W"The Age of the Train" was a television advertising campaign in the United Kingdom created by British Rail in the late-1970s to promote its InterCity rail travel service. The adverts were presented by DJ and BBC presenter Jimmy Savile and featured the then-new InterCity 125 high-speed train.
WAIDS: Don't Die of Ignorance was a 1987 public health campaign by the British government in response to the rise of HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom.
WThe British Airways "Face" advertisement was a television commercial campaign by British Airways in 1989. The commercial was made by advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, having been written by Graham Fink and Jeremy Clarke, with Hugh Hudson as director. It is often considered to be a television commercial classic.
WCake is a television and cinema advertisement launched in 2007 by Škoda Auto to promote the new second-generation Fabia supermini car in the United Kingdom. The 60-second spot forms the centrepiece of an integrated advertising campaign comprising appearances on television, in cinemas, in newspapers and magazines, online, and through direct marketing. The campaign and its component parts were handled by the London branch of advertising agency Fallon Worldwide. Cake was directed by British director Chris Palmer. Production was contracted to Gorgeous Enterprises, with sound handled by Wave Studios. It premiered on British television on 17 May 2007.
WChanges is a British television advertisement launched in 1987 to promote the second-generation of the Volkswagen Golf. The 50-second ad was directed by David Bailey and stars the model Paula Hamilton as a woman throwing away some of her possessions. After discarding her wedding ring, pearl necklace, brooch and mink coat, she decides to keep her Volkswagen Golf and drives off in it with a smile on her face. Changes was named after the song that was used as its soundtrack, written by Alan Price. It was awarded the Silver prize at the 1988 British Arrows Awards, and is remembered as an indicator of car advertising's recognition of women's growing independence.
W"Cog" is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Honda in 2003 to promote the seventh-generation Accord line of cars. It follows the convention of a Rube Goldberg machine, utilizing a chain of colliding parts taken from a disassembled Accord. Wieden+Kennedy developed a GB£6 million marketing campaign around "Cog" and its partner pieces, "Sense" and "Everyday", broadcast later in the year. The piece itself was produced on a budget of £1 million by Partizan Midi-Minuit. Antoine Bardou-Jacquet directed the seven-month production, contracting The Mill to handle post-production. The 120-second final cut of "Cog" was broadcast on British television on 6 April 2003, during a commercial break in ITV's coverage of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.
WCompare the Meerkat is an advertising campaign on British and Australian commercial television for comparethemarket.com, a price comparison website, part of BGL Group. The adverts feature Aleksandr Orlov, a CGI anthropomorphic Russian meerkat and his family and friends. Orlov is portrayed as being of aristocratic stock and the founder of comparethemeerkat.com: the campaign originally centred on his frustration over the confusion between his website and comparethemarket.com, playing on the similarity between the words market and meerkat. Orlov's catchphrase is "Simples".
WCreature Comforts is a British stop motion clay animation comedy mockumentary franchise originating in a 1989 British humorous animated short film of the same name. The film matched animated zoo animals with a soundtrack of people talking about their homes, making it appear as if the animals were being interviewed about their living conditions. It was created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. The film later became the basis of a series of television advertisements for the electricity boards in the United Kingdom, and in 2003, a television series in the same style was released. An American version of the series was also made.
WThe Diet Coke Break advertising campaign is a series of six television advertisements that ran from 1994 to 2013, used to promote the soft drink Diet Coke. Each advert centers around a group of women ogling an attractive man while he works, soundtracked to a version of "I Just Want to Make Love to You". The first commercial premiered on US television in 1994, and starred American actor Lucky Vanous as a handsome construction worker who removes his shirt while taking his "Diet Coke break". The advert was a huge success, catching The Coca-Cola Company by surprise. Although initially no sequel was planned, Vanous was recast in a follow-up advert, released the next year.
WThe fourth series of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who was preceded by the 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes aired, starting with "Partners in Crime" on 5 April 2008 and ending with "Journey's End" three months later on 5 July 2008.
WGo On Lad is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Premier Foods in 2008 to promote its Hovis brand of bread. The 122-second piece was commissioned as part of a £15,000,000 brand relaunch designed to reverse Hovis' declining market share and profits. The commercial follows the journey of a young boy through 122 years of British history, from the establishment of the Hovis brand in 1886 to the current day. The campaign was handled by advertising agency Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy. Production of the commercial itself was contracted to London-based production company Rattling Stick, with post-production handled by The Mill. It was directed by Ringan Ledwidge. Go On Lad premiered on British television on 12 September 2008.
WGood Doctor is a television and cinema advertisement released in 2002 by Interbrew to promote its Stella Artois brand of lager within the United Kingdom. The 100-second spot was produced by advertising agency Lowe Lintas & Partners in London. Good Doctor premiered on British television in January 2002, with later appearances in cinemas. It is the seventh piece in the Jean de Florette-inspired "Reassuringly Expensive" series that had been running since 1992. The advert was directed by Czech director Ivan Zacharias with help from the production company Stink and post-production work by The Moving Picture Company. The commercial was a popular, financial, and critical success, boosting sales during the period in which it ran, and receiving more awards than any other campaign in 2002, including a Cannes Gold Lion, an Epica Award and several prizes from the D&AD Awards.
WGorilla is a British advertising campaign launched by the advertising agency Fallon London on behalf of Cadbury Schweppes in 2007, to promote Cadbury Dairy Milk brand chocolate. The centrepiece of the campaign was a 90-second television and cinema advertisement, supported by related media purchases in billboards, magazines and newspapers, as well as sponsored events and an organised internet presence. The total cost of the campaign is estimated at £6.2 million. The central television advertisement was created and directed by Juan Cabral and starred the actor Garon Michael.
WThe 2012 Summer Paralympics, the 14th Summer Paralympic Games, and also more generally known as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that took place in London, United Kingdom from 29 August to 9 September 2012. These Paralympics were one of the largest multi-sport events ever held in the country after the 2012 Summer Olympics, and until the date the largest Paralympics ever: 4,302 athletes from 164 National Paralympic Committees participated, with fourteen countries appearing in the Paralympics for the first time ever.
WNight Mail, also known as Concerto or Britain's Railway, was an 1988 British advert produced by Ridley Scott Associates and British Transport Films for British Rail. It was based on the 1936 documentary of the same name, and used the first stanza of a poem by W. H. Auden that was written for the film. Further verses in the style of Auden were written to accompany the footage, read out by actor Tom Courtenay.
WnoitulovE is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Diageo in 2005 to promote Guinness Draught stout. The 60-second piece formed the cornerstone of a £15 million advertising campaign targeting men in their late twenties and early thirties. The commercial shows, in reverse, the adventures of three characters who evolve from mudskippers to present day humans before tasting Guinness in a London pub. The commercial was handled by the advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, with a budget of £1.3M. It was directed by Daniel Kleinman. Production was contracted to Kleinman Productions, with post-production by Framestore CFC. It premiered on British television on 3 October 2005.
WOld Lions is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by the Carlsberg Group in 2006 to promote Carlsberg-brand pale lager. The 180-second piece formed the cornerstone of the company's media campaign in England during the run-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The campaign targeted men between the ages of 16 and 34. The commercial shows the lead up to and playing of a game of football between a local pub team and a team made up of former England players, coached by Bobby Robson. Old Lions was handled by advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. It was directed by Chris Palmer. Production was handled by production company Gorgeous Enterprises, with post-production by The Mill. It premiered on British television on 15 April 2006.
WSea is an advertising campaign launched by Diageo in 2007 to promote Smirnoff brand vodka. It centres on a 60-second commercial created by J. Walter Thompson, which premiered on 17 August 2007 in showings of The Bourne Ultimatum at select cinemas across the United Kingdom. Various tie-ins were launched, including the "Smirnoff Purifier", an online game, point of sale "Smirnoff purity kits", and a tour of a custom-built "Smirnoff Purification Installation" used to make potable samples of water taken from saline or otherwise undrinkable water at selected sites. In all, the campaign cost £5,000,000 to create, making it the largest campaign ever taken on by Diageo for its Smirnoff brand.
WSpace Chair is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Toshiba in 2009 to promote its Regza SD LCD televisions. The 60-second piece, following the launch of an armchair into near space attached to a weather balloon, is the second in the "Projects" campaign, following on from Time Sculpture. The launch, which reached 98,268 feet (29,952 m), set a world record for Highest High-Definition Television Commercial. Space Chair premiered on European and Japanese television on 16 November 2009.
WSurfer is a integrated advertising campaign launched in 1999 by Diageo to promote Guinness-brand draught stout in the United Kingdom. The cornerstone of the campaign is a television commercial, originally 60 seconds long, which centred on a Polynesian surfer successfully taking on a gigantic wave. Shot in Hawaii over a nine-day period and directed by Jonathan Glazer, the piece went on to win more awards than any other commercial in 1999, and in 2002 was voted the "Best ad of all time" in a poll conducted by Channel 4 and The Sunday Times.
WTime Sculpture is a British television and cinema advertisement launched in 2008 to promote Toshiba's high-definition television upscaling technology. The piece, which comprised a collection of interacting movement loops sequenced into a single shot, was created in collaboration with advertising agency Grey London, based on a video art proposal by director Mitch Stratten. Time Sculpture holds the world record for the greatest number of moving image cameras used in a single shot.
WUnderdog is a character developed by The Gate London advertising agency and animated by Aardman Animations. The character is featured in advertisements for the personal injury claims company, National Accident Helpline, a UK-based provider of personal injury services.