The Thinkboxes Winner - May 2008

Honda - Live Parachute Jump

There is something about Honda and compelling TV advertising. The great tradition started by 'Cog' (the Domino Rally-style ad featuring car parts) and continued with the critically acclaimed 'Hondamentalism' and 'Impossible Dream' has earned the car manufacturer a reputation for talked-about ads.

The Honda skydiving spectacular came about when media agency Starcom asked media owners to come up with ideas to interpret and illustrate Honda's 'difficult is worth doing' mantra. Channel 4 submitted a compelling response - a live ad.

Honda, a brand known for its bravery when it comes to advertising, loved the idea, especially as it dovetailed nicely with its current ad strategy, which also features skydivers.

So it was that on 29 May, 19 skydivers jumped out of a plane over Spain, spelling out the letters of the word Honda during their freefall.

The three-minute ad, broadcast live on Channel 4, was extensively previewed in the media in a bid to make it destination viewing. More than 2 million people watched it.

The Thinkbox Academy judges were united in their praise of this landmark piece of TV. Stephen Woodford, chairman and chief executive of DDB, said: 'Good on 4Creative, Wieden & Kennedy and Honda for pulling off this great stunt. I loved the "Hello Mum" on the gloves.'

 

"People tend to support bold moves in advertising, and we have a track record of doing that. We understand the risks of running something live, but we wanted to cause a bit of noise and I was amazed by the reaction it got."

Ian Armstrong, UK Marketing Manager, Honda

Ad info

• Client > Ian Armstrong, Honda
• Brief > Bring 'difficult is worth doing' to life on TV
• Creative agency > 4Creative/W+K London
• Creatives > James Springall, Craig Hanratty
• Director > Tim Van Someren
• Production company > North One
• Media agency > Starcom

Other ads on the podium

Drench - Brains' Drench Dance

Created by Ewan Paterson at CHI & Partners and directed by Ringan Ledwidge, Britvic's commercial finds a neat way of encapsulating the campaign's "Brains perform best when they're hydrated" catchline by revisiting Brains himself - the boy genius character made famous by the classic children's puppet action show, Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds characters entered comedy folklore thanks to their ungainly gait, but in this film, Brains no longer dangles unnaturally as Drench loosens his strings, allowing him a little clubbing action to the sound of Snap's Rhythm is a Dancer.

Sony - Foam City

Yet another big cityscape idea from Sony and Fallon - not coloured balls or clay animals this time, but a drift of white foam, 460 million litres of the stuff, smothering downtown Miami. Like Honda's skydiver live ad, it has generated masses of commentary on the web, not least because bloggers were invited to witness the shoot. They were among a group of 200 invited to record the event on Sony Handycams and Cybershots - all the footage they captured was uploaded to an database and is now the centrepiece of an online campaign. Directed by Simon Ratigan at HLA.

Also shortlisted for May

Carling - Cowboys

The latest Carling commercial features the same group of characters made famous by recent Carling campaigns - but now puts them in cowboy mode. Four of them ride to the rescue of their fifth mate, who's trapped in an excruciatingly dull social gathering - the Midwest tea party from hell. Devised by the creative team of Patrick Burns and Gavin McGrath at Beattie McGuinness Bungay and directed by Fredrik Bond, the spot continues Carling's strategy of championing the power of the bonds between everyday groups of friends - as the endline has it, you know who your mates are.

COI-Defra - Footprints

This latest COI-Defra initiative, courtesy of Paul Jordan and Angus MacAdam at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and directed by Chris Palmer, uses oily footprints as a visual metaphor to drive home the consequences of the irresponsible use of hydrocarbons. The film shows people imprinting black footmarks on domestic scenes - a party group round a patio heater on a balcony, a washing machine being used to wash a single shirt, the school run and businessmen in an airport departure lounge - to show us that this is a problem we'll all end up trailing through our homes.

Oxfam - Be Humankind

This animated ad features an elderly lady who is no longer able to ignore injustice (given form here as a monstrous spider-like creature) and begins breathing fire. Created by Steve Moss and Jo Finch at RKCR/Y&R and directed by SSSR, this execution is rooted in the idea that the notion of the Third World no longer exists and that the issues affecting the world's most vulnerable people, from climate change to the Fairtrade campaign, are entwined with our lives. It's designed to confront complacency and turn understanding of these issues into real action, making the brand relevant to the modern world.

Smooth - Radio Covers

Smooth Radio picks up on the new online craze known as "sleeve facing" to help illustrate the unrivalled range and variety of music that's played on Smooth - and to celebrate a passion for music, a passion that the station shares with its audience. In this spot devised by Ollie Wolf and Janson Choo at Dye Holloway Murray and directed by Damian & Leila, we see sleeve facing action involving Blondie's sleeping face on the cover of Rapture, George Michael's leather-jacketed torso from his Faith album and the bikini-clad woman's bottom featured on The Very Best of the Beach Boys.

Sure - Ceiling Rose

Sure's new commercial creates an upsidedown world (or a staircase and a room at any rate) to acquaint us with the thinking behind the new shape of its deodorant roll-on, which has been reconfigured so that it stands on its cap - its revolutionary new design means that it doesn't dry out and it doesn't get stuck. As an upside-down girl gets ready to go out we're shown how some things (such as drying long hair) can work better - and run more smoothly -- upside down. Created by Steve Paskin at Lowe London and directed by Paul Hunter.

Visa - Running Man

This epic commercial, devised by Saatchi & Saatchi London and directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, features a naked man running halfway across a continent. Having been dumped in the middle of nowhere as stag night treat, with only a Visa card for company, he sets off at pace, acquiring transport, clothes and a clean-up along the way, arriving at the church on time. The commercial is part of a campaign dramatising the role Visa plays in people's lives, taking the hassle out of financial transactions of any value and making life flow better.

Waitrose - Picnic

Picnic season is upon us and Waitrose wants to maintain its share of the upmarket hamper.So, thanks to a creative team of Danny Brooke-Taylor, Ken Hoggins and Jeremy Carr, it has created the biggest picnic in the world in an ad directed by Jim Gilchrist. Thanks to the backing music, Goin' Up the Country by Canned Heat, this has more than a little of a Glastonbury feel as the picnic blanket is spread across a hillside. And the rural idyll dovetails neatly with a back-to-nature theme that has become an important strand in Waitrose campaigns.