The Thinkboxes Winner - November 2008

Barnardo’s - Break the cycle

  Barnardo’s clinched the final Thinkboxes award of 2008 with an emotive campaign highlighting its mission to help vulnerable children.

The £2m ‘Break the cycle’ campaign is led by a 60-second commercial – the charity’s first venture into primetime TV. It consists of five scenes featuring the same teenage girl who has experienced a lifetime of abuse. In one scene, she mugs someone; in the second, she is crying in a cell; the third sees her get a slap to the head from her father. In the fourth scene she is shown struggling at school; in the fifth, the viewer sees her taking drugs.

These five scenes are then repeated with faster cuts each time. The violent slap becomes more jarring as its frequency increases. The aim of the editing is to emphasise the vicious cycle.

Diana Tickell, UK director of communications at Barnardo’s, said that the charity has high awareness, but is still associated with old-fashioned stereotypes about orphanages and children’s homes.

‘We wanted to be able to tell the story of children in trouble. Not all children who cause trouble are beyond help. Each has a story,’ she said.

The strong content of the ad generated more than 500 complaints, but these were not upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Barnardo’s won the November award, beating Cycling Safety’s ‘Whodunnit?’ and Stella Artois’ ‘Triple filtered’ ads into second and third place respectively.

To see the full shortlist and check out the winning entry, go to www.thinkbox.tv/thethinkboxes.

"We wanted to be able to tell the story of children in trouble. Not all children who cause trouble are beyond help. There is a story that goes on behind every child"

Diana Tickell
UK director of communications,
Barnardo’s

Ad info

• Client Diana Tickell, Collette Collins
• Brief To illustrate Barnardo’s commitment to young people
• Ad agency BBH
• Creative team Dominic Goldman, Simon Veksner, Nick Allsop
• Production company Sonny London
• Director Jeff Labbe

Other ads on the podium

Transport for London - Whodunnit?

The WCRS creatives Kit Dayaram and Tom Spicer were challenged by Chris MacLeod at Transport for London to find a way of showing how easy it is for cyclists to be missed – the ultimate aim is to encourage both cyclists and motorists to be more cautious on the road. The outcome was this country house whodunnit scene, directed by Chris Palmer, in which a number of deliberate continuity errors are slipped in. These are then revealed to the audience at the end to demonstrate just how easy it is to miss things.

Stella Artois - 4% Triple Filtered

Mother has used 60s French Riviera-style imagery in its first work for Stella Artois 4%. Directed by Fredrik Bond, the ad pays homage to French cinema comedy, showing a young man escaping an awkward situation. He survives a fall from cliff-top poolside, lands on his feet, fully clothed – thanks to the clothesline that has helped break his fall – and is able to stroll into the nearest bar. Thus, he can order a beer and toast his adversary, who’s not far behind. The clients at InBev include Ligia Goncalves and Adam Oakley.

Also shortlisted for November

Baileys - Music To Your Lips

The brief from Rob Ward at Diageo was to relaunch the Baileys brand as “the ultimate lusciousness” to a younger female audience. The solution, devised by a JWT creative team of Bruno Xavier, Ronnie Vlcek, Adam Scholes and Hugh Todd, was to feature women’s mouths in close-up with the line: “Listen to your lips.” The result is a surreal and compelling spot directed by Maria & Marco at Psyop, in which spot-lit globules of Baileys drip in slow-motion on to expectant and heavily made-up lips, splashing and bursting into further showers of sensuously creamy droplets.

Boots - Secret Santa

Vicki Steel at Boots wanted a Christmas ad to remind consumers that, no matter who they’re looking to please, Boots will have that perfect something – and the showcase for this is the annual office Secret Santa tradition. From the man in accounts to the girl on reception, it shows that there’s an ideal gift for anyone whose name you might pull out – no matter how young, old or hairy they might be. The ad, created by Mother and directed by Ulf Johansson, was shot in a real office building. It sets up typical inter-office relationships that people can relate to – and get a few gift-giving tips from.

Durex - Play O

In recent years, Durex has shifted its positioning in the market to embrace an increasing emphasis on products designed to help you get the best out of your sex life. Its new product, Play O, is a gel that promises to increase a woman’s desire, enabling her to have the most intense orgasm of her life. The brief issued by Alicia Ortega at Durex to a creative team of Federica Ariagno, Edoardo Aliata and Paolo Maccarini at McCann Erickson Milan was to launch the Durex Play O product to the UK market. The director was Jesper Wachtmeister.

HSBC - Policeman

Devised by a creative team across JWT’s London and Curitiba offices, including Ricardo Marques, Antonio Rogoski and Axel Chaldecott, working to Heather McCracken at HSBC, this latest brand campaign execution features a hectic day in the life of a policeman in a bustling Indian city. While he is something of a lovable authoritarian at work, he’s comfortable about letting his children run wild when he gets home. It illustrates the point that what’s important to us varies depending on the circumstance – an understanding of which helps HSBC provide a better service. It was directed by Vince Squibb.

Marks & Spencer - Christmas

Working to Steve Sharp at M&S, the Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R creative team of Pip Bishop and Chris Hodgkiss draws on a great Christmas tradition – the home movie. It shows the M&S girls and their friends Take That filming themselves in the run-up to Christmas and over the day itself. Sometimes they seem aware of the camera, sometimes they don’t. Set in warm and homely surroundings, it seeks to portray the kind of Christmas we all dream of, enjoying the sorts of magical moments that make this time of year so special. The director was Dawn Shadforth.

Toshiba - Timesculpture

This claims to be the world’s first film using “Timesculpture” technology – an evolution on “bullet time” techniques made famous by films such as The Matrix. Rather than using a 3-D rotation of a still image, it processes moving images taken from 200 Toshiba HD camcorders. The campaign is to promote Toshiba’s “upscaling” technology that allows its new LCD TVs to present standard-definition broadcast content in near high-definition quality. It was devised by Andy Amadeo at Grey London and directed by Mitch Stratten. The client at Toshiba is Matt McDowell.

Waitrose - Christmas

Created by Ken Hoggins and Jeremy Carr at Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy, working to Gillian Connor at Waitrose, this film, directed by Stuart Rideout, makes a big play on the anticipation people feel about their journey home at Christmas. Classily shot and instantly evocative, it features vignettes of people heading home from all points of the compass, intercut with a range of Waitrose Christmas food. The campaign is designed to emphasise the quality of Waitrose Christmas food. As the pay-off has it: “At Christmas, there’s only one place to be.”