Anthony & Martin Creative

Channel 4 - Katie: My Beautiful Friends

The challenge for Channel 4 was to promote a new series featuring Katie Piper as she helped people come to terms with their scars and turn their lives around.

We created a visual metaphor for regaining confidence.

It won a D&AD Yellow Pencil.

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Vimto - I See Vimto in you

The youth market are notoriously hard to advertise to. So we didn’t. We told them NOT to watch our ads.

It achieved Vimto’s highest sales ever.

It also won gold at The Drum Marketing Awards and Silver at The 21st FAB Awards.

Case Study

Experiential Event

We had Snapchat Filters, Personalised Ads and more...

Social Phone Filters (click white triangle in centre to play)

Digital Banners (click white triangle in centre to play)

Young's Seafood - Still No Young's Fishy In My Little Dishy

Young's Seafood is all about desire. So, we figured, who desires fish more than a cat?

Despite what they say about children and animals, ‘Malcolm’ was a delight to work with!

Cat Bloopers & Outtakes - Online Content

Carabao - Bring It On

This pitch win included a full rebrand and UK launch with Chelsea FC. Media covered everything - films, OOH, digital OOH, web banners, press ads, landing page, sampling trucks, POS, shop exterior signage, pitch side advertising... even a wall mural at Chelsea.

And a personal highlight when we got Suggs of Madness to read Martin's poem for the online film!

Brand Film

Online film (featuring Suggs!)

Press/Posters

Activation Examples

Wall Mural at Chelsea...

RAF - Claustrophobia (Youth And Ethnic Recruitment)

The RAF were perceived as being an old-fashioned institution, but these campaigns went a long way to revamping their image in the eyes of young people. They were hugely successful in recruitment terms… and the campaign aimed at ethnic groups (see further down page) greatly improved diversity in the RAF.

RAF - Press Campaign

This press campaign was created to convey a sense of claustrophobia.

RAF - Ethnic Recruitment Campaign

This press campaign ran in various publications, including fashion magazines.

RAF - Tactical Press

Press ads targeted specific career paths, for example catering and the RAF band.

Haribo - Bring out your inner child

"You can’t touch the jingle...” said the client. “And there are no tattoos in the Happy World Of Haribo."

Our ‘Rockstars’ ad took some persuading… but it ended up the second most liked ad of the year.

Scroll down for more Haribo fun.

Haribo ‘Sugar Tax’

All the Haribo dialogue is real kids speaking naturally. Problem is, kids don’t talk about 30% less sugar. So we needed a workaround…

A worldwide campaign, our sugar tax lift made it over to Benelux...

And France...

It’s very rare for Haribo to do OOH, but we managed a couple…

We also did some online ads for Halloween…

We even renamed a pack!

ARTS COUNCIL - COLOURISM

We were Creative Directors on this project, producing all the advertising and design work to highlight the concept of Colourism, told through a series of stories and striking portraits.

After we helped secure funding from Arts Council England, we created and promoted several exhibitions through a print and social media campaign, and gained free coverage in the press, including BBC and ITV news (TV, radio and online).

Working with Black History Month and photographer Nosa Malcolm, Colourism was a bold and logistically ambitious project that sought to break free from the usual constraints of a traditional art exhibition. These exhibitions were held across multiple (and often unexpected) venues in the south of England.

“Colourism is all about the value we place on somebody if they’re light-skinned or dark-skinned, and over the years this has been the way in which some communities have judged people of different complexions. The objective of the project was to produce art around our own experience and take it out to different communities, for the communities, by the communities.” - Don John, Founder and Director, Black History Month South.

A well-attended launch party was held and we created a film using Nosa Malcolm’s photography that was played at the venues and also shared widely on social media.

Photography: nosamalcolm.com

We created a main promotional image for the project.

Striking portraits and stories were taken to spaces not normally associated with exhibitions, in order to reach a diverse audience.

We exhibited in libraries, a theatre studio, a university terrace, a book shop, even a general hospital…

With multiple venues it was necessary to freshen the concept with various executions.

We gained lots of free press coverage, including on the BBC and ITV news…

BBC television coverage

Colourism Exhibition Film

We made a film using Nosa Malcolm’s photography that was played at the venues and also shared widely on social media.

As part of the project we updated the existing Black History Month logo.

The new logo was also used as a design element to reflect the subject matter of the exhibition.

The Brown Paper Bag Test

As part of the exhibitions we encouraged people to take the ‘Brown Paper Bag Test’. This was a 20th century African American discriminatory practice where an individual’s skin tone was compared to the colour of a brown paper bag… to determine their privileges.

For example, you were only allowed in certain establishments if your skin tone matched or was lighter than a brown paper bag.

Information on the brown paper bag test.

Daily Mirror - Don't Say Stupid

You’re less likely to say something stupid if you know all the facts.

This campaign knocked The Sun off top spot for first time in years.

Martin even appears in the fourth TV ad as an extra. The start, and indeed end, of his acting career.

Web Banners

Social Media

Smarties - Go Undercover

Nestle launched a chocolate bar containing Smarties.

This campaign went down so well that several posters were actually stolen from bus shelters! They also won a FAB Best Poster Award.

Smarties Press

Smarties Web Banners

Pukka Pies - Everything's Pukka

Mmm, pie. The ultimate comforter, whatever's happening.

This Campaign broke all Pukka’s previous sales records and was nominated for a Drum Creative Award.

We also had some darker characters the client didn't go with…

Woman: “I saw your husband on a dating site.”

Fireman (with charred remains): “I’m sorry.”

Cat meowing. Subtitles: “I’m the reincarnation of your mother.”

Two builders: “We love wearing your clothes when you’re not in.”

A ghost walks in: “Your house was built on a graveyard.”

Father Christmas: “I don’t exist.”

Policeman (carrying crushed metal cube): “We found your car.”

Donald Trump: “I’m President!”

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Our line went on every pack in the country!

Tactical Social Media Ads

For Goodness Shakes - We Shake For You

FGS were unknown and had no money. They needed something disruptive. This was, so much so it got banned. Which was exactly what we wanted, of course!

It got around 2 million hits on YouTube and lots of press coverage, but more importantly got FGS into all the major supermarkets and even led to people getting jobs.

Not bad for a rude gag!

YouTube exploded…

Amazon Web Services - The Perfect Fit

AWS powers everything these days. From the self-service checkout in your local supermarket… to putting a rover on Mars.

We created 9 different versions of this B2B commercial, to cater for the languages, nuances and preferences of 15 different countries. So a truly global campaign, where everyone got a perfect fit.

AWS Business Solutions Film

Press and banner executions

We also created some concepts using AWS AI itself... feeding prompts into it around 'the perfect fit' idea.

So effectively they’re AWS creating its own advertising. A perfect fit for itself…

PartyPoker - Got a Bad Poker Face?

Playing poker online means you don't have to show your face. Our ‘Got a bad poker face?’ campaign launched PartyPoker and was hugely successful in both the US and UK. Later we created a new campaign for the European market with the theme: ‘No-one to play with?’

We also produced numerous press, online and experiential executions for other PartyGaming products.

Press and Posters

These executions appeared as press ads and posters all over the UK.

Our very first campaign targeted commuters, who we thought could use a little cheering up.

The campaign was hard to miss!

This TV campaign was created specifically for the US market and did wonders for PartyGaming’s market share.

Changing Room

Contact Lens

Dumped

Ms Stern

As well as being widely shown in the US, this commercial also ran in UK cinemas.

Online PartyPoker Campaign

The ad predominantly ran in the Sin City ad breaks, so we created an online campaign featuring ‘Ms Stern’ to compliment it.

TV News Coverage

The ‘Miss Stern’ cinema ad also featured prominently in a report on the flotation of the company on Channel 4 News.

PartyPoker - Promotional playing cards

Playing cards were created with the ‘bad poker face’ theme to be distributed at events and poker tournaments.

Taxi Sponsorship

Cab drivers were also encouraged to give these cards away free to their customers.

And we placed some 'tips' on the fold up seats of the cabs...

Follow up press campaign

PartyPoker - now Mac friendly

This was a specific execution for poker magazines, announcing that PartyPoker was now compatible with Mac computers.

Employee Engagement

The bad poker face concept went down well with the PartyGaming employees who all contributed a photo to the in-house magazine.

PartyPoker - No One To Play With?

A campaign was created for the European market with the ‘No one to play with?’ theme.

No One To Play With? - Asylum

No-one To Play With? - Circus

No One To Play With? - Jailer

No One To Play With? - Brokeback

Monster Tournament

This was a press, poster and online campaign for PartyPoker’s MONSTER tournament (the biggest ever tournament prizes.)

Monster Banners

The green lights flickered on these.

PartyGaming Press

This laptop execution was a press ad in specialist gaming magazines initially... and then the real, physical item was made and appeared at promotional events.

PartyBlackjack Press

Brewdog - Embrace The Haters

Some people don't actually like Brewdog beers. Well, you can't please everyone.

Brewdog are known for their ‘punk’ attitude - so we took ‘hater’ comments and turned them into the ad campaign, in order to mock them.

Well sort of. Brewdog didn’t actually buy this, they just made something very similar, without paying the ad agency. Which kind of sums up their punk attitude, really!

Proximity OOH

In-Pub POS Stunt

Limited Edition Bottles

Dairylea - Herds of Goodness

Cows had been appearing on Dairylea packs for years, so we designed some new ones with Aardman Animations.

These bovine characters were a big hit and it wasn’t long before they appeared on packaging, social media and as cuddly toys!

Cows Get Cooking

This was the first ‘Dairylea Cows’ ad. Voiceover courtesy of Alexei Sayle.

Cows In The Loft

Dairylea Rippers

Kung Fu Cows

Dairylea - Light

Dairylea Light - Press Campaign

The new cows found a home on all the Dairylea packaging.

Cow Concepts

This was a fun account to work on!

Yes, trying to get people to cook with Dairylea was an actual brief.

All this resulted in the first increase in sales for 5 years…

The cows even made it to the cover of Marketing Magazine.

The inevitable cuddly toy.

Yorkie - It's Not For Girls

"Yorkie shows us how it's done. Simultaneously using its heritage and flying in the face of its competitors' activities, it has come up with a strong, simple idea that will run and run and sell chocolate by the truckload." - Leon Jaume, Campaign Private View.

The campaign generated a huge amount of publicity and years later it was still being discussed. “It was a great ad,” said Piers Morgan to the actress who played the disguised woman on Good Morning Britain recently.

Yorkie - It's Not For Girls - Launch Ad

And 20 years later the campaign still pops up in the news…

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And coverage at the time…

A very nice review in Campaign.

Other Bits 'n' Bobs

Here's a selection of other stuff we've worked on over the years, covering a wide range of categories...

Amazon - Coming Home

Amazon's big launch of their new in-car Echo device, directed by Sir Ridley Scott's son, Jake. This TV spot was shown all across the US.

Student D&AD Pencil Winner.

Spitfire Beer Topical Execution (RIP Sven)

Beringer Wine Press

Shell Press

Kenco Press and Web Banners

Playboy TV Poster

Whiskas Press

Persil Press

Dairylea Double Dunkers Adshell

Cream 'Creative Dictator'

A little viral campaign for a recruitment agency.

Waterstone's

Publicis Life Brands - Obsessed With Advertising?

Recruitment campaign for ad agency Publicis Life Brands. These first two films won an IPA Self Promotion Award. Later we created a press ad which followed the obsessed theme... which picked up an IPA award too!

Publicis Life Brands - Obsessed With Advertising - Milk

Here's Our Website... It Looks Better Online

Part of the ‘obsessed with advertising’ campaign, this trade press ad encouraged people to visit Publicis Life Brand's new website...

Andrex/Cottonelle - Clean Puppy & Thank You

Some briefs are trickier than others. The first commercial here needed to introduce the Andrex Puppy to a US audience and provide a product demonstration for ‘Fresh Moist Wipes’. It turned out pretty well.

Andrex - Pullover

The brief for the second commercial was to draw people’s attention to Andrex’s ‘Thank You’ promotion. The general public loved it - Adwatch found it to be the most memorable commercial on TV at the time.

Mission Wraps - A Lunchtime Less Ordinary

First we came up with the big idea: A Lunchtime Less Ordinary.

Then we rebranded the press and posters to show these weren't any ordinary wraps.

The client also wanted a less ordinary way of entering your code to win a prize. So we invented The Lift To A Lunchtime Less Ordinary. You enter your code via the lift numbers, it travels to that 'floor', and opens at what you've won. Several possibilities were filmed (see below for a selection) and it was hosted by Jonny Awsum... who later found fame reaching the semi finals of Britain's Got Talent!

Competition Part 1: Enter Your Code

You've Won A Trip To New Orleans Mardi Gras!

Sorry, You Lost!

You Lost, But Come And Check Out Some Recipes...

Wrap Recipe No.1: Tomato & Chorizo

What We Do For Fun

Creativity doesn’t stop when Anthony and Martin leave the office.

Anthony’s hand-drawn cartoon feature ‘Logos As They Should Be’ has appeared regularly in Private Eye since early 2017. Often the logos need to be topical to tie-in with current news events (the final decision on which will run is taken by Ian Hislop).

Martin has written a novel. And has exhibited paintings at an art exhibition. And writes and performs poetry. And stand-up comedy.

Scroll to the bottom for details, pics and some stand-up comedy.

A new report shows childhood obesity rates have risen 10-fold since the 70s.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that oil-polluted Nigerian communities can sue Shell in English courts.

One 13g bowl of Frosties contains more than half the daily sugar recommendation for children aged between seven and ten.

A report finds the UK has one of the world's highest levels of alcohol consumption per capita.

London’s Tube lines are running at overcapacity during morning rush hour, new figures reveal.

B&Q continues to serve DIY enthusiasts.

The G7 reach a deal to make multinational companies pay more tax.

Dominic Cummins makes a 30-mile journey to check his eyesight.

Ministers propose privatisation of Channel 4.

It comes to light that Boris Johnson had a birthday party during lockdown.

The NHS faces another winter crisis.

When this logo was published in Private Eye it was adapted into an ad for a local Post Office. It then went back in Private Eye via a reader. That's a pretty good delivery!

MARTIN’S STAND-UP COMEDY

Angel Comedy Showcase, Saturday 4th March 2023, The Bill Murray, Angel, Islington. Host: Ben Target, MC: Andy Barr.

DRY HUMOUR, a novel

Martin set himself the challenge to give up alcohol for a year and write a humorous book documenting what happened.

Highlights included rescuing a cat from Bulgaria, performing comedy poetry, meeting his girlfriend who he now lives with, a (far too) long bit about crumpets, and an epic journey to the most remote pub in the British Isles for his first beer in a year.

Pic: The Old Forge in the village of Inverie (Pop. 104) on the Knoydart peninsula in northwest Scotland.

We’re not particularly small, that’s just a really big landlord.