The frustrating thing about working in advertising is that most advertisers don’t really believe in advertising. So when a recession is looming, the first thing they do is cut their advertising budget. But fortunately ad agencies do believe in advertising. Hence this ad by Amsterdam agency THEY. Apart from the fact that we love the agency’s visual identity (very distinctive and recognizable), it communicates a strong message. By doing this THEY wants to show that in times of recession the stronger become stronger and the weaker, weaker. And with so many ad people being made redundant these days, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to catch some fearless fish.
This is what happens when you take your pet with you on safari in Africa. Better leave it at home. Nice ad for a pet pension, made by Lowe Amsterdam.
Most diets are known for their temporary effect. Within the time space of 4 pictures in a photo booth this lady is victim of the famous yo-yo effect. According to this ad Weight Watchers is the only brand that guarantees a diet for life. Created by McCann Erickson Amsterdam.
This beautiful animation was created by Y&R Not Just Film (‘not just film’? Duh! Maybe time for a name change…) and Shosho and the appropriate music by the very sensitive band Novastar. The super reads: ‘36 million people are on the run’. And the pay-off: ‘A refugee is nowhere without your help’. Give-us-your-money advertising by NGO’s almost never makes us (the editors of AAB) open our purses, but this one really triggers our altruistic feelings. Very well done, no critical note this time… Except maybe that 30 seconds is too short! We usually get bored when having to watch the director’s cut, but in this case we would love to see it! For that matter; Serious Request is an annual fund raising event by 3FM Radio and the Red Cross. The event is as simple as effective: three 3FM DJ’s broadcast for a full week, non-stop, without eating in an almost transparent cabin on a big square in the Netherlands – in Breda this year. People can call into the live show to request a song, in exchange for a donation. Every year the event has a different theme. Last year it was ‘drinking water’ this year the money goes to refugees.
Adformatie reported last week that according to research conducted by Synovate 63% of the Dutch advertisers believe that the added value of advertising agencies will diminish. The reason is that more and more advertisers obtain agency expertise in-house. The same research clearly shows that agencies are pessimistic about the future – no news really, when you look at the worldwide stock markets. For TBWA it is business as usual though; this week it announced a new online agency: \Neboko Flow. Floris Hülsmann and Stephan Gonnissen (previously working as a team at JWT) will form the creative management. Another new agency, Nothing, was recently founded by Bas Korsten and Michael Jansen (ex Selmore, ex DDB). Although the agency’s name is not very promising, the team itself is ranked within the top 10 most (Dutch, not international) awarded creatives. At the same time Lowe Amsterdam is struggling; MD Ed Stibbe is leaving the agency. He is the fourth and last member of the management to leave the agency within one year. It wouldn’t surprise us if the agency merges with Draftfcb (also part of Interpublic) in the near future.
DDB Amsterdam was the most successful Dutch agency at the Eurobest Awards in Stockholm this year. With two grand prix (and one bronze) the agency was also third in the Agency of the Year competition. DDB received one of the prestigious awards for its Volkswagen product recall – see picture. Interesting detail about this ad is that it took DDB three years to finally get permission to run it – Volkswagen was allergic for the word ‘recall’. The other grand prix was awarded for a Centraal Beheer Insurances ad on the back of a city bus (“Just call us”). DDB and Centraal Beheer are practically married; since the 80’s DDB has made almost 50 humorous commercials with the pay-off ‘Just call us’ – meaning: whatever goes wrong, we’ll insure it without a hassle. Although we are of the opinion that the format is somewhat worn-out, the most recent UFO commercial is definitely a fine piece of work and won a Silver Epica this year.
When the online bank Icesave was offering sky high interest rates last year, the ‘economical’ Dutch en masse moved their virtual savings to the Icelandic bank. But when the credit crunch made the bank fall over, they were left empty handed – that is, almost, since the Dutch government came to the rescue. With this banner, made by S-W-H, placed on the ‘Icelost’ forum, Bolletje offers all the disappointed savers a free breakfast by returning the purchase money on their bank account – with the cheeky text added: “provided that you still have one”. Bolletje has always been known for its Dutch rusk. A few years ago though, the brand radically expanded its product portfolio, changed its package design (BrummelkampHoekstra) and hired a new advertising agency (S-W-H). The perfectly integrated and striking communication this year won a golden ADCN ‘lamp’ – the Dutch equivalent of the D&AD ‘pencils’.
