A Guide to British Immortal Creativity

With the submission deadline for the 2024 Immortal Awards approaching fast (it’s September 5th!) LBB is asking members of the UK jury and industry experts to share the work that has, to them, already achieved immortality. 

Each juror was asked to select two campaigns — one from the past 10 to 15 years and a classic from further back — that they believe epitomises the best of UK creativity. The selection below is varied, featuring some iconic picks from recent memory and deep-cuts that are still teaching the industry how it can be done. 

The Immortal Awards entry system is now open and you can get your entry in here until September 5th 2024. All entries must be made for a commissioning client, and must have first aired, broadcast, displayed, launched or published between September 1st 2023 and August 31st 2024.  

Levi's - Twist

A whole host of Levi’s work can be classed as Immortal, especially from the heady and grungy ‘90s period. Yet for Kamen Markov, creative director at Framestore, it’s all about ‘Twist’. Kamen says: “A magical blend of clever production, live-action visual effects, and a sprinkle of CG. Bold, stylish, and highly effective at cutting through the usual advertising clutter, it had attitude and great music. Just as I was beginning my journey into the world of visual effects and advertising, it blew my mind.”

Guinness - Surfer

No list of the most Immortal ads in the UK is complete without Guinness' ‘Surfers’. Bold monochrome visuals invoke the tones of a well-poured Guinness while the thumping track underpins a confident voiceover that insists ‘Good things come to those who wait’. Jose Miguel Sokoloff, now president and CCO at team Unilever (IPG),and president of Mullenlowe’s Global Creative Council, previously told LBB that it was his most Immortal UK ad. “A simple story well told. To me this spot embodies all that’s epic about advertising. It’s a big production and draws inspiration from art, literature and life. The soundtrack and the voiceover pull you in while the black and white images and brave directing (by one of the greatest directors of all time, Jonathan Glazer) remind me how powerful 60 seconds of film can be. The spectacular visual effects make the metaphorical white horses real, exhilarating and powerful as the surfers crash out.

I’ve seen this spot on my phone, on my computer screen and on a big screen. It’s screen-size agnostic, as long as you have good sound. 

We don’t do many of these as an industry anymore. But like all optimists and lovers of our profession, I think we might.

As I talked to Walter, I didn’t ask about the ad. I tried to get to know the person behind it. I met someone who loves his craft, has no desire to inhabit the comfort zone and believes everything is possible. Like catching that perfect wave.”

Nike - Nothing Beats a Londoner

Sometimes an ad is so good that you have to put your cultural allegiances aside and give credit where credit is due. That’s exactly what Vicky Maguire, CCO at Havas, had to do when she saw Nike’s ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’. Only with slight reluctance, she really thinks it worthy of Immortal status.

“I’m from Leicester. Gary Lineker. Engelbert Humperdinck… and me. Proud members of the East Midlands massive.

It feels like for the majority of my career I’ve been banging the drum for our industry to stop navel gazing around the M25 and discover the wealth of energy, talent and chutzpah that is found outside of London.

So it HURTS me to choose Nike’s ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’.

But fuck me, it’s so good. It makes me wish I was born in Peckham. Almost.  

For once, we’re not in Nike world. It’s the world according to the group of swaggy ‘un- influencers’ who take us on a tour of London you’d never see on any tourist map. Dripping with chutzpah.. it could have gone so wrong but W+K and Megaforce played it so right.

They let London do what it does best. Hype itself up.

I’m waiting for the ‘Nothing Beats a Lesta’ follow up, but I’m guessing I’ll be waiting a long time.”

Cadbury's Smash - Martians

Before brands started doing ‘purpose’ work, they tried to sell stuff and the results were sometimes...whacky! Case in point is this ‘Martians’ ad for Smash instant mashed potatoes. Odd-looking extra-terrestrials (are those pots and pans fashioned into heads?) sit around discussing humans’ ‘strange’ propensity for eating potatoes. That’s it. Oh, there’s then a product shot accompanied by a short line, ‘For mash get Smash’. Weird? Sure, but it gets the point across.

R Whites Lemonade - Secret Lemonade Drinker

Silly, ridiculous, maybe even irrelevant to the brand and definitely with no regard for health guidelines… these are just some of the ways to describe ‘Secret Lemonade Drinker’. Founder and CCO of Wonderhood Studios, Aidan Mclure, remembers this ad very, very well. “When asked to think of an advert older than 10 to 15 years this was the first one that popped into my mind. It immediately transports me back to the playground and, remarkably for someone who barely knows their own phone number, I can still remember every single lyric. Looking at it again though, it makes absolutely no sense.

The idea that a grown man would get up in the middle of the night to secretly guzzle lemonade is ridiculous. There’s no way he’s going back to bed after all that sugar. The next day would be a write off. Imagine trying to sell this today? It wouldn’t get past the first creative presentation, let alone the tricky final boss level. It doesn’t make any sense. However, there’s something to be said for its silliness. We all know our competition is no longer the other ads but cat videos on the internet, yet our work remains so serious. It’s understandable. Asking serious marketeers, at serious companies, to pump serious time and cash into something that’s, well… not serious, takes nerve. Get it right though, [and] silly becomes seriously memorable as this ad made in 1973 proves.”

The Economist - 'Would You Like to Sit Next to You at Dinner?'

Time to show print campaigns some love. Ranging from simple and direct to bold and abstract, there’s a lot of ways to make print ads resonate. Sometimes all that’s needed is bold copy on a background of the brand’s colours, like in the case of The Economist's long-running campaign. Aidan thinks about this ad a lot, telling LBB: “I mean... a lot. I thought about it heavily during my first job at AMV when I got to shakily put pen to paper and work on the account. And then pretty much any time entering a new social situation since: parties, clienty things, meetings, even catch ups with old friends. For the past 25 years those 10 words have haunted me, ensured I continue to stay curious, learn new things, meet new people, collect entertaining experiences, and most importantly listen carefully to what people say. It’s also the reason why I’ll pick up the Economist whenever I’m travelling.

Because the ads that live on are the ones that strike at the core of what it means to be human and then link this seamlessly with the benefits of the product in a well-branded way.  For me, this is one of the purest expressions of what a great ad should be.”

Cadbury - Gorilla

For close to 60 seconds (90 in the longer version) almost nothing happens in Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’ ad besides a gorilla performing an enviable rendition of Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’. It’s a slow-burner that’s not worried about people’s attention spans or hard-selling; there’s a flash of the chocolate bar at the very end but it’s definitely not the point of the ad. The brand associations are there, abstractly, through the purple of the walls, and the rest is wonderfully bizarre which has proven very effective at sticking in people’s minds. Mariana Peluffo, now global creative director at Publicis One Touch, previously shared with LBB why this is an Immortal ad for her. 

“Usually, we think of babies or little puppies to bring emotions to our target audience, but who would think a big gorilla could do the same.

It was so real that it took me a few seconds to realise that the gorilla was a costume. I watched the spot five times or more, and each time I found another small detail, like the gold tooth when the gorilla growls at the camera or when the air sign turns on, suggesting that the private moment becomes public.

The peculiar thing about this ad is that for almost 60 seconds, nothing really happens, but you can feel that something big is coming up. When he finally starts playing the drums, everything makes sense, and you wish it would never end.

Fourteen years later, I watched the ad again, and it still amazes me. That's the power of immortality.”

Sony PlayStation - Double Life

Sony is another brand that has, over the decades, had a number of iconic ads to its name. ‘Balls’, anyone? Fran Thompson, MD/executive producer at Park Pictures, picked ‘Double Life’ as the Immortal one for her. “This is Immortal because it is still as relevant today as it was 25 years ago. The casting, the music, the script - its manifesto is just timeless. The casting is exceptional and so ahead of its time such that it is still, if not more, pertinent today. The performances are simple yet strong. It is beautiful portraits and each leads into the next with the flowing and unexpected dialogue. The juxtaposition of visuals and words makes this so powerful and memorable. I can think of nothing that you could change to make this better, even 25 years on.”

Channel 4 - Meet The Superhumans

Never shying away from bold, difficult, and confrontational subject matter is Channel 4 and its campaign for the Paralympics, ‘Meet the Superhumans’ is a perfect distillation of it all. Fran thinks it resonates to this day. “This is another Immortal since it could be running now to advertise the imminent 2024 Paralympics in Paris. Some of the athletes have changed but the message is the same. It's hard-hitting with footage of exploding bombs, cars overturned and expectant parents receiving difficult news. This is book-ended by footage of athletes in training for the games. It is raw and real. The editing is incredible and set to the unlikely soundtrack by Public Enemy’s ‘Harder Than You Think’. A genius piece of creative and filmmaking that has withstood the test of time and has made people more aware of athletes with disabilities.”

Levi’s - Rub

Another Immortal pick from Levi’s, and Benny Everitt, ECD at Uncommon Creative Studio, was lost for choice when making his selection. “I could have chosen tons of the BBH Levi's work because I adore it all - but I always come back to this one as it does everything wrong. The music doesn't build, the cast don't smile, It's slow, the performances are freaky, and the cinematography feels off.

But, the craft is off the scale - the music so hard to sell and the twitches at the end - the perfect bow.

And that's why I love it - it stands out. It sticks in your mind and makes you feel something every single time. There's nothing more Immortal than that.”

Apple - The Greatest

Part of the appeal of Apple’s advertising is that it so often leans on the big idea, the filmic, and the emotional. It’s advertising that doesn’t feel like advertising yet it still manages to sell, with elegance. Benny singles out Apple’s approach with ‘The Greatest’.

“Where to start...Some pieces of work feel so unique they just rise above the industry. And with this one I can remember where I saw this for the first time - I like it that much.

It feels like half a song, half a doco, a bit of an infomercial and then at the very end it melts your heart. It's just so beautiful and clever and a true celebration of a remarkable cast.

From the first frame to the last every single element feels so considered and crafted - and you can feel Kim [Gehrig, director] and Tom [Lindsay, editor] fizzing as they put it together as a piece of film.

I think it's this industry at its very best.”

John West - Bear

A brand that can laugh at itself and deliver comedy to consumers is always going to have a soft spot in ad people’s hearts. ‘Bear’ is a classic example of where the idea goes just a touch too far, with hilarious and memorable results. “Having gone round the houses of all the iconic British ads that are too many to mention, it came down to a choice between two for me. It’s a belter (literally) and so good it beats one of the funniest series of ads of all time that I still quote as part of my ‘dad jokes’ routine: The Peter Kay and John Smith beer lines, “It’s the burglars ‘brekin through the windows you should worry about.” 

I instead plumped for John West’s ‘Bear’. Who can forget the showdown between man and bear? What starts off as a typical ‘and here we see salmon in its natural habitat’ nature doc, quickly escalates into an epic comedy battle between bear and man. All to prove just how far the brand would go to deliver the freshest fish. The ad went viral before ‘viral’ was a thing, it changed the game by being so bloody funny and surreal that other brands just weren’t brave enough to do so. After watching the fisherman throw punches like his life depended on it (actually I guess it does as he is fighting a bear) we hear that glorious line ‘John West endure the worst to bring you the best’. The commitment to fresh fish is so over the top that you can’t help but love it. 

Even decades later it encapsulates a mix of comedy gold and pitch-perfect messaging. Something, in my opinion, only a few ads have managed to capture since,” says James Morris, CEO creative transformation, EMEA, Publicis Groupe.

Burberry - Open Spaces

Sometimes, what captures the imagination is pure beauty. No hard sell, no call to action. Just elegant and dream-like images that transport and enchant. For James, ‘Open Spaces’ by Burberry does just that. “The film was created by Burberry creative director Riccardo Tisci in collaboration with the French directing team Megaforce. 

This ad really is simply beautiful. It mastered not just luxury and fashion but lifestyle too, it’s a bit like mixing Mary Poppins and high fashion in the middle of a meadow, something you can’t really picture but then you see it and it’s so spot on. What starts as a gentle stroll through the countryside suddenly takes flight as these gravity-defying models begin to float, spin, and soar like it's the most natural thing in the world. It’s like the Burberry trenches were always meant to be there, floating through the sky. Even the soundtrack just makes you want to lie down in the grass and just…well, lie there. ‘Open Spaces’ feels like a magical way of life, not just an ad. Burberry nailed ‘less is more’ and turned a simple idea into an experience that has stuck with me since the first time I watched the film.”

Hamlet Cigars - Photobooth

The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act banned tobacco marketing across most categories in 2003 while loose tobacco and cigars were banned from television in 1990. In 1987, however, tobacco ads were very much de rigueur like Hamlet Cigars’ ‘Photobooth’. It’s an Immortal ad for Laura Gregory, founder and CEO of Great Guns, and she previously shared why: “Why had this spot stayed so vivid in my mind? Why do I recall so much detail? Why, too, when I recall this spot to colleagues and friends, so many know exactly what I’m talking about. Not just here in blighty but Antipodean, Asia, even the shores of the USA. It’s simple.

Storytelling so delightfully observed, so brilliantly told and with attention to detail so exquisite that throughout all those 30 absorbing seconds we felt for every second part of this man’s life. Even today this spot is so relevant with selfies, Snapchats and Instagram. The beautiful and so agonisingly accurate insights kept us and continued to keep us his champion. The craft of storytelling and the effortless simplicity of execution is testament to the brilliance of art making complex feel non-existent. Where is that art and craft today? I wonder where that handsome devil is now. Weird that I would care after all these years.”

British Heart Foundation - Stayin' Alive

There are ‘iconic’ ads - the ones that stick in your mind or are just plain cool, and there are ‘iconic’ ads because they actually help to save lives. When the British Heart Foundation partnered with Grey London, they did more than give viewers a chance to admire Vinnie Jones’ acting chops and boogie around to the Bee Gees hit ‘Stayin’ Alive’. The ad, which spawned several versions and will be revived (was CPR involved..?) soon once more, taught viewers that what’s required to save lives are strong and steady chest compressions - no need for the ‘kiss of life’. When the ad first launched, a number of people connected the charity to confirm that following the method helped them save a life or even be saved. It’s easily one of the UK’s most Immortal ads.

Every member of LBB is entitled to up to five entries. The full list of rules, including eligibility dates, can be found here. If you’d like to enter the Immortal Awards but you’re not yet a member of LBB, sign up here today.

If you have any questions about The Immortal Awards or need any help with your entries, please contact awards directors Paul Monan and Emma Wilkie.

Thanks to our wonderful Immortal Awards partners

JSM Music

 Boomtown Productions | Our Lego Agency | Park Pictures

 The Lift | Whitehouse Post

86Tales | Banjoman | Brill Building | Chelsea Pictures | Company 3

Framestore | Screen Scene | Zulu Alpha Kilo

ARC Edit | Fin Design & Effects | Gramercy Park Studios

Kruger | Ridley Scott Associates | UNIT