Orange broadband, O2, Virgin media or BT? Just who had the best mobile advert in 2008?
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Orange: I Am Everyone
Orange went into warp speed these past twelve months with a flurry of mobile and broadband advertising spots on television. With the release of their latest mobile price scheme in the winter months of the year, the Orange broadband and mobile advertisement department went into light speed to grab the imagination of potential Orange broadband and mobile customers. The promotions division presented the general population with the �I Am Everyone’ campaign in July.
If the tone is familiar, it’s because it is. A related advert was run in 2006 for Orange broadband, starring a fish caught in a fish tank. Two years ago and an advert for Orange broadband sung the same tune; in 2006, two toys held hands in sickly-sweet matrimony to promote the Orange broadband service. Despite it being a successful advert � ticking all the right boxes and containing just enough sentiment necessary to make viewers feel guilty about not getting in touch more with their friends and hastily call their estranged mate in Edinburgh � many marketing professionals questioned the message behind the advert from the Orange broadband and mobile network. �Friendship?� one media website asked on a website. �Are they including random peoples’ MSN contact details with their Orange broadband packages now?�
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O2 Better: Connected
Much in the same vein as Orange broadband, O2 took the creative choice with their bizarre broadband advertisements in April. Surrealism indeed. Howling Labradors on roofs, commuting bears and floating moons all made for a strange, yet interesting advert that trumped Orange Broadband’s equivalent for creativity.
The same bizarre advert came into effect in a further collection of adverts, advertising 02’s broadband package and the negative effect a broadband-less abode can have on the emotional stability of a detached home. Orange Broadband featured similar anthropomorphic devices with a fish for an Orange broadband advert in 2006. Again, the goldfish was upset. Presumably, a connection to Orange broadband would have made it smile.
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Virgin: Mother of All Broadband
Virgin broadband hauled the big players for their newest broadband campaign and Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman took time out of their busy schedules to appear in a selection of advertisements for Virgin broadband this year.
Nabbing two of Hollywood’s largest celebrities for its broadband package adverts automatically ensures Virgin win the battle against its competitors for the biggest names (O2 dragged in Sean Bean, while Orange Broadband gave a star role to cyclist Mark Beaumont). There was more to Virgin’s cheap broadband campaign than star power though and the stylish production made it a definite contender for the top spot of the best mobile adverts of 2008. Still, there’s only a limited number of times you can be impressed by an onslaught of bright colours - green, indigo and orange broadband signs burning into your eyeballs; it’s bright and vivid, but not worthy of a place in the top two rankings.
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Orange: Film Funding Board
Orange’s pre-screening advertising took a altered approach in advertising Orange broadband than the Orange broadband and mobile adverts on television had taken; the inspirational angle of the adverts and inspirational heart of the �I Am Everyone’ campaign was abandoned for something completely different. Featuring the likes of Rob Lowe and Steven Segal as they pitch film ideas to a board of clueless Orange executives, the adverts are a lifetime away from the grand-scale adverts of past Orange broadband and mobile campaigns. Indeed, depending on the film you are paying to see the Orange adverts were occasionally more entertaining the actual feature film itself.
While the Orange broadband and mobile campaigns over the past few months have been acclaimed as some of the country’s best advertisements, it’s their innovative method in the Orange Film Board spots that gives them the silver medal in the competition for the best mobile advert 2008. It’s a tactic that has worked before; the Orange broadband advert featuring fish had shades of humour to it. Still, the quirkiness is brought to a different level here and with worthy effect. Probably worth sitting through a Michael Winner movie for.
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BT: Adam and Jane
While O2 and Orange broadband presented a strong case for the best mobile advert for 2008, BT’s gold medal was never in that much doubt.
The 11 million BT promotional campaign, featuring British actor Kris Marshal, was one of the most original advertisements on television this year when measured to the adverts of other providers like Tiscali and Orange broadband. An advertising campaign which followed told the story of the relationship between Adam and single-mom Jane, BT’s approach to its broadband campaign was simple and successful.
As 2008 counted away the months, Adam and Jane started a promising relationship, although British viewers were shocked after it appeared that the couple had split later in the year. A further advertisement in November apparently suggested that their relationship was finished. Torrid times indeed. Still, this was a genuinely emotional advert, so congratulations to the brains at BT for making us all like Kris Marshall again. Orange broadband will be concerned that they didn’t think of it first.
