r281

Sorry if already posted.

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/...cle2590055.ece

http://www.weareis.com/sivilisedtv/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxs106rp5RQ
http://www.beam.tv/view.php/cut_9dv pal.mov?cJCrwTXbgD&fc=t

Silverjet remakes iconic 1989 BA advert
Britain's new business airline remakes BA's famous 'Face' desert advert from 18 years ago
The BA ad from 1989 - and the 2007 remake by Silverjet

Steve Keenan

In a cheeky take-off of an iconic British Airways advert from 1989, start-up airline Silverjet has reshot the film in the same place and with the same director.

Hugh Hudson, who directed Chariots of Fire in 1981, went on to shoot the BA advert eight years later. In it, 150 swimmers in red swimsuits are seen, followed by hundreds of people dressed in blue walking through Los Angeles and hundreds more in white in a field.



The huge crowd of extras come together to form a face in the desert, with music overriding the message: "The World's favourtie airline".

Now Silverjet has spent nearly Ł100,000 hiring the same ad agency, Saatchi, together with Hudson to reform after 18 years to film a remake. Hudson said the idea appealed to him as a "David v Goliath" project. The crew spent seven weeks remaking the film in LA and at Lake Powell, bordering Arizona and Utah.

The plot and buildup are identical, but with a single red suited swimmer and lone suit in LA. Instead of hundreds and thousands of extras, only four people form the face, with a handful of other actors posing as passengers and crew.

Silverjet chief executive Lawrence Hunt said: "We wanted something that would stretch our budget, that would be recognisable rather than completely new.

"I think it is the most iconic airline advert ever - I think BA used to produce fantastic adverts. But I also wanted to show us as something more personal, more different to BA and the traditional carriers. I think this gets the message across of being a private airline service, rather than one for the masses."

The ad first shows at 1.55pm this Saturday during the England/Australia Rugby World Cup Quarter Finals and will then run globally.

Prospero

It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery but this example is a p*ss poor copy of the original.
That message is clearly conveyed by the half dozen or so amateur drama artists fannying about in the desert.

bernardd

I guess Silverjet are a tad short of money - apparently they can only afford 4 people!

ian001

£100k is not a lot if you're planning to shoot an ad at different locations and with aerial shots. Never mind an ad campaign designed by Saatchi.

I wonder just how much Silverjet is spending on buying TV spots for this campaign? Is this an example of a company making an ad where the intended effect is actually to generate a lot of press (ie free publicity) and the ad itself will not be widely shown?

If Silverjet is confident in its offer, it does not need to imitate BA's advertising, which I personally think is a little tacky and not good for its brand, which is supposed to be a premium brand. Leave the cheap shots to the LCCs and VS.

ramraideruk

What sort of impressionis it going to give poeple? A cheap, imitation, rip off (advertising wise) airline. Would it make you want ot fly with them? Not me.

spanishflea

It seems like quite a clever idea really, but if people on FlyerTalk don't get the parody then I doubt your average traveller is going to get it either.

Quite the A-List team of people behind the advert though...

Kagehitokiri

personally, i think E0's ads are pretty good, very low-key

McBill

I must say I liked the tongue-in-cheek approach, minimalistic while still being stylish. Actually I found it more pleasing to the eye than the original.

I would advise to first watch the original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxs106rp5RQ) and then the Silverjet 'copy' http://www.weareis.com/sivilisedtv/


The last one is a short 'making-of' http://www.beam.tv/view.php/cut_9dv ...JCrwTXbgD&fc=t .

Land-of-Miles

I actually thought this was very clever. I very definitely got the message that the Silverjet experience was more personal and the aircraft were not filled with crowds of passengers.

Very funny.

AJLondon

Is it just me or can anyone else not see the picture in the video on the weareis link? I can hear the sounds but get a blank screen for the pic.

TechnoOenology

Really cool! I think the Y7 version exemplifies perfectly the 'away from the crowds', elegance they are aiming for. Certainly not a meaningless rip off.

Techno

Mutu

Well thats a very nice compliment, for 95% of it you could be mistaken for thinkinh it was a BA ad, so free publicity there, or....

Anyone think "Silverjest" could eventually succumb and become a BA subsid/franchise doing US/EU premium flights? Well I suppose if you think this sounds like a subtle "come buy me" Financial Advert......

phreegreens

Works OK for me in Firefox, it's a Flash movie. Maybe Flash needs a reinstall or upgrade on your kit ?

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/ I've got v9.0.45.0 installed.

Land-of-Miles

Sounds like someone may have been a victim of BA's lamentable baggage handling recently

JSC

Maybe it was watching the 2 together but I didn't feel it got their brand across at all nor did it convey anything unique about them. Coupled with the colours and flower duet I came away thinking of BA more than anything else, certainly not Silverjet! My guess is this may backfire on them in terms of publicity and in fact end up giving BA a freebie...!