Thinkbox’s third TV advertising campaign was designed to remind advertisers of the continuing power and effectiveness of TV.  The ad – ‘Harvey and Rabbit’  - was created by The Red Brick Road and directed by the celebrated duo Si and Ad of Academy, who have been responsible for ads for brands including Honda, More Than, Durex, and Match.com, for which they won a Cannes Gold.  They were recently shortlisted by Campaign Magazine as among the Top 10 directors worldwide.  ‘Harvey and Rabbit’ received a Bronze award in the 2013 British Arrows.

The TV ad sees Harvey – star of Thinkbox’s previous TV ad, ‘Dogs Home’  - use emotional story-telling to change his owner's behaviour dramatically and persuade him not to throw away his best friend and constant companion, a stuffed toy called Rabbit.

It opens at the moment that Harvey’s owner is about to put the well-worn, slobber-covered Rabbit in the bin while Harvey is apparently not around. Harvey suddenly appears and plays a TV ad telling the story of how he and Rabbit became friends and the scrapes they’ve got into together over the years. Harvey’s ad persuades his owner to let him keep Rabbit. The ad then ends with the line ‘Discover the power of TV advertising at www.thinkbox.tv’. 

The soundtrack to the ad – ‘Friends’ – is by writer/performer Adam Buxton, with composition by Nick Webb.

 “Our TV ads have been loved by the public but have also proved to be our most effective B2B communication with marketers. In this ad we discover what Harvey had in his suitcase when he left the dogs home to join his adopted family. The Red Brick Road with directors Si & Ad have created a wonderful ad that brings to life the emotional power of TV storytelling. The first Harvey ad is a lot to live up to as it really struck a chord with people, but we hope this one will be just as well received. It’s great to bring Harvey back to TV.”

 Andrew MacGillivray, Marketing Director, Thinkbox

“The first Thinkbox Harvey commercial was voted Ad of the Year in 2010 by ITV1 viewers; we think we have a worthy follow up which will again wonderfully demonstrate the extraordinary power of TV advertising.”

Paul Hammersley, Managing Partner, The Red Brick Road

The ad campaign ran on a wide selection of broadcast and on-demand channels, owned or represented by Thinkbox’s shareholders. Thinkbox’s shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and UKTV.

Media planning and buying was by MediaCom.

‘Harvey and Rabbit’ is the third TV advertising campaign Thinkbox has launched. The first, in 2009, was awarded by D&AD, the BTAAs, and the APA, and helped Thinkbox win the Best B2B Marketing award at the Marketing Society Awards for Excellence. The most recent, featuring Harvey, launched in 2010 and was voted by the public as 2010's Ad of the Year for ITV1. Harvey was also named celebrity dog of the year by Dogs Trust. 

 You can find out more about that here.

Ad credits 

Client: Thinkbox
Ad name: 'Harvey and Rabbit'
Creative agency: The Red Brick Road
Creatives: Mark Slack and Gemma Phillips
Executive Creative Director: Paul Weinberger 
Account Director: Lisa Pilbeam/Ebony Moore
Account Manager: James Rowe
Agency Planner: David Hackworthy 
Agency Producer: Miles Nathan
Production Company: Academy
Directors: Si & Ad
Producer: Lucy Gossage
Director of Photography: Marcel Zyskind 
Editor: Sam Rice-Edwards @ The Assembly Rooms
Post-production: Finish       
Music: 'Friends' lyrics by Adam Buxton, composition by Nick Webb
Audio post-production: Scramble
Media Agency: Mediacom
Media Planners: Andrew Lloyd, David Mills

Cast

Harvey
Rabbit
Robert Whitelock

Thanks to …                                       

Our shareholders (Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and UKTV); Si and Ad and the team at Academy; all at The Red Brick Road and MediaCom, Robert Whitelock and, of course, to Harvey and Rabbit.