Remco Graham, ECD and Creative Partner, Now, reveals three great ads he admires but had nothing to do with.
Remco started his career at WCRS, and has worked at HHCL, DLKWLowe and McGarryBowen, before becoming creative partner at NOW.
He was responsible for creating the Honda ‘Illusions’ campaign which won a Gold Lion at Cannes and Gold at BTAA in 2014, and the Scott’s Weedol ‘Still Weeding’ work which won a One Show Gold, Silver Lion at Cannes, and Silver at Campaign Big Awards in 2015.
More about Remco's choices
British Heart Foundation "Stayin’ Alive"
Grey, led by Nils Leonard and Vicki Maguire, created this 2012 ad starring ex footballer Vinnie Jones. It raises awareness of the correct response to someone having a heart attack, stressing the importance of hands-only CPR.
Using the beat of the Bee Gee's ‘Stayin’ Alive’, the ad shows bystanders how to achieve the optimum rate of compressions.
British Heart Foundation also created a #hardandfast Twitter hashtag, which helped to spread news about the campaign. The advert received two million views on YouTube and 27 million adults have watched the film.
IKEA "There's no bed like home"
Filmed in Johannesburg, this 2014 ad was part of Ikea’s ‘The Wonderful Everyday’ campaign by Mother.
It pushes the strapline "There’s no bed like home" with a dreamlike sequence that shows a woman falling through the sky from bed to bed, before waking up next to her sleeping partner and dog. The sequence is set to a reading from Act 4 of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, voiced by Prunella Scales.
Creatives Diego Cardoso de Oliveira and Caio Gainnella said that "As the idea developed, it got a little more ambitious and we decided it could become more of a brand film showing not just Ikea products, but all the beds you sleep in at different times in your life."
Crest "Bulldozer"
Saatchi & Saatchi New York’s cheeky ad plays on the idea that anything can be said with a smile. A smiling bulldozer operator tells some kids that he's knocking down the playground to make way for a power plant, and the children smile back at him.
Filming was directed by Harold Einstein via Station Film, New York, with producer Tom Rossano.
The risky idea paid off for P&G, winning a Gold Film Lion at Cannes International Advertising Festival 2008.
About this series
In this series of short films, leading Thinkbox Academy members have the tricky task of selecting just three TV ads that have inspired them: brilliant commercials, old and new, that they admire but had nothing to do with.
The idea is not only to explore some of our greatest ads in the company of people who know a thing or two about making them, but also because of the proven link between creativity and effectiveness encourage the advertising industry to even greater heights.