DARN THESE I.T. GREMLINS !

AD BREAKDOWN The Magazine's review of advertising


THE AD: BT with Peter Jones from Dragons' Den
THE BRIEF: Technical gremlins can strike a small business at any time.

THE SCHTICK: Trading on Jones's currency from BBC Two's Dragons' Den, in which he features as one of the less dour entrepreneurs, BT is trying to persuade small businesses that they should let it look after their IT needs. Or at least it is warning them - via an invasion of Hollywood-style Gremlins - of what can go wrong if businesses try to do it themselves.
THE BREAKDOWN: Yes, it's him off Dragons' Den. And he's surrounded here by dragons. Geddit? Jones must be thought of by BT as the credible face of business - Gordon Ramsay who previously starred in this campaign did perhaps seem too over-exposed to be seen as a businessman aside from everything else he is known for (ie: chef, celebrity, swearer).

Got an educational gremlin?
The Gremlins here are not like those in the Department for Education and Skills' 2003 adult literacy and numeracy campaign, which were designed for the event.

No, BT has gone for the Hollywood version from the 1984 films of the same name. It was that film which repositioned gremlins from being mischievous wartime goblins into seriously malicious creatures. (Brewers' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says one explanation for the name was that they were goblins which came out of brewer Fremlins bottles).

In the advert, Jones is seen working alone in the office after everyone else has clocked off (he's a hero-boss, fighting for the future of the business by pure dedication - exactly of course the kind of people BT hopes will see themselves represented). But no sooner is Jones alone than the gremlins arrive and start destroying the office.

The message is that business folk should concentrate on what they are good at and let BT look after all the technical gubbins. Jones deserves some credit for willingly being cast in the role of boss who can't cope with computers once everyone else has left the office.

OK, he's up against an army of gremlins here, but catastrophic computer collapses are pretty rare - IT support usually has to answer a range of very simple questions (forgotten passwords) or supply very simple answers (try rebooting). Is there still some kind of inverse snobbery about being useless at computers, even among the high-achievers?

But the bigger problem is this: remember the Nationwide Building Society adverts where clients were shocked by the casual contempt of the manager? The point of it was that it was supposed to be happening in an institution other than the Nationwide. It's supposed to be happening in the dodgy bank down the street - but does that message get through? Does it not invite people to associate what goes on there with the Nationwide?

The same thing is happening here. Oooh Gremlins photocopying their bums, swinging off the ceiling fan and chewing through wires on the server! Oooh it's an advert for BT.

THE BLOGGER'S VERDICT: Iain Tait of blog Crackunit.com says: "It feels big and expensive and I'm sure both Peter Jones and the Gremlins didn't come cheap. It follows on nicely from the Ramsay ad they did last year too. For me it's a decent 'hero' ad for TV or cinema. It's straightforward and clear in its message: even very rich and seemingly expert business people can have trouble with computers, and BT can fix them."
Ad Breakdown is compiled by Giles Wilson

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