Published on
November 4, 2024
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Welcome to the Breakdown, a weekly roundup of the best real-life marketing examples, created for marketers and agency folk that want to create work that actually works.
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In this Breakdown, we're looking at ✨ absolute cinema ✨ - when ads ascend into real cinematic entertainment.
There’s better pacing in this than in Megalopolis.
What says cinema more than borrowing from a children’s movie icon?
The BFG (of Roald Dahl fame, for those of you who have never come across him before) stars in this ad from Sainsbury’s, focusing on adding some dream-like “phizzwizard” to your Christmas dinner.
Christmas ads often lean on the cinematic side of things - they tell full stories in 90 seconds, with ups and downs and twists and resolutions. They’re marvellous bits of storytelling, and now that I think about it, they’re properly impressive given the 2-hour swill that manages to hit big screens.
This ad is no exception.
There’s something so lovely about how much care went in to making sure the ‘influencer’ here shone as bright as he should. The BFG is a great story, with lots of memorable themes, wordplay and jokes. And the ad fits practically all of them in.
It’s a heartwarming Christmas ad that really captures the season’s joy (oi oi, System1 - I’m interested in what you make of it). The trouble I always have with these things is that the aim is surely twofold - sell lots of the Christmas range, and do lots of warm fuzzy brand things for the long term. This ad certainly does the latter, but the former? I don’t know…
This feels like a trailer to me. Or one of those montage sequences in a sad romance movie about a deceased partner.
John Lewis and Saatchi & Saatchi (on their second run for the most anticipated Christmas ad in the UK) have split the Christmas campaign into 3, seemingly centred around the word “knowingly”. The first part ended with the phrase “live knowingly”, and told a story about the long and storied history of the brand.
This ad is a lot closer to home.
It tells a simple hypothetical story about a gifted pink jumper.
But it is pretty beautiful in its simplicity.
It’s not really about a jumper, it’s about what gifts mean to people. Things given as gifts just mean a whole lot more, regardless of the item itself. I own a pair of Le Creuset mugs, gifted to me by a friend, that are the mugs. Coffee just tastes better drunk out of them. We all own small, simple things, gifted to us by our loved ones, that mean something, and this ad captures that perfectly.
What does it have to do with cinema? Well, like I said, this feels like a trailer. There is a third part to this year’s John Lewis Christmas Triptych, and it feels like the previous two ads have been laying the groundwork for a big finale. Seeding ideas about meaning, history and stories, and the non-wanky side of mindfulness.
Another corker IMO. Even though this is not the John Lewis ad that we are used to, as a piece of cinema collateral, this film paints a pretty picture. I’m hoping that when part 3 drops, we get some resolution to this overarching story being told.
I wouldn’t say I’m a film buff or anything like that, but man I love this.
And finally, we can depart from Christmas ads.
Campari are a partner to the Cannes Film Festival, and have a strong tie to the world of cinema (if you believe their own press releases). And so they have released a four-part campaign dedicated to this connection. 4 films act like trailers or excerpts from movies from some of cinema’s most recognisable eras and genres. They each feature a Campari cocktail, composed by some of the world’s best bartenders.
Here are the links to three of them (boom, bam, bop), and here is my favourite of the lot:
Before the Wes Anderson fans email in with their opinions about why that version is better than the noir one, I implore you to not do that. You and your quirky symmetry can piss off. It’s easy to make a glossy, chilled red drink look delicious in full colour - but how on earth has the colourist achieved the same thing in black and white?
These are really good, no? The idea is smart, and it’s been beautifully executed.
(1) Campari is a cocktail ingredient, not a drink by itself (for most people). So when you’re at a bar, Campari need you to remember the names of cocktails that use it. And at home, Campari need you to remember the recipes for those cocktails. Emma D’Arcy did wonderful things for the brand with the famed “negroni sbagliato” line. Now repeat that for all the other cocktails.
(2) You also need to make the cocktails desirable. i.e. you need to do the opposite of what this poor fella is doing for Guinness (this is a link to “Ghrimp Juice”, so if you’re squeamish, don’t click it). Using this piece of brand association with cinema is an excellent move.
~ How would we know how to order our martinis without James Bond?
~ Would you have heard of a French 75 without Casablanca?
~ Why on earth would anyone ever drink a white russian without The Dude?
Film and drink, for better or worse, go glass in hand.