On April 9th AMV BBDO and Birds Eye release new work that builds on the much loved Polar Bear campaign. The ad, for Birds Eye Field Fresh Peas, aims to communicate the brands dedication to growing the sweetest peas, the lengths they go to, and sacrifices they will make… 

This charming, humorous 30 second spot is shot in epic action movie-style and sees ‘Farmer Bear’ heading into the pea fields alongside the other (rather more burly) Birds Eye farmers who spend five months of the year caring for and nurturing the peas. Whilst out on their mission to grow the sweetest, tenderest peas the unthinkable happens and The Bear trips and falls.

He selflessly urges the others on, sacrificing himself for the good of the peas, insisting ‘go to the peas, go to the peas’.

The spot reminds us of Birds Eye’s absolute dedication. It seeks to reconnect peas with the land they are grown on and the farmers who grow them in consumers’ minds which is far from the general perception that all peas are grown in greenhouses or come from a factory.

All of the Birds Eye farmers’ care and expertise leads to their sweet peas being the nation’s favourite.

The ad, directed by Tony Barry, will run for five weeks across terrestrial and digital channels. 

AMV BBDO has created an uplifting new campaign for EDF Energy that aims to make its customers ‘feel better’ about the company’s energy and services and introduces the company’s new low carbon nuclear backed residential tariff ‘Blue +Price Promise’.

The campaign launched with a 60” film on Monday 2nd April, with a second 30” film, ‘Happy’, following this coming Sunday (8th April).

EDF Energy is committed to being a better energy company and recently launched a set of customer commitments to underline this aspiration. In an industry first, Blue +Price Promise customers will be notified if there is another tariff on the market which could save them £1 or more per week.

The launch film, ‘Feel Better Energy,’ introduces a new character to our screens - a ‘robot with rhythm’. Directed by Nick Gordon, the curvy little hero bounces, jiggles and dances on various electrical appliances throughout the house, grooving on an amp, shaking on a blender, riding a vacuum cleaner, sitting in a children’s toy car, all to the sounds of the 1980s electro-pop classic, ‘Together in Electric Dreams’. He is celebrating the fact that EDF Energy’s new Blue +Price Promise Tariff is backed by low carbon electricity.

‘Happy’ features our little dancing robot in a less upbeat mood, downcast, staring out of a rain-splashed window, with the tragic strains of ‘Love Story’ playing in the background. When the VO reveals EDF Energy’s new promise to advise customers if another supplier is more than £1 a week cheaper, at typical use and that customers can leave the fixed price deal for free at any time,– we cut to a delighted robot’s high-energy dancing celebrations in a sunbathed bird-bath to the Hawaii Five 0 theme tune.

The highly technical little robot was originally designed by BeatBots, and he was taught to dance to different rhythms for this EDF Energy collaboration by robotics’ specialist Dr Marek Michalowski.

The campaign will run for three months, to July 2012 across terrestrial and digital channels. 

GARY LINEKER GETS BAKED!

GARY LINEKER STARS IN NEW ADVERT FOR WALKERS BAKED STARS

This Saturday, 31st March 2012, viewers will see Gary Lineker as they’ve never seen him before in the latest ad from Walkers to launch Baked Stars. The ad, which airs for the first time during Britain’s Got Talent sees the crisp-loving star having received a ‘baked’ makeover to turn him into a ‘baked star’ with an entirely different meaning. The new star shaped crisps, which are on sale now, have 70% less fat than standard crisps, are full of natural flavour and contain less than 100 calories per pack, making them perfect for kids’ lunchboxes.

With charred clothing, ash covered hair and even some lingering smoke, Gary makes a sight for sore eyes as he sits on a tasting stand in a busy supermarket. When a boy and his mother approach, the cheery sales woman asks him to choose whether he’d like to taste ‘Baked Star A’ – the star shaped crisp from Walkers, or ‘Baked Star B’ – a very unhappy looking charred Gary who is perched on the sampling counter. The stunned boy and his mother wisely chose Baked Star A as a defeated-looking Gary nods in expectation. 

Commenting on the advert, Gary says “Filming the new Baked Stars ad really was a lot fun. Over the years Walkers adverts have seen me do a lot of crazy things and wear a lot of different costumes, but I’ve never been ‘baked’. There was a lot of work done by the hair and make-up team, and with smoke wafting around me too, the effect was very real – I didn’t recognise myself when I looked in the mirror!”

Sebastian Micozzi, Head of Marketing for Walkers, said: “We’re very excited about the new ad for Walkers Baked Stars, which plays on the name of the product and uses Gary Lineker to clever effect. The crisps have been developed with the whole family in mind – there’s a bit of Walkers humour in there for everyone to enjoy!”

AMV BBDO has created a TV ad for Camelot’s ‘National Lottery - Life Changing’ campaign. The campaign, which also features print and digital, is helping to promote even greater public awareness of the far-reaching benefits of National Lottery funding.
Shot next to an army base in South East Asia, the tense and emotional film centres on an elderly man standing at the centre of a jungle battle field as war is waged around him. Mortars explode, machine guns fire rings out, planes fly overhead, and enemy soldiers run screaming towards us as our hero, who, dressed in modern clothes, stands watching the scene unfold. In the preceding moments he walks through WW2 jungle camp, lost in thought, before the chaos of battle commences. In a moving final scene, as memories of the battle fade, we see that ‘Jack’ is visiting a war cemetery, paying his respects to fallen friends and laying to rest the ghosts of his memories.
Through the Heroes Return Big Lottery Fund initiative over 50,000 World War 2 veterans have returned to scenes of their wartime battles to pay their respects to fallen comrades and the inspiration for the TV commercial is Private Jack Jennings, a veteran who fought in Burma, and was able to return there in 2010 thanks to money raised by National Lottery players.
The ad was directed by John Hilcoat (The Road, The Proposition) and the set was designed by Ricky Ayres (Saving Private Ryan) and will launch online, on The National Lottery’s You Tube channel, and air on national TV until 31st March. 

AMV BBDO have launched an online campaign to encourage consumers to ‘round up their mates’ to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, 17th March – the day Guinness have coined ‘the friendliest day of the year.’
If there's one thing blokes are notoriously bad at, it's organising themselves for a night out. The film bring this to life with a sheep dog trial of a rather unusual kind – the ‘sheep’ are in fact a group of ‘mates’ and the obstacles the highly skilled dog needs to herd them past include a sofa/TV combo, an Indian restaurant and some girls on a dance floor - the usual Saturday night distractions that threaten to come between a man and his mates. The final ‘pen’ destination is the pub where pints of Guinness await them.
The online campaign features a 30” trailer directing people to the full-length film (0:02.35”) on You Tube, and activity will run to March 17th.