The Thinkboxes Shortlist - Jan/Feb 2010
A great selection of ads from this month's shortlist connect us with a wide rang of emotions. Cravendale takes a trip through time; IKEA sends its kitchen squad into battle; Renault slips into drag; and Visa evolves towards the World Cup. The winner, voted for by members of the Thinkbox Academy, will be announced in Marketing later this month. In the meantime, you can check out the ads yourself and find out more about those who made them here.
Previous Winners
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Boursin has returned to TV advertising after a 10-year absence, and resurrected its ‘Du pain, du vin, du Boursin’ strapline. The soft-focus ad features a pair of French lovers frolicking in the countryside, bathed in the golden glow of late summer. They chase each other across a field, before settling in the midst of the tall wheat, among dancing butterflies, for a romantic picnic. It looks to be an idyllic setting, but it is not to last. The camera pans out to reveal a combine harvester bearing down on the pair. The ad finishes simply with the endline ‘Fin’. -
Cadbury has clinched the February Thinkboxes award for its ‘Eyebrows’ ad, which features two schoolchildren performing an unusual eyebrow dance. The ad, which continues the theme established by the brand’s ‘Gorilla’ and ‘Trucks’ ads, debuted on Channel 4 in January. It opens with two young siblings posing for a portrait in a photography studio. When the photographer leaves them alone, the boy starts playing Freestyle’s Don’t Stop the Rock on his digital watch. The duo then break into a choreographed eyebrow dance in time to the music. The girl, wearing a dress in Cadbury’s signature purple colour, then lets bursts of air out of a balloon, creating a squeaky sound akin to a DJ scratching a record. -
T-Mobile clinched the first Thinkboxes award of 2009 with a unique and vibrant take on its ‘Life’s for sharing’ strapline. It all began at 11 am on Tuesday, 15 January, when a single commuter started dancing in the middle of London’s Liverpool Street station, one of the busiest on the TfL network. Here you can watch the winning ad, dance along with it if you fancy, check out the other short-listed ads for the month and find out who created them.
Useful Tools
The Thinkboxes
The thinkboxes are the first awards to celebrate the UK's world-beating TV ad creativity, in all its forms, at regular way-points throughout the year. Created in association with Haymarket Brand Media (Campaign, Marketing and Brand Republic), these bi-monthly awards are judged by the Thinkbox Creative Academy; made up of over 300 advertising luminaries with Simon Clift of Unilever and Leon Jaume of WCRS as joint Academy Presidents.
Associated content
VW and its ad agency DDB celebrated an anniversary last year: 40 years together. It's a unique relationship, not just for its longevity but also for its consistency. Whether it's Paula Hamilton throwing her jewels down the drain; a Jack Russell singing "I'm a man", or Gene Kelly doing a bit of break dancing in the rain, we've all got our favourites. So here's a "Just VW" gallery for you, to pique the memory and cast a spotlight on just a few compelling and effective TV ads from an extraordinary canon of work. Congratulations to both VW and DDB and thanks for all the great telly.