‘Alien leader’ interrupts Christmas broadcasts to promote TV advertising | M&M Global

‘Alien leader’ interrupts Christmas broadcasts to promote TV advertising

Thinkbox, the UK promotional body for TV advertising, has partnered with MediaCom to highlight the benefits of the medium with a new campaign.

thinkbox-alien

The humorous clip, called ‘The Broadcast’, was created by ad agency Red Brick Road, and shows a fleet of alien spaceships bearing down on Earth. A war-like leader addresses the planet’s population via television sets, before the ad ends with a comic twist.

In collaboration with GroupM agency MediaCom, Thinkbox has partnered with advertisers such as furniture retailer DFS, energy drink Lucozade and Mars Petcare-owned Sheba, to interrupt their own Christmas ads with an address by the alien leader – before the full 60-second commercial broadcasts at the end of the ad break.

Those breaks will appear on UK TV channels including ITV, Channel 4 and Sky Atlantic from 26 December.

Thinkbox’s three previous campaigns have featured a canine character called Harvey, and marketing director Andrew MacGillivray said the body has been keen to do “something completely different” in style and tone.

“We believe this new TV ad brings to life the scale, cultural reach, impact and synchronicity of TV advertising. It shows that if you want to speak to the whole nation at the same time and have a genuine impact, then you use TV. Aliens are optional,” he said.

Steven Hind, head of marketing for Lucozade Sport, commented: “Letting another advertiser interrupt one of your ads sounds bonkers, but I think the whole break should be fun for the viewers, and will create extra cut-through for Lucozade Sport.”

Katherine Horrocks, communications manager, corporate affairs, at Mars Petcare UK added: “We loved collaborating on Thinkbox’s storytelling ad break, using our extra-terrestrial friends to bring the concept that ‘Resistance is Futile’ to life in a different way. This innovative idea allows Sheba to demonstrate the brand’s sense of humour and entertain viewers with a fresh new approach.”

Thinkbox’s shareholders include Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and UKTV.

No Comments Yet

Leave a Reply