Talkin 'bout my inspiration

Dan Watts - ECD, Pablo

Once upon a time, before YouTube, TikTok and AI, adverts were funnier than the shows on TV. 

They took risks. They led culture. They made young people want to be part of it all.

One of those ads was at the end of the 90s for Outpost.com. It was one of the first .com commercials that I remember seeing (the internet was relatively new) but it wasn’t techy or futuristic. 

It was an old man in an armchair directing gerbils to be fired out of a cannon in a bid to remember their name.

The campaign was part of a new wave of advertising back then spearheaded by agencies like Cliff Freeman and Crispin Porter in the US, and HHCL, Mother and St Lukes in the UK. Advertising was suddenly punky. Anarchic. Had some swagger. It seemed FUN.

This spot encapsulated all of that, combining comedy and strategic thinking in a way that got into culture. I love that it’s for a boring product, making the shocking “are you allowed to do that?” comedy even more surprising.

I love that despite its inherent nastiness (gerbils are cute, right?), there is a charm to it rubbing with the cold-heartedness. It has a self-awareness, parodying brands that do whatever it takes to sell.

I love that it divided people in a bid to be remembered. I love the endline “send complaints to Outpost.com” I love that it made people “laughed so hard, milk came out of my nose”. 

And I love that it made me apply for Tony Cullingham’s Watford course back in 2000.

Jo Wallace - Global ECD at Jellyfish by day... founder of Good Girls Eat Dinner by night 

The ad that inspired me to get into advertising was Tango - Slap. 

It features an unusual orange chap who slaps a Tango drinker on his face as a metaphor for the 'hit of real oranges'.  

It was created by Trevor Robinson and Alan Young at HHCL & Partners which was a groundbreaking creative agency at the time - and the agency that first hired me. 

I also then went on to work with Trevor Robinson for six years at Quiet Storm, the agency and production company he founded.  

(Fun fact: the slap version of the ad was banned after kids mimicked it in the playground. An alt version featuring a kiss replaced it.) 

Patrick Cahill – Head of Production, MediaMonks

As a member of Generation MTV, I loved everything that intertwined great music with beautiful visuals and a smart narrative idea. 

So, when I first saw Levi’s Launderette ad before a screening of Back To The Future in 1985, I was blown away. 

Needless to say, begged my Mum to buy me a 501, which she did, eventually. 

The Levi’s commercials were more than just ads to me, they were short stories that became part of the fabric of my adolescence. The score-like soundtrack of the ads exposed me to fantastic music, from Motown classics to the Clash, Stiltskin or Smoke City. 

I even bought the 501 Hits compilation CD with my pocket money in 1990. 

Levi’s didn’t just stitch music and picture together, they weaved masterpieces that inspired me to pursue a career in production.  

Kirsty Hathaway - ECD, Joan 

I challenge any 90’s kid to not remember the Levi’s ads. They shaped the generation with hit after hit that impacted culture in a huge way. The first advert that really got me was their infamous Planet campaign which featured Babylon Zoo's unforgettable Spaceman song. 

The track was the fastest-selling British single since The Beatles, and it cut through with impactful storytelling, surreal and irreverent point of view. I went to Princes Street in Edinburgh to see if they had any leftover posters from the campaign. They did, and I had an ‘original’ hanging in my room. \

I went on to buy Levi’s for years, even though they weren’t the best fit for me. 

That’s brand power.

The way Levi's successfully shaped a generation through their bold storytelling, zig-to-cultures-zag, and shaping their own space has left a legacy that influences how creatives like myself approach advertising campaigns today. 

They took risks and didn't shy away from pushing against standards. 

Thanks to brands like Levi’s, being boring won't be discussed in a couple of decades, nor will up-and-coming advertisers be uninspired. Instead, the creative ecosystem will be continually disrupted and redefined, with new techniques of marketing to consumers emerging. 

David Masterman - Deputy ECD, VCCP

This was the first ad I can remember watching, and thinking; someone wrote that. 

That's someone's job. 

What a cracking way to spend your day. 

A whole drama told in 50". Not a second wasted. 

Proper storytelling.

"Like sitting on razorblade." 

"I were right about that saddle, though." 

These phrases went straight into the vernacular at Belmont Comprehensive School. 

For the younger readers who have never heard of The Yellow Pages, it was where we used to find the details of nearby shops and services. 

Think of it as an early, printed, forerunner of the internet.

Kai Hsiung - Global MD, RSA Films

This Bacardi commercial is from 1991 and ran at cinemas in the UK for a good few years.

I had a few friends who were location scouts back in the 1990’s; they had to fly ahead and photograph a chosen location and then fly home to show the director all the options. 

I soon realised that glossy ads equalled wonderful opportunities to travel to glamorous locations. 

Unfortunately, when I started at RSA, my first two trips were to Grantham to shoot a Tesco ad and then Sheffield for a shopping mall. 

Not so glamorous.

Lalita Koehler - Global President, Craft Worldwide 

For me, there are actually two campaigns that inspired me to pursue a career in this industry. 

This spot from Valisere, created in 1987, was the first time I saw an ad about women's empowerment. 

It stuck with me for ages. 

As I got older, I began to understand the full potential of a creative idea; how it can influence culture and even shape how we perceive ourselves. 

The Budweiser Wassup campaign was so fun to watch, especially when, at that time, the TV ads for beer in Brazil were mostly about exploring and exploiting the female body. 

It cemented itself in culture so completely – all of us were saying “Wazzup” everywhere. 

Long live comedy! 

The two campaigns are totally different, but both taught me that advertising can do so much more than simply sell a product. 

When done right, it becomes part of our lives by making us laugh or find strength within ourselves. 

I just knew I wanted to be part of a creative industry that can spur feelings like that in so many people simultaneously. 

Damon Collins - Co-Founder, Joint

My father was in advertising, so in our house TV programmes were merely a medium one used to research commercials. When the ad breaks came on my dad would shush everyone up so he could see the latest releases, then we’d carry on chatting once the show started up again. I was both exposed to and analytical of TV ads from the moment I was able to watch TV, but more excitingly, I was lucky enough to experience them being made. 

My first memory of being on a shoot was for a commercial for ITT televisions starring Terry Thomas and Spike Milligan. Despite the humour undoubtedly going way over my six-year-old head, the whole experience was incredible. Surely people don’t actually get paid to have this much fun..? 

Then, as if that wasn’t enough to hook me, there was the shoot for Texaco Havoline motor oil. Not the most exciting of briefs, but sprinkle in the glamour of Pinewood Studios, a real Formula One car, F1 World Champion driver James Hunt and Morecambe and Wise (the Ant and Dec of their time) as a hapless pit crew, and it starts becoming mind-blowing.