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Carlsberg "The Secret" |
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60s 4 Dec 2009 |
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This splendid-looking film from the Republic of Ireland explains how Carlsberg offered to share a crucial ingredient with their rivals after its discovery. The commercial tricks us into thinking we're watching an act of subterfuge when in fact it's largesse.
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Eircom "Expert" |
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30s 4 Dec 2012 |
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When a man is asked about broadband at a party he passes over the questions to his young son. What follows is a delightful and amusing illustration of the idea that the next generation always knows a great deal more about new technology. Director Simon Levene has drawn a lovely performance from his young protagonist.
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SMA "Muddling Through" |
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60s 4 Dec 2013 |
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DAVID has always found it peculiar that you don't need to sit any exams qualifying you for parenthood. However, good though your theory may be, nothing can really prepare you for the practical - and in this longer version of a spot we first saw earlier this year - SMA genuinely reassures you that its 90 years in the field, so to speak, means it's an expert you can rely on when the going gets a bit much.
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Waitrose & Partners "The Story of Giving Chocolates" |
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40s 4 Dec 2013 |
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Take one award-winning director with an unparalleled eye for composition; hand him an excellent script that gives him the freedom to exploit all his skills; throw in some classy-looking props; secure the services of the quirky-looking brand spokesman; film it in a beautiful setting... and blend.
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Doctor Who "50 Years" |
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1 min 40s 4 Dec 2013 |
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This online film celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who is outstanding. A series of quotes from doctors past and present are strung together and brought to life via illustrations. It's so unexpected in terms of style that this alone makes for riveting viewing and - as always - Richard Swarbrick's illustration technique is spellbinding.
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McVitie's Biscuits "Christmas Choir" |
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60s 4 Dec 2014 |
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The campaign featuring cute animals emerging from packets of McVitie's Biscuits has proved a big hit... so it's no surprise that the Christmas selection tin should unleash a festive frisson of furry fun. Kittens, puppies, ducks, hedgehogs, narwhal whales... all pop out and demand some form or other of cuddles while squeaking and barking along to a Christmassy version of Only You.
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Heineken "Nature's Wonder" |
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60s 4 Dec 2015 |
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Ever wondered how the Northern Lights got their gleam? Well, forget all the nonsense about the magnetosphere being disturbed by solar wind, the real explanation is far more prosaic. It turns out that a space-walking Dutch astronaut was saluting his colleagues inside the capsule when he accidentally let go of his treasured bottle of Heineken.
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Posten Norge "Miracle" |
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78s 4 Dec 2019 |
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This cheeky commercial for the Norwegian postal service offers an alternative take on a familiar Christmas story. The audience is transported to approximately nine months BC, following a conspicuously blonde postman as he goes about his scroll deliveries in the dusty town of Nazareth... at least, until a familiar set of names appear on the latest package.
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Spark "Play" |
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60s 4 Dec 2019 |
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How do you let a hulking, clingy robot down gently? That's the premise of this slow-burning ad for Spark New Zealand, featuring a boy wise beyond his years and concerned about his his screen time. The latter is represented by a Transformers-style mech, who just about fits into the lad's bedroom and clearly plays a huge role in his life. As director Mark Albiston's playful spin on adult break-ups shows, however, it is easily cut down to size.
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Co-op "Round Are Way" |
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1 min 40s 4 Dec 2020 |
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Despite the Gallagher brothers' notoriously fractious relationship, there's no sign of sibling discord in this sweet Christmas offering from the Co-op. The community-minded brand will have been hard-pressed to continue their focus on group activity and togetherness under pandemic conditions, so an open-air performance is a neat way to unite people in a safe manner.
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American Express "Robert De Niro" |
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30s 4 Dec 2004 |
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Legendary actor Robert De Niro lends his gravitas to the American Express brand in an ad in whioch he explains why New York is his town. Among the many ways he describes the city is as his "heartbreak" - his anguished face then fades as we get a glimpse of Ground Zero, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood until 11 September 2001.
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AXA "Snake" |
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30s 4 Dec 2005 |
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A man tries to keep the gaze of a deadly cobra to demonstrate how it will not strike if kept in a spell. Sadly, a sudden gust of wind breaks his concentration and from the end shot of him in hospital wearing a bandage on his face, it is plain it did not go well.
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Cobra Beer "Chalk Figure" |
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10s 4 Dec 2005 |
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The saucy suggestion behind this ten second commercial is that alcohol can have a negative impact on male potency. A male voice declares that he won't be caught drinking alcohol-free beer as we see the impressive erection of a chalk figure on a hillside.
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Crimestoppers (Canada) "Bank Robbery" |
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30s 4 Dec 2006 |
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If only life were this simple. A bank robber yells his contact details at a bank teller as he conducts his robbery. Whether the poor lass would be able to remember a single line of it afterwards is open to debate but the point is well made that crimes won't solve themselves. So grass up your mates.
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Canadian Real Estate Association "Mother In Law" |
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30s 4 Dec 2006 |
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A second amusing film on behalf of the Canadian Real Estate Association by James Haworth (who is repped in the UK by Another Film Company) once again highlights the perils of using an amateur just because you think estate agents are blood-sucking parasites exploiting the ignorant.
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Frank "Beyond The Brain Warehouse" |
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70s 4 Dec 2006 |
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Excerpts from a sequence that lay beyond the red button when people pressed it to find out more about Frank's Brain Warehouse campaign to raise awareness of the harm to mental health that can result from using cannabis. Much more naturalistic than the original, it works in a more low key manner.
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Frank "Pablo" |
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60s 4 Dec 2008 |
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Cocaine... it's a laugh, in it? Well, perhaps not... but that's the approach taken in this film warning of its dangers through the medium of a dead dog. David Mitchell lends his voice to the deceased pooch as he investigates the drug that cost him his life.
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Nissan Sentra "Wheel" |
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30s 4 Dec 2009 |
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Compared with driving the advertised car, the rest of life feels like you're stuck in a hamster's wheel pointlessly running around and around. This vaguely bleak notion is intended to be comical but might make you want to retire to a cabin in Wisconsin rather change your car.
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Barnardo's "Turn Around" |
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40s 4 Dec 2009 |
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This clever film for Barnardo's uses a sequence twice to form a filmic palindrome designed to illustrate how the charity's interventions can have a positive impact on the lives of troubled young people. A little change goes a long way.
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Carlsberg "Cracker" |
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10s 4 Dec 2009 |
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This amusing short suggests that if Carlsberg made Christmas crackers that the little gifts inside might be a bit more worthwhile. The watching family look suitably shell-shocked but wouldn't it work better if you saw the cracker being pulled?
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Bulmers "The Chosen One" |
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60s 4 Dec 2009 |
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Tom is the most popular man in the Irish village where he lives because he can bestow the privilege of turning on the Christmas lights. The vigorous lobbying of his neighbours comes to nought in the end as a falling apple completes the ceremony.
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Vittel "Moving" |
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60s 4 Dec 2009 |
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This French ad offers an alternative notion of what it means to "move house". A family picks up their home and carries it slowly across town and their ability to do this is attributed to the fact they live in Vittel... source of the advertised mineral water.
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Waitrose & Partners "Party Food Ideas" |
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40s 4 Dec 2010 |
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Delia Smith puts forward a pair of party food ideas for the festive season in this addition to posh supermarket's Christmas campaign. For once, the recipes aren't all that they might be but that's only because Norwich's most famous export has set the bar so high.
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Argos "Frisbee" |
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20s 4 Dec 2010 |
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In this addition to Argos's Christmas campaign, we once again catch up with the three wise men. They've now bought their gifts and they are gold, frankincense and a frisbee. The last chap should have gone to Radio Rentals... or something like that.
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Costa Cruises "Last Week on the Costa Fascinosa" |
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60s 4 Dec 2012 |
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A cruise could hardly look more attractive than this. Given the plethora of news stories in recent years about tummy viruses, badly-refitted ships; show-off captains who steer their vessels into rocks it's just as well there are directors with the skill to create beautiful films that offset all the adverse publicity.
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