Sober reminder that this Sunday is Father’s Day
Grey, Melbourne has created a thought-provoking print ad for TAC in the lead-up to Father’s Day, this Sunday 6th September.
Agency: Grey, Melbourne
Writer: Nigel Dawson
Art Director: Pete Becker
Associate Art Director: Amahl Weeratne
Photographer: Stuart Crossett
This is the copy:
This year I’m getting hankies for Fathers’ Day.
I know – it’s a pretty crap present, but they’re not for him. They’re for me.
You try to ignore Fathers’ Day but it’s not easy when all you see are adverts for cordless drills and leaf blowers and loud voices saying ‘Make Dad’s day’. Ha, if only.
Best thing I ever did was a photo of me with Ben as a puppy that I spent ages putting in a frame with shells around it. Dads keep that sort of stuff forever.
Dad, I wanted you to embarrass me on my 21st with sooky stories like me having a crush on Dean at Primary School, not me having to stand up and tell everybody what a great dad you were. Even when you got narky – I could never take you seriously when you went ballistic with me: “I’m not going to tell you again”, but you always did.
But Dad, that’s nothing to how angry I am with you now – angry, sad, empty and all that…stuff mixed up in one big…blah.
Have you got a Dad? – sure you have; well stuff buying him presents, just tell him – tell him how important he is.
Tell him one day you want to see him hold his first grandkid in his big old ugly hands.
Tell him to think about you before he has that extra beer on his birthday and decides to drive home.
If you drink, then drive, you’re a bloody idiot.
21 Comments
I don’t work at Grey.
This morning a cabbie told me about this ad he’d heard on the radio.
It was a TAC spot for Father’s Day he talked about it for a while and said, “Shit their marketing is good.” He told me it was a very moving thing to listen to. I don’t know the ad, haven’t heard it. But to be honest, it doesn’t matter what I think of it.
Well done.
Contrast Grey’s commitment to the TAC with DDB Brazil’s commitment to WWF. Grey has been doing ground-breaking, real work for the TAC for, I think, for well over a decade now. And not only has it consistently won awards at shows, it has without a shadow of doubt changed attitudes and saved lives. The next time you are about to try and do some work for a charity, think hard about your motives. Is it merely taking advantage of a worthy cause for your own benefit or do you have the same commitment that Grey has demonstrated to combatting the road toll through the TAC? It serves as a sobering counterpoint to the mountains of junk charity ads out there.
What I really like about the TAC work such as this is that it doesn’t try to create an idea. The area and strategy are obvious. The challenge is to engage people by digging deeply into human truths and working on an emotional level. Yes, the subject matter lends itself to such work. However, I think it’s a valuable lesson to us all. Forget looking to sexy media options. Forget trying to create some mind-bending creative leap. Engage with the subject matter and try to use it to persuade people to your message.
The thing I really like about the Grey stuff as well is you actually see it, even if you’re only in Melbourne twice a month. The only RTA stuff I see are the odd TVC and the odd billboard heading up to Byron – and some of those billboards take your eyes off the road that long to figure them out that they’re actually more of a danger than a help.
I honestly don’t see any of the RTA stuff that wins awards, especially the press.
Very worthy, 7:23, though remember – Grey aren’t working on TAC for free.
I agree with you, 2:13AM. And the point certainly crossed my mind as I was tapping away. The point is that the agency has a genuine commitment to the cause. There certainly are other examples of agencies demonstrating a similar commitment to their public service/charity clients both paid and pro bono. At the same time, there are heaps of examples of agencies coming up with ideas and then shopping for a charity to flog it to. Disgracefully hollow. They are the targets of my outrage.
Still, a rare example of beautifully written copy. Congrats Nigel.
I’m a Dad. This kicked me in the guts and brought tears to my eyes all at the same time. The message will stay with me for a long time. And yes it will influence my behaviour. If you’re not a dad, you don’t really understand how deep stuff like this cuts. Well done guys. More power to you.
This works. Get’s you all over – especially for dads with young children. But I’m sure it also hits hard on Mums, sons, daughters, grandparents…
5:26 I couldn’t have put it better myself. Real work approved by a real client.
Very good work from an advertising professional who has been producing very good work for a very long time on a client which has stayed true to a very good formula for a very long time.
Maybe there’s a lesson here for all you 26 year old marketing professionals and advertising creatives.
Aw fuck 8:09, I’m 26 and I like it.
Does it really come down to age or do people only start using that excuse when they’re past it?
No, you little twit 10:35, what 8:09 was expressing is that people with experience are far too easily and frequently dumped by the industry while they’ve still got a lot to give, and way before they get to the stage where…um…what were we talking about again?
Well.. I didn’t pick that up from his comment. Not every young person wants to do scam ads for bubble gum! I love campaigns! I also don’t have a problem with seniors!
Just ageist condescending close minded people!
8.09 again. Apologies to you, my 26 year old friend. You’re obviously one of the good ones.
My original post was probably directed more at the vast legions of inexperienced marketing graduates who become (terrible) clients, and as soon as they obtain a degree of authority, decide to mark out their territory by changing the work. Merely because they didn’t initiate it.
Happens all the time, because too many people let their ego’s get in the way of what needs to be done. It’s not necessarily an age thing, either. You get ignorant, ego-driven people at all levels.
We truly have some awful marketing executives in Australia. Of course there are the good ones, and we all know who they are: they look after the dozen or so brands that consistently out-market all others.
I’ve long held the belief that the most important factor in the work isn’t the team, isn’t the planner, isn’t the CD, isn’t the suit, isn’t the agency. It’s the client. Get a good one, and you’re well on the way. Get a bad one, and prepare to have your heart and soul destroyed, one cell at a time.
Sometimes good work gets pushed past bad clients. And then you’ll find the agency loses the account a year later. Too incompatible. But look at which agencies consistently do the best work, year after year, and you’ll see a bunch of clients at the head of strong brands, demanding good work from their agency.
Never believe an agency head who says his mission is to “turn the clients around”. That rarely, if ever, happens. Good clients are gold. And most of the good ones are well over the age of 40, because they know their shit… they’re old enough to have left the pissing contests behind them, and they value thinking.
Again, I’m generalising. Some good younger ones too. But they’re rare; marketing schools turn out some serious dross I’m afraid.
26 year old virgin here.
I agree with you (1:57) on all fronts, but how many times have you shown something cool to the less senior clients, they love it, then it’s shot down by their superiors? I find they come out of school (like creatives, and suits) really keen to push the boundaries, they’ve studied all the great campaigns but for some reason turn into scared little couriers that just run every second thing past their boss and have no opinion on anything.
I think, (humbly, with my very limited experience) the problem is clients study Ogilvy, creatives study Bernbach, planners study Freud and suits hardly study at all but know people from private school who get them in the door when they didn’t get the marks to become a client. Apologies for the sweeping generalisation.
Maybe if we all studied the same thing, if there was one system, or one recognised school, we could change it for the better, during the second or third year we branch into whichever area we wish to specialise in. Whoever does it might make a heap of cash. Clients would respect creatives because they’ve actually studied the same thing, and vice versa, would also be great for networking. But that would just be a utopian mid 20’s gen y idea with no capability or means to achieve it.
:o)
1.57 again,
actually I’ve tended to have the opposite experience: just about everything I’ve ever done that’s either in my book or has picked up at shows, or has delivered serious ROI for the client, has been presented directly to the senior marketer.
Maybe I’ve just been unlucky, but the vast majority of junior clients I’ve had have been too scared to champion or push anything, and have figured that by saying no and picking holes in things, they’ll look smart and thorough to their superiors.
There’s been a few exceptions, but generally speaking, you don’t get anything really good up unless the marketer at the top of the tree has his or her shit together.
Nigel,
Congratulations … the power of your pen is saving lives and bringing alive the art of copywriting.
Also, perfectly produced radio.
Great casting and direction.
Great to see the positive responses here.
This actually copped a bagging on AdoftheWorld.com … with one clown even saying “it doesn’t even look like an ad.”
Great ‘dad’ driven idea.
Great effect already.
Great stuff.
Sorry 1.57, I hear your pain, but for the record the senior client at TAC is 36. The real problem with our industry is not the age of people in it but the approach to training and development for young marketers. Uni provides a visa for them to get in on the ground floor. Then we let them in and depending on where they land they might not be shown the right ways to work and behave. So then they make it up on their own or maybe, just maybe, they learn some of the bad habits mentioned here from their older peers. So I say embarce your younger clients – most of them want to learn.