giffgaff - Hey You - (2015) :60 (UK)

'Fresh' is a tricky concept in advertising. It looks so easy from the outside - client wants a fresh campaign, something people haven't seen before. Creatives go away and rip off a wacky music video from Taiwan or Pakistan or something that recently got a million hits on YouTube which they saw while browsing Laughing Squid. Wacky idea is set to the sounds of a dude reading beat poetry, rhyming 'waste' with 'toothpaste', and everyone laughs all the way to the bank. (At least, this is how it seems to me, looking at some of the uninspired ads that have reaching into my living room and throttled me around the throat recently).
This piece from giffgaff is a rare gem, a genuinely fresh and refreshing piece of communication that - and I'm going to whip out bold here for all ECDs drinking their morning coffee - communicates a range of product benefits while keeping the audience entertained. The comparison game is a dangerous one to play, both in life, and in advertising - but I've seen a range of disappointing ads on my TV the last few weeks that combine the cardinal sins of boring me, showing me a stupid visual montage, and combining said montage with a VO poem delivered by (insert client's preference here: urban black guy/ cockney common guy/ middle class Mummy).
But wait, there's more.
Charlie Smith, Brand Manager at giffgaff:

Thanks everyone for the kind words on our new ad. Since the start of the year we now have new way of working (much like giffgaff in many ways), which has got rid of some of the traditional approaches, like having an ad agency. Instead we now manage everything internally, pulling in experts and people we'd like to work with on specific projects. And of course we got members involved as well. Members provided lines for the script, recorded loads of the voiceover and appeared in the ad as well.

Agency Manager: Abi Pearl
Brand Manager: Charlie Smith
Production Company: Riff Raff Films | Canada London
Director: Pensacola
Director of Photography: Marc Gomez del Moral
Executive Producer: Matthew Fone | Oscar Romagosa
Producer: Mikey Levelle
Offline Editing Facility: Final Cut London
Editor: James Rose
Post-Production Facility: Big Buoy
Producer: Barny Wright
Flame: Big Buoy
AFX: Sandra Clua
Colourist: Mark Horrobin