Freeview launches new series of spots via TBWA
Freeview, the free-to-air digital broadcasting platform, has launched a series of new commercials via TBWA\Whybin\Tequila, Auckland and directed by acclaimed Kiwi film maker Toa Fraser designed to highlight its role as the future of free to air digital television and radio in New Zealand.
Primarily targeting older viewers, empty nesters throughout the countryand adults with young families who are still watching analoguetelevision, the 30 and 15 second advertisements feature a new charactercalled Steve, the ideal sales person to teach the country about all thebenfits Freeeview provides. Shot on location with a retail environment,the commercials also feature the clever use of a video diary toconvey the brand’s message.
“We wanted to further educate Kiwisabout crystal clear pictures, new channels, popular content andworld-class digital technology for free, basically all the great thingsthat come with Freeview. The work that Toa has done for us, coupledwith the creative input of our agency, has ensured we’vedone exactly that,” says Sam Irvine, Freeview general manager.
TheFreeview campaign is the first advertising project that playwrightturned director Fraser has ever been involved in. He receivedinternational acclaim for his film No.2, which won the coveted AudienceAward at the Sundance Festival, and then went on to direct DeanSpanley, which last year won seven Qantas Film and Television Awards.
“Hewas the perfect choice for us and we’re flattered he’s chosen to workwith Freeview. All his film work is characterised by a uniquely Kiwitone and voice, and we wanted to replicate some of that with the fourcommercials he has shot,” adds Sam Irvine.
Andy Blood, executive creative director at TBWA\Whybin\Tequila, adds: “We’re thrilled with theresult, which is a suite of beautifully shot, comical TVC’s thatshowcase Freeview’s ability to provide great TV and radio, bothmainstream, popular content and niche channels, all via a free-to-airmodel”.
The last batch of enabled household figures (30thJune, 2010) confirmed that Freeview can now be enjoyed by viewers inmore than a quarter of New Zealand homes (i.e. a total of 419,945 Kiwihouseholds or 26.1% of homes are now Freeview enabled).
Agency: TBWA\Whybin\Tequila, Auckland
ECD: Andy Blood
Writer and Art Director: Gary Smith
Agency Producer: Marg Slater
Director: Toa Fraser
Producer: Roi McGregor
Production Company: Film Construction
22 Comments
you just wasted my pixels.
Awful.
Bloody hell.
good god
A waste of everyone’s talent. And my time.
Um, oh my god. Why are they PR’ing these?
Awful, run while you can, boys.
Hey TBWA – that was out loud.
Speechless.
Makes me want to pay Sky tv more money.
You’re better than that Andy
TBWA has just sounded its own death knell.
Shows why TBWA are leaking clients left right and centre
This is truly truly truly awful.
Why on god’s green earth does he look at camera?????
Can someone pleeeeeaase explain????
Am I missing something?
A lot of TBWA hate going on
fair cop people – credit where credit is due. These are a bold step up in quality from their previous Freeview launch campaign with all the oversized window sqeegies & microfiche channel & retailer logos in a flash at the end. That must have been the most misguided and poorly thought out waste of tax payer funds I’ve ever witnessed. Clearly the brief for the more recent pieces of activity are clearly based in tracking awareness & brand recall research results showing joe & joanna public don’t have the foggiest idea what the hell Freeview actually is. For that reason alone – whoever wins this piece of business after the inevitable pitch ought to keep the tagline ‘More free TV’ that is actually quite good.
Abysmal. Simply Abysmal. How the mighty are fallen
this is amusingly rubbish
What’s amusing is that someone actually signed this off, and said “Yes, this is allowed to go to air.”
1.44….i can’t think why you’re defending this shit……..’A bold step up in quality’ Christ , who cares how bad it was before, it’s still rubbish now . Anyone would think you worked at the sad place that produced this work, given the staunchness of your defence.
dear 10.07: 1.44 here – it’s unwise to make assumptions . I don’t work for the agency in question & my comments aren’t staunch, they’re dispassionate. I do think that ‘More free TV’ is a simple and compelling description of the offer – albeit 3 – 4 years late for this product/service. That tells me TBWA would seem to have some decent strategic chops as they seem to be able to see the wood for the trees which they clearly couldn’t before. And in terms of the dirty retail / goofy tone of these ads – it’s probably right for the task at hand & the audience they’re targeting. Any early adopter audience who isn’t yet digital with SKY & hasn’t had the wits to work out what Freeview was from the abysmal previous work is likely to be rump end of the market. These people need the message explained simply to them as they’re not proactively looking for Freeview. You do that by showing them where to buy (retail environments) and telling them what it is (more free TV) in a non-threatening/techy manner. That’s why the window cleaning metaphor was so misguided = instant too hard basket status. No this isn’t likely to win the agency a Cannes Lion or make the creatives’ books stand out from the rest. But Yes – it does the job that needs to be done for this client’s business & sometimes this business is about doing just that. Do I think it could have been done more creatively? – Probably. Do I think they’re doing the job better then they were previously? – undoubtedly.
Get over it 10.22, the work is dull and only you, unlike the target audience , is bothering to discuss it.
They have 2 years until the Govt turns off analogue, and about a million people to convert to either their digital box or Sky’s. That’s the marketing/advertising challenge.