Longest TV Ad Premiers tomorrow

seem to recall the Christmas ads were always longer with songs covering several verses and ending with some dumb looking woman kissing santa in a mildly suggestive way / suggestive woman dressed as santa kissing some celebrity in a mildly suggestive way

Adverts rarely advertise the product. They sell an ideal. A lifestyle. A piece of quality to improve your life. It is reassuring you that Hovis has a long-established root in British life, and no matter what happens - good or bad - it will always be there.


In my opinion, largely coincidence. The impending economic downturn the media is currently prodding with a large stick is probably a major cause of this campaign happening now. Day one of media studies is: in times of economic stability, advertising looks to the future, telling its people how great everything is now and how they will only get better. In recessions, advertisers remind people of the good old days, when times were better, when people had respect for their elders, when kids knew their place, when .. etc etc etc. Today the future looks grim in the money markets. Adverts are therefore rose-tinting the golden olden days.


We're discussing at length Hovis bread, as will thousands of people at work tomorrow and for the next few weeks. Pound for pound they are probably not going to see equal return on their investment. But in re-establishing their brand in a time of economic uncertainty, they are certainly onto a winner.

They've made a shorter version now, with just the Churchill speech and Spitfire sequence. The wartime spirit is very appropriate for the times, and it was the best part of the original advert as well, in my opinion.