of the game
*  Number of negotiations 11,974,870

5 June 2011

Challenge
The Golf GTI is an icon – the original hot hatch, loved by pre-family, affluent men. They’re urban, style-conscious ‘early adopters’, the kind of people who know their brands and what they stand for. They love driving and care about the performance of their car over ostentation. We needed to find an original and captivating way to attract these men and get them experiencing the new GTI VI.

Solution
Our approach was to bring the fun of driving the new GTI VI to life.  We created The GTI Project: a game that allows people to relive the boyish fun of their youths by tapping into the nostalgia of when they first learnt to love driving. Inspired by the true story behind the car’s history: the first GTI was built in secret by Volkswagen engineers in their spare time, purely out of a love for performance motoring. The project features a restricted access workroom in the Volkswagen factory, where an extraordinary 30ftx25ft Scalextric racetrack has been built. Between the 200 buildings of a gleaming model city, the GTI engineers are racing their new car in miniature, no less fine-tuned and expertly engineered than its full size counterpart. Players can become immersed in the familiar Scalextrics race; taking control, crashing round corners, setting their own fast lap, then challenging their friends to do better. This virtual track engages people with the real emotional reward of a GTI, not that it’s flashy, but that it’s fun. Ultimately, it’s about the thrill of driving – something that GTI engineers and drivers seem to understand instinctively. This all-digital launch campaign comprised social media outreach, email activity, rich media online ads and traffic drivers on www.volkswagen.co.uk all driving to the GTI Project microsite.

Impact
• The site generated over five million page views.
• 167,439 registered players, spending an average of eight minutes on the site.
• The site exploded across a multitude of online communities, with our outreach resulting in over 279,500 sites now linking to the microsite.
• Sites like drivers-republic took it a step further, creating their own custom league competitions on the GTI Project, with attractive prizes like a day at Millbrook test-driving the new GTI under professional racer supervision.
• Posts and comments range from Portuguese to Polish, Twitter generated a huge social buzz with tweets like ‘Best interactive marketing that I’ve seen in ages!’ and ‘I love websites that are not a simple click and view, enjoy GTI Project’.
• Most importantly, this all-digital campaign met its ambitious sales targets within one month of the car’s launch.

16 May 2011

Tropicana's new print campaign ‘Your Daily Ray of Sunshine’ which seeks to shift consumer associations of occasionally drinking Tropicana for a special breakfast treat to an essential (and therefore ritualistic) behaviour every day.

Using the most delicious fruits to give a refreshing taste, a glass of Tropicana Orange Juice is packed full of vitamin C, a source of folic acid and provides one of your 5 a day. This combination means Tropicana is as good as it tastes and really makes you feel like you’ve got the day off to the best start possible. That’s just one reason why there is such a feeling of optimism around the brand and this is reflected in each of the five executions.

The campaign reflects the optimism of the Tropicana brand, encouraging readers to adopt a glass half full approach to the day ahead and start as they mean to go on - unlocking the need and desire for Tropicana in the process. Each execution depicts a different day of the working week. Stunningly simple, the bright and visually engaging artwork reflects the optimism of the Tropicana brand, using a different pep-talk mantra each day to encourage the reader to think positively about the day ahead, and attack it in a Tropicana way.

31 January 2011

Challenge
Volkswagen wanted people to experience the ’simply effortless’ Tiguan for themselves.

Solution
We decided to use social media to turn ordinary individuals into influential brand advocates, by creating a competition in which we searched for a new kind of car critic - The People’s Reviewer.

Over 1000 people applied via YouTube video auditions and email entries. We selected nine contestants, divided them into three heats, and gave each aTiguan for a week to try out its features and record a short video review. These were posted on the People’s Reviewer site where the public voted for their favourite. The competition culminated in a final between the winners of each of the three heats.

To help the contestants win votes we taught them how to tell their story and generate support using social media tools: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. They were a quick study!

This is a real example of a campaign that leverages the power of social media with an off-line experience, whilst being bolstered by a traditional media spend. The People’s Reviewer demonstrated the enormous potential of social media when embraced by major brands, even in these early experimental days. In undertaking the campaign, Volkswagen has broken new ground for the way UK car brands can and will connect with the public.

Impact
• 251,411 site visits
• 6,834 participants (votes, sign-ups, entrants)
• 1,019 entrants
• Over 1,000 followers on twitter
• Over 50,000 video views
• 2.2 million reach through social media [excluding paid advertising figures]
…and one People’s Reviewer

10 January 2011

We aired a tongue-in-cheek Christmas viral video for luxury department store Harvey Nichols sending up the fashionistas who use their dogs as the ultimate fashion accessory.

The video, called Not Just For Christmas, was filmed in Harvey Nichols’ Knightsbridge store in London and plays on the pampered pooch trend espoused by celebrities such as Paris Hilton witht he strapline "Forget killer heels, ’it’ bags and statement jewellery, the must-have accessories this Christmas are canine."

Footage shows Harvey Nichols gift-wrapped Pugs, Chihuahuas and Cavapoos, and intends to play on the Harvey Nichols advertising concept of “don’t believe everything you see.”

The video was sent out to all Harvey Nichols friends, customers and suppliers. It was also be hosted on the Harvey Nichols site and Harvey Nichols YouTube channel.

Julia Bowe, marketing communications director at Harvey Nichols, said: “We wanted to create a feel-good Christmas message which pokes fun at the absurd lengths to which some fashionistas will go to, even using dogs as an accessory to their outfits.  During filming the dogs had a great time and so did we

10 December 2010

DDB UK and Volkswagen unveil their stunning new commercial ‘Last Tango in Compton’ to re-establish the award-winning Polo in the minds of consumers.

First launched 35 years ago, the Polo has long been known for its reliability, safety and toughness. Although the new model still retains these values, it now also has the looks to match.  Or as the end line tells it ‘Tough. Beautiful. Polo’

The visually arresting ad, shot by award winning director Jonathan Glazer (of Guinness Surfer, Sony Paint and Levis Odyssey) from Academy Films, features a couple performing a sensual, beautiful tango dance to a tough pounding hip-hop track in an extraordinary dance sequence.  Tough and beautiful all in one.

In an all black industrial set stripped of clutter the attention is focused as the dancers mesmerize in a close embrace, cheek to cheek, chests together, their legs intertwined, in a long beautiful conversation of love and passion.  Overhead the pounding rhythms of upcoming hip hop artist Roc C’s track ‘Don’t Stop’ provide the surprising accompaniment to the couple’s tango.  The ad closes on the stylish black Volkswagen Polo set within a pure red urban landscape.

Shot in north London ‘Last Tango in Compton’ stars two of the world’s best Tango dancers - Gasper Godoy, Argentinean Tango World Champion, and partner Manuella Rossi, the world number two.  The pair dance a specially choreographed routine overseen by one of the world’s foremost choreographers with a unique, simultaneous set-up of over 20 different camera’s following their every move.

The ad launched on 10^th November 2010, accompanied by a high profile digital and social media campaign, utilising extensive making of and behind the scenes footage.

‘Last Tango in Compton’ sees DDB UK and Jonathan Glazer partnering for the first time since the award winning Volkswagen Polo ‘Protection’ in 1998.

10 December 2010

This £1m brand campaign promoted the launch of the Financial Times new-look FT Weekend Magazine.

The campaign was aimed at reaching affluent weekday readers looking for a smart but casual read in their leisure time. The magazine is positioned as having ‘style with substance’. Elegant people and photography have been used to convey a fresh new feel.

Caroline Halliwell, Director of Brand and B2B Marketing at the FT, said: “The FT Weekend and its new look magazine is full of personality and our campaign reflects this. We’re looking to attract new readers, as well as regular FT weekday readers, who want a smart but casual read at the weekend when they are off duty.”

A print campaign ran in current affairs weeklies The Economist, Spectator and The Week, and high-end consumer titles including Country Life, Decanter, Esquire, Tatler and GQ. This will be supported with an online campaign featured on food and lifestyle websites such as MrandMrsSmith.com and Squaremeal.com.

Commuters saw the campaign splashed across digital escalator panels at the busiest London Underground stations every Friday evening in October and Facebook advertising and polls drove readers to the official Financial Times fan page.

The FT  signed a month-long partnership with boutique cinema chain Curzons to promote the new-look supplement in its Mayfair, Chelsea, Soho, Bloomsbury and Richmond theatres, and a rolling programme of sales promotion ran from October to December including in-store posters and point of sale materials in 1,500 retailers across the UK.

Leading the launch issue was Simon Schama’s profile of the UK’s first Conservative Prime Minister for 13 years. David Cameron’s conversation with Britain’s best-known historian was the PM’s first magazine interview since taking power and appeared the day before the Tory Party Conference gets underway in Birmingham.

28 September 2010

This major corporate campaign for Financial Times entitled ‘Essential’ features the strapline “Some tools aren’t a luxury”  and is aimed at positioning the corporate FT subscription as an essential business tool that companies cannot afford to be without.

The three designs feature a paratrooper in freefall in ‘Paratrouper’, empty-handed arctic explorers in ‘Explorers’ and an unarmed police squad in ‘SWAT’ – the insight being that although an FT corporate subscription is a cost to your business, the benefits you get in return are invaluable.

Caroline Halliwell, FT’s Director of Brand & B2B Marketing, added: “It is more important than ever for businesses to be equipped with tools that keep them ahead of less well-informed competitors.  The question we want our audience to ask isn't "can we afford to have a subscription" but instead "can we afford not to have one”

2 September 2010

Speedy signs a contract with Virgin Media to represent their fibre optic broadband. Elated he heads to London to start his new job, only to find that his new employers have some very peculiar ideas on how to use him. That said he handles working with these funny Englishmen with good grace and humour, mainly due to the seemingly endless supply of good cheese.

28 August 2010

To get 18-30’s talking, we harnessed a channel they used to chat every day, Facebook, offering a chance to win a working holiday by involving as many friends as possible, in their network, in their friend’s, and so on.

 We created ‘The Great Boomerang Throw’. An idea built around six degrees of separation.

Entrants threw a virtual boomerang, with the longest loop winning a working holiday in Oz. To keep boomerangs flying, entrants threw to a Facebook friend, that friend then chose from their own list and so on. How far a boomerang flew and who had it was tracked across a global Google map and on a ‘Profile Picture’ chain.

In just 4 weeks 19,272 took part, passing boomerangs on as many as 77 times. Boomerangs travelled to over 40 countries, creating noise outside the UK.

During promotion, fans soared from under 12,000 to over 38,410, more than 220% increase in chat about working holidays in Oz.

28 July 2010

We launched this tactical campaign for The Financial Times (FT) to promote its coverage of the Emergency Budget being held on Tuesday 22^nd June 2010.

The new execution, called ‘Economy’, is part of the award-winning ‘We live in Financial Times’ campaign.

The tactical print campaign played on the challenge faced by the new government as they prepared to announce the emergency budget by utilising the iconic Tesco Value design to make comment on the way the new government plans to tackle the deficit - by making cuts and savings wherever possible.

Dave Henderson, Creative Director DDB UK comments: 

“This isn’t just another budget, so we didn’t just want another budget ad.  It’s the start of a whole new era and nothing sums up austerity quite like the iconic Tesco Value range.”

17 June 2010

As one of the most anticipated sales in town, securing the hottest sale items from the Harvey Nichols sale is often the result of stealth strategy and a healthy dose of luck.

In this campaign we go to the Harvey Nichols fairground to highlight that combination of skill and luck required to pick up the most coveted designer sale items.

Each execution features a different fairground game and a range of heads representing the Harvey Nichols customers vying for the gorgeous designer finds.

In each case a winning “customer” smiles with delight as the envious others look on.

The first execution features a golden bingo wheel where customers are hoping to roll out and win the stunning sparkly Stella McCartney jacket and light gold strapless Willow dress. The second execution features a lilac grab machine with our heads hoping to be caught in its silver claw to claim the flowered silk Erdem dress and magenta Lanvin handbag. The final execution showcases a “duck” pool where a striped Lanvin jacket is attempting to hook its lucky new owner.

Julia Bowe, Marketing Director at Harvey Nichols, comments, “This campaign highlights the tongue in cheek nature of Harvey Nichols, using the fun language of the fairground to demonstrate the excitement of securing the hottest sale item for this season.”

14 June 2010

Brief
Hasbro had a new brand positioning. This year the classic Trivial Pursuit had a makeover with six new question styles allowing for faster and more exciting game-play. Hasbro wanted to communicate this to audiences in a way that would re-engage them and encourage sales in the all important Christmas run-up.

We needed to come up with a way to engage the audience and drive awareness by provoking participation. Trivial Pursuit Experiment was created to support this launch, after all playing in teams is better, because no-one knows everything!

Solution
A fun and addictive game that reveals your inner genius by pitting Men versus Women across the world in nine languages to discover once and for all, who is the smartest sex! Players can also create banter cards to send to their friends, the perfect way to enlist more players for your side, or to have a dig at the opposition! Because we all have days when our inner genius is hiding, we created the Trivial Pursuit Wedgie awards: send in your favourite clips of real life mistakes and we’ll share the winners every week. All of these features can be experienced on the demo site.

Results
• The Experiment finished on 22^nd February 2010. It was a very close call with scores changing in real time, but like most games, only one side can win.
• The game ended with a world-wide score of a staggering 15,121,731 questions asked and answered.
• This means it would take an individual over 3500 non-stop days or 9 years, 215 days, 8 hours and 24 minutes exactly to answer all the questions, with no sleep or breaks!
• The final scores were massive: Women 4,088,139 : Men 4,077,596. Congratulations women of the world, bragging rights are yours forever!
• Interestingly, the women did best in Entertainment (56.8% correctly answered) and the men did best in Science & Nature ( 57% correctly answered)
• The second experiment, Battle of the Generations, started mid March.

The website is part of a wider campaign that includes viral, online display, social media and PR co-developed with an unnamed US based agency.

8 June 2010

Over the past 13 years, DDB’s Love / Hate campaign has firmly established Marmite as one of Britain’s most well loved brands. The line - ‘You either Love it or Hate it’ has passed into the popular vernacular with Marmite becoming the sound bite adjective of choice to describe anything polarising - from books, to aspiring singers. It has galvanised two passionate tribes of ‘lovers’ and ‘haters’, vocal advocates (even our ‘haters’ love the brand despite hating the product) who keep the conversation around the brand alive.

This campaignspoofed the 2010 general election by creating two spoof political parties, The Love Party and the Hate Party, campaigning for and against the Marmite product.The two parties were represented by leaders Fay Freely and Steve Heaving, who campaigned to win the votes of the electorate through election broadcasts, both online and on TV, 'Love Party' and 'Hate Party' facebook pages, print ads, direct mail, twitter feeds and PR stunts. A dedicated news website, 'The Marmite News Network' was created to report on events during the campaign, with spoof news bulletins both online and on radio. The public was able to vote for the parties on the website and the winner announced on May 2nd. Whichever party won would get one of their manifesto pledges enacted.

It was the Love Party in case you were wondering :)

28 April 2010

This execution in the award winning Kwik-Fit campaign aims to promote the breadth of products and services they offer, alongside a range of uniquely talented fitters culminating in the line "Kwik-Fit.  You'll be amazed at what we do".

This time around the campaign has evolved outside the traditional Kwik-Fit service centre and sees our uniquely talented Kwik-Fit fitters showcase their ‘amazing’ skills in other scenarios such as a bear pit or in CGI ‘video game’ style.

Matt Delahunty, Account Director at DDB says “Kwik-Fit offer so much more than just tyres and exhausts, and this campaign is all about getting this across in an entertaining way and building on the brands history of creating memorable advertising”.

This execution saw the return to British TV screens of the nation’s favourite car – KITT, the iconic Pontiac Trans Am from the 80s series Knight Rider.  However, the other star of the show - KITT’s human partner, David Hasselhoff - has been replaced by a Kwik-Fit fitter called Derek.

Kwik-Fit surveyed more than 2000 people across the UK to find the car which would most appeal for the company’s new advertising campaign¹.  In the ad KITT is in a Kwik-Fit centre having his brakes repaired yet instead of his traditional sidekick, Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff), KITT is in the caring hands of Derek, who also advises him about Kwik-Fit’s free lifetime brakes guarantee.

David White, customer services director at Kwik-Fit says: “The KITT ad is the latest addition to our “You’ll be amazed” campaign – it supports our promise that if you buy new brake pads or shoes, that we’ll replace them for free for as long as you own the car.  And that applies to any car, it doesn’t have to be a star of TV.  We saw the enduring interest in KITT at first hand when we filmed the ad – he attracted a huge crowd of passers-by and as the word spread about the shoot more and more people came from nearby buildings to have their photo taken with him.”

The campaign first launched in 2008 with seven service centre based TV ads starring a bird tamer, hypnotist and ventriloquist fitters.  These executions, as before, have been written and art directed by Dave Henderson and Richard Denney, and directed by Andy McLeod out of Rattling Stick.  

9 April 2010

There are millions of ways to tell a story. There’s only one way to watch one.

With only a tenth of the media budget of its main competitors, Philips’ TV division needed its audience to help make up its budget deficit.

By positioning ourselves as offering a cinematic viewing experience at home, we were able to not only stand above the functional clutter of the category, but create communications that offered much needed engagement.

The trick was not to just talk about our positioning, but to let our audience actually experience it.

From this brief, Parallel Lines was born.  21 words of dialogue, expressed 6 ways by 6 directors from Ridley Scott Associates.  Only viewable through a Philips TV.  With so much high quality, original and virtually unbranded content at our disposal - and a promotion to create a 7^th film as further bait - we were able to construct a campaign that would rack up over 10million views in the first 6 months.

‘Tell it your way’ competition:

• 637 video entries
• 27,724 votes for the shortlist
• “I’m impressed by the films. They have interpreted it creatively and their technical execution is impeccable” Ridley Scott, RSA

Additional Buzz:

• Huge bidding war with 3 Hollywood studios vying for the rights to make a feature film of ‘The Gift’
• 9 award-wins including Film Craft Grand Prix and Gold at Cannes Lions 2010
• Shortlisted for Campaign Campaign of the Year
• 286% increase in total buzz compared to ‘Carousel’

4 April 2010

Marmite Fabric Softener anyone? What about a Marmite Shower Gel or Perfume?

These new products bewildered some unwitting members of the public after footage of the Marmite Perfume and the Marmite Fabric Softener appeared online. This prompted a storm of comment on cyberspace before the campaign was revealed as a hoax. The real product being launched is the new Marmite Cereal Bar - the world’s first savoury cereal bar.

The advertisements soon re-appeared with a sticker featuring the savoury snack and copy that admitted that the spoof products may have been a step too far even for marmite fanatics, but asks the audience if the same can be said of the world’s first savoury cereal bar?

A cereal bar with the distinctive taste of Marmite won’t be for everyone but consumers are encouraged to have their say on the Facebook page 

Tom Denyard, Marmite Marketing Manager at Unilever UK comments:  “The question at the heart of this campaign (have we gone too far?) is an invitation to both our Lovers and Haters to give Marmite cereal bars a try and let fly with their views.  Whether they think it’s delicious or disgusting we want to hear from them.”

28 February 2010

In January 2010, Changing Faces and DDB UK have launched an arresting new campaign aimed at promoting face equality starring four children.

The campaign was fronted by Max, Lucas, Harry and Lauren all aged between 9 and 13 years old and all living with varying types of facial disfigurement. They appeared in a series of posters nationwide, developed by DDB UK, which aimed to break down stereotypes and assumptions that the public may have of young people with a physical difference.

Winnie Coutinho, Head of Campaigns and Communications at Changing Faces, said:

“The children in our posters radiate a positive sense of themselves which we hope will encourage people to re-evaluate any limiting assumptions that they might have had about people with disfigurements.”

DDB UK and Changing Faces worked closely with the CBBC for the duration of the project filming a major children’s documentary following the production of the campaign. The 30 minute documentary explored the issues surrounding growing up with a disfigurement and the children’s experiences starring in the campaign culminating in a moving reveal as they see themselves on billboards across London.

London Underground donated 430 advertising spaces for the leading disfigurement charity & the campaign launched outdoors on billboards nationwide through 2010.

15 January 2010

This campaign borrows from the imagery of the well-documented world of voodoo mysticism in order to over-dramatise how disappointed shoppers might react upon missing out on their one most coveted item from the Harvey Nichols sale.

Beautifully shot by fashion photographer Barbara Donninelli, there are three striking images that comprise the campaign. Each execution features a hand-made voodoo doll wearing one painstakingly crafted replica of a designer item; representing the sale item the creator missed out on.

The first execution features a button-eyed voodoo doll wearing a deep blue velvet Marc Jacobs dress. The second execution features a male voodoo doll wearing a black woollen Burberry coat with red collars. The final execution features a voodoo doll with flowing blonde hair wearing black tights and a pair of gold winged Charlotte Olympia stilettos.

The campaign first appeared in UK and Ireland in national and regional press on 26^th December 2009 and ran until the end of January 2010.

1 December 2009

DDB launched a new global integrated marketing campaign to support the FT launch of a major editorial series focused on the growing force of consumers in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs).

The FT conducted a week of print, online and interactive content that examined whether consumers in the BRICs countries have the power to pick up the slack in the global economy following the retreat of the US consumer. 

The ad revealed the shape of the modern economic landscape across the BRICs, bringing it to life in different traditional illustrative styles that belong to each country.  The four styles cleverly combine to create one overall landscape.

Caroline Halliwell, Director of Brand & B2B Marketing at the Financial Times, said: “The BRICs series demonstrates that the FT is at the forefront of analysing the shift of power in the global economy, and it explains why the BRICs nations are of increasing importance for the business world.”

In the UK, the campaign was supported by posters at 50 key commuter sites including Moorgate, Gerrards Cross, Marylebone and Victoria.  Electronic display screens carrying BRICs creative were used by retail agents in key locations. Further support was provided by a consumer-facing EMEA and US email and direct mail campaign. In addition, a retail, field marketing and pedicab campaign pre-promoted the series.

12 January 2009