PRIVATE VIEW: David Alberts, executive creative director at Mojo Partners, Sydney

When asked to review this series of ads from around the world, my private view was that this was a good excuse. A good excuse to remind people that I'm still alive and happy living in a small island south of Asia. The Vodaphone ad is a very good excuse to find a reason to use some pretty cool animation technique that saves the commercial from being at best, a slice of life generic spot. The background provided with the ad mentions that the agency has since lost the account. Wonder why? If you stare at the Sci-Fi Channel idents long enough you will enter a time zone that will take you to a place where people understand things we don't. A bloody good excuse for meaningless crap. MTV Hits. No excuses here. Just good. In a world where MTV has become an execution genre of idea-free commercials, it's good to see an MTV promo with a really involving idea. The voiceover to the VW Microbus infomercial starts by saying, "it started with an idea" and then makes no excuses for forgetting about the idea and showing us two minutes of fantastic looking combi shots. The new combi which is a cross between a bakelite toaster and an Apple Macintosh looks fantastic. I may not buy the commercial but I'd love to buy the vehicle. Maybe that's the idea. An idea, such as the one for Pizza Hut, that is so true to a product promise that I feel as sick at the end of the ad as I know I am going to feel at the end of the pizza. The beautifully seamless twisting camera work leaves my stomach turning way before I see the horrific twisting dipping excuse for a pizza. And finally, the Cadillac television commercial is just a very good excuse for doing a car chase. It's not going to do anything for Cadillac because it doesn't differentiate itself from other car chase TVCs. After going through this exercise I realised that as we enter another slowdown or even a recession, there is an even greater need for creative thinking and ideas and that we really have no excuse for some of the meaningless executional indulgences that boom times bring. VODAFONE Project: Night out Client: Vodafone Brief: Vodafone is for everyone Agency: BMP DDB Copywriter: Amber Casey Art director: Dan Hubert Production house: Studio AKA SCI-FI CHANNEL Project: Idents Client: Sci-Fi Channel Brief: Build the channel's brand image and positioning Production company: Tsunami Films Creative director: Tor McLaren (Sci-Fi Channel) Art director: Don Cameron MTV Project: Eggcentric Client: MTV Hits Brief: To announce the launch of the MTV Hits Channel Agency: Malcolm Moore Deakin Blazye Creative directors: Guy Moore, Tony Malcolm Copywriter: Gary Ruby Art director: Nick Williamson Production house: Gorgeous Enterprises VOLKSWAGEN Project: Microbus Client: VW Brief: To highlight the strengths of the VW brand Agency: Arnold Worldwide Creative directors: Ron Lawner, Tim Brunelle, Chris Bradley Copywriter: Tim Brunelle Art director: Chris Bradley Production house: GAP Films PIZZA HUT Project: Twist apartment Client: Pizza Hut Brief: Launch of pizza with a twist-off, dippable crust Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers, BBDO Creative director: Peter Souter Copywriter: Ben Kay Art director: Cameron Blackley Production house: The Pink Film Company CADILLAC Project: The Chase Client: Cadillac Escalade Brief: The launch of Cadillac's first 4X4 model Agency: Radius Leo Burnett Creative director: Marc Chalhoub Copywriter: Nadim Dimashkieh Art director: Toufic Bayhum Production house: VIP Film Dubai

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