DDB UK Homepage

DDBUK has created a new outdoor campaign to showcase the limited edition ‘Ma’amite’ Jubilee Jar, playing on the ‘love it or hate it’ positioning with the Queen’s favourite corgi dogs.

The limited edition jar, which is on sale from May to July, has changed ‘Marmite’ to ‘Ma’amite’, and altered the well-known label to include a Union Jack and crown.  The wording around the bottom puns on ‘toasting the Queen’ on her Jubilee. DDBUK has extended Marmite’s regal quips with a reinvention of the royal crest, featuring a pair of corgis, loving or hating the taste, and a crown-like rack of toast.

The slogan ‘One either loves it or one hates it’ completes the design, adding a tongue-in-cheek royal twist to Marmite’s traditional message.

“We wanted to create a campaign that was true to the Marmite message at the same time as communicating its very British sense of humour,” says Jeremy Craigen, Executive Creative Director at DDB UK. “2012 is a big year for Britain, and with Marmite celebrating its 110^th Anniversary in the same year as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, it was important to mark the occasion with creative flair.”

The nationwide campaign goes live on 30^th April on poster sites outside major supermarkets across the country and as a print ad in Waitrose Kitchen. It will also appear on Marmite’s Facebook page which has 829,245 likes to date, and the artwork will be used in 100 tea towels for Waitrose to give away as part of a Jubilee competition.

3 May 2012

DDB UK has created three infographic films with the acclaimed information designer and Information is Beautiful author David McCandless, to highlight the FT’s position in the US as a truly global provider of business news.

The animated infographic films will report global business stories in a simple and compelling way.  During the 3-day event, spanning 27^th, 28^th and 29^th March, the films will be projected in 3-D on to the wall of the Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Station in New York between 7am-9pm.

The infographics, which are graphic visual representations of information, and data, were developed by David McCandless, acclaimed data journalist and information designer, and author of Information is Beautiful. The projections were created by KLIP Collective, based in Philadelphia, who are leaders in the field of 3-D projection mapping and the Illustrations for the animation were created by George Myers.

The campaign strapline, ‘Stay on Top of the World’ underlines the FT’s position as a leading global business news provider.

New York commuters are able to interact with the films in order to explore the stories in greater detail, via a touch-sensitive floor mat.  The three topics are, The US and the Global Economy, The Growth of Mobile Technology revolution and the Global Recovery.  The topics reflect the typically important, global stories that the FT covers in-depth every day. 

The 3 films will also be live on a campaign microsite. Here, people will be able to share the films and also their views about the stories themselves.  They will also have the opportunity to access more in-depth coverage of the topics, and familiarise themselves with FT content, via links to relevant sections of FT.com.

The campaign is also supported by online banner campaign and OOH screens in Times Square as well as running on Taxi screens throughout NYC.   

Simon Richings, Digital Creative Director at DDBUK said:  “We are delighted to have created such an innovative campaign in partnership with a world-renowned title.  The direct contact and feedback with the FT’s consumers is key to the campaign’s success and we are thrilled that we are able to create such scale and impact in speaking directly to this discerning audience in such an iconic location.”

22 March 2012

‘They’re not mates rates, they’re simply great rates’

DDB UK has launched a new campaign for Kwik Fit showing Britain’s motorists that their great offers on tyres and MOTs aren’t “mates rates, they’re simply great rates”. Six TV and six radio executions will air from 1^st March and run throughout the year, playing off the insight that consumers like the reward of thinking they’re getting something extra. The light-hearted adverts use the brand’s humorous tone of voice to show a satisfied customer who thinks it’s their friendship with a Kwik Fit Centre Manager that has led to their great deal. But it’s not. One advert shows Barbara, a café worker, sneaking her local Kwik Fit Centre Manager Duncan an extra generous portion of bacon. Barbara is convinced it’s this special treatment that gets her great rates, but in fact the bacon smuggling has nothing to do with it; ‘They’re not mates rates, they’re simply great rates’. 

Cementing their role as the “go to” destination for car maintenance, ‘Mates Rates’ replaces the ‘You’ll be amazed at what we do’ campaign, which set out to raise awareness of Kwik Fit’s wider product offering. The new campaign specifically draws attention to the great value Kwik Fit offer on new tyres and MOTs.

Roger Griggs, Communications Director of Kwik Fit said, “With 670 centres across the UK, Kwik Fit has the national coverage to offer great discounts on new tyres and MOTs to everyone. This campaign not only positions Kwik Fit as great value for the rates we offer. It also shows the openness and honesty of our customer service.”

Patrick McClelland, Creative Director at DDB UK added, “Our aim was to create a really hard working price-led campaign for Kwik Fit, while still maintaining the brand’s humorous and charming tone of voice.”

1 March 2012

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