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CREATIVE - GEMMA BUTLER CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MRY (DIGITASLBI'S SOCIAL AGENCY)
Brands are constantly at the centre of a perfect storm. All trying to communicate with an increasingly frenetic public. All vying to create the next pop-culture blip on the radar of the nation's collective, attention-deficit consciousness: something people might actually remember and share. Through the tumultuous gale-force-nine chaos, word of mouth is the ultimate goal. So, which of this week's foolhardy little tugboats will make it to the promised land of sharing? All aboard and latch the booby hatch.
There's a squall picking up, but will it trouble the good ship Vodafone (5)? We see a burly firefighter doing his thing while the wife muses on his humble heroism. Does the fact that he uses his mobile not to relay some life or death information but rather to find out what's for tea weaken the ad's message? Or does that help it connect with the audience? The admirably simple spot tells us that 77 per cent of the emergency services use Vodafone. Difficult to argue with that. A cold, hard fact that will lodge in minds and see this petit bateau arrive safely at its destination.
I'm already regretting the nautical metaphor, as sailing is something I know next to nothing about. Hey ho, hoist the spanker sail.
There's panic on the poop deck. HMS Batchelors (4) is heading into oft-charted but unpredictable seas. A gaggle of busy mums strut down a street while dealing with lots of ... stuff. Clutching babies; throwing car keys at husbands; expelling the contents of two hairspray cans into hair and face. As a mum myself, I'm all for bigging up mums. On an average day, I might fleetingly feel as awesome as these mums but, usually, I'm the one fumbling for the car keys in the three bags and coat pockets. Truly awesome mums would be munching on carrots and bags of mixed seeds, before cracking open a punnet of blueberries: they're all 'ready when you are' too. The latest advice is that we should upgrade to ten-a-day of fruit and veg, not processed noodle-gunk Feel-good flattery sees this ship scrape past the rocks of dishonesty. But only...