<copy><![CDATA[It isn’t until you are in a room with advertising folk that you realise how seriously a 30-second commercial can be taken. “Yes, it’s a good gag, but where<br>the hell is the product?” “It may look great, but it’s a total betrayal of the brand.” Ouch. As one of the 32-strong judging panel for APA 50, the definitive collection of the best advertising spots made this year by UK agencies and production companies, I sat down to watch 290 nominated ads. Let’s have some sympathy, please – that’s four hours of hard sells, soft lavatory rolls, Lynx fantasies and that woman saving 32 minutes by not putting on a blouse and turning many off digital radio for ever. Votes were then cast, strong views expressed, funny but dubious Virgin ads debated and expelled, until the final list emerged.<br> <br> These are the top 50 ads, unranked and in no particular order, which the Advertising Producers Association takes round the world to show off the still-startling originality and creative verve of British commercials. Here, also in no particular order, we have included excerpts from some of them. If you want to see the full list, click on The full list (natch) in the left-hand panel, and if you want to see the 50 ads in full, click <a href="asfunction:Tardis.webPageOpen,http://www.beam.tv/apa50/"><b>here</b></a> and view them online. The cliche “the ads are better than the programmes” suggests that many of us rather enjoy the wit and craft of adland’s finest. (Then again, it could merely be the programmes in between are rubbish.) That they can be considered as entertainment is underlined by the launch earlier this year of The Ad Chart, the UK’s first television channel devoted solely to commercials. Safe to say, the ads in the APA 50 would merit inclusion there, but I would also happily watch many of the commercials that did not make it onto the list. Such as the Renault Clio ad that coasts along on the silky performance of Arsenal striker Thierry Henry until Animal, the drumming Muppet, kicks him into touch. You may hate it, however. And that’s the challenge for advertisers: these mini-films have to make an instant impact, so they inevitably provoke strong reactions. They are also watched again and again, and few programmes could bear such scrutiny. The commercials that bear repeat viewing are the ones we will no doubt vote for if The Sunday Times and Channel 4 puts together another 100 Greatest Ads of all time compilation (won last time by the Guinness surfers). Would any of this year’s make it? Jonny Wilkinson and David Beckham’s ball juggling for Adidas would be a shoo-in. Of the others, I would vote for the Orange cinema campaign that gleefully mocks Sean Astin, Alan Cumming and Verne Troyer as they pitch ideas for movies; the doorstep challenge spot for John Smiths bitter starring Peter Kay and Danny Baker; the wee lad in his Clarks shoes running a marathon on the spot to the music of Motörhead's Ace of Spades; and the timorous return of the surfers. Illusions, the Audi A6 spot featured here, was one of the main issues of debate for the APA 50. At first glance it’s a tasty motor driving round an attractive city – São Paulo, in fact. Then you start noticing the wonky perspectives and impossible architectural planes and realise you’re looking at a series of moving optical illusions in the style of the artist Escher. Some of the judges argued that although it plainly has a “big idea” and is striking to look at, it lacks the impact of some recent Audi ads – such as last year’s rodeo rider taming a bull and teaching it to perform dressage. Being so different in style, they claimed it does little to promote Audi as a brand, and that it says little about the car. However, there is no doubt it invites repeat viewing. Indeed, the more times you see it, the more intriguing its visual trickery becomes. By clicking on Audi gallery in the left-hand-panel, you can see how some of these deceptions are achieved. The director of Illusions, Anthony Atanasio, and his production team spent two weeks in São Paulo, the first taken up with location scouting and the meticulous planning and groundwork necessary for the creation of the shots. Many required multiple passes with carefully calculated camera positions, and then much postproduction trickery. For example, the shot of the maze, while using a real intersection as a starting point, was actually achieved in a car park marked out with sandbags and tape.<br> <br> Back in Britain, it then took Ben Cronin, the visual effects supervisor at Framestore CFC, an intense three weeks to turn these shots into the finished article. As can be seen in the clip, the monumental task he and his team faced was to reconcile essentially contradictory visual information so that it appeared to be resolved. This involved at least two perspectives and, in the double bridge shot, gravity working in different directions. Having watched so many recently, it is apparent that the right music is really what makes an ad walk the talk. (And, joy of joys, there are websites such as <a href="asfunction:Tardis.webPageOpen,http://www.commercialbreaksandbeats.co.uk"><b>www.commercialbreaksandbeats.co.uk</b></a> to identify the music used in any ad.) For Audi’s Illusions, that was the eerie, unsettling Entangled by Tankerville, yet who gets the prize for the best use of music this year? An honourable mention goes to Robinson’s for a dash of orange that likes to boogie to T-Rex, but my winner is, inevitably, also one of the APA 50 and featured in our intro. It’s Carling's Big Match for its use of Woo Hoo by the 5,6,7,8s. Spot on. Click on The full list in the left-hand panel to see what made it into the APA 50. Click<br><a href="asfunction:Tardis.webPageOpen,http://www.beam.tv/apa50/"><b>here</b></a> to see the 50 ads online. The Audi Illusions making-of clip was produced by Ben Cronin, Avtar Bains and Adam Windmill at Framestore CFC.]]></copy>
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<quote><![CDATA[Does Britain make the finest commercials in the world? HereΓÇÖs the evidence. By Tim Nagle]]></quote>
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