A few words about Rob
Fletcher began his career as an art director at the legendary Gold Greenlees Trott, aged 18. Since then, he has gone on to win numerous awards and serve on many creative juries. Humour is a constant in his work. Current clients at independent London agency, Isobel include Brew Dog, Danepak, Maoam, David Lloyd and Savills.
Rob's choices
Levi's "Flat Eric"
He was short, yellow and cuddly – and spawned a legion of fans in love with his nonchalance and exceedingly flat head. This head-banging, finger-tapping puppet swiftly became the brightest star in adland after his debut in January 1999 alongside his melancholic – and infinitely more human – pal Angel, promoting Levi’s Sta-Prest jeans in a spot devised by Bartle Bogle Hegarty London and Quentin Dupieux, the French Partizan film director, DJ and electro artist who is also known as Mr Oizo.
The Natural Confectionery Company "Bring on the Trumpets"
An orange jelly snake tells us how cool it is to contain only natural colours and flavours. A frosted koala sitting on a book yells out, "bring on the trumpets!". But who would have thought a small red jelly bear's rallying cry of "bring on the trumpets" would have become 2008's advertising catchphrase?
Fallon cleverly tapped into the resurgence of surrealist humour with this bizarre insight into the psyche of a jelly sweet. The spot was directed by Tom Kuntz and voiced by Matt Berry.
Alka Seltzer "Two men in a boat"
Two men drifting in a lifeboat. Several sequences of the picturesque but lonely scenario directed by Roger Woodburn imply the passing of a lot of time. When one of the two is missing in the final scene, the punch line tells us why the other needs two Alka Seltzer: "When you've eaten something you shouldn't have."
The Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO spot featured the voice of Sir Donald Sinden.
About this series
In this series of short films, leading Thinkbox Academy members have the tricky task of selecting just three TV ads that have inspired them: brilliant commercials, old and new, that they admire but had nothing to do with.
The idea is not only to explore some of our greatest ads in the company of people who know a thing or two about making them, but also, because of the proven link between creativity and effectiveness, to inspire the advertising industry to even greater heights.