The return of the monkey
Two paths that come together on one journey shape a new dimension of meaning and possibility, a co-creation of power and passion. This isn’t a half baked, hippy Eastern Mantra, but a communication paradigm. When an advertising idea shapes up into brilliant opportunism, we all turn and chuckle and wish we had had the same idea. Thus the comedy duo, Johnny Vegas and his sidekick Monkey, return to our screens as the new faces of PG Tips.
The pair was created for the adverts for the now defunct ITV Digital. Those who can remember must agree that the ad campaign was far better than the ITV proposition itself.
The media is obsessed with comebacks and gawd knows we have had a few, and perhaps the most potent has been my own client, Noel Edmonds. So twisting the arm of PG to see sense and rebirth the Vegas Monkey is genius, and the media space it has generated has been as prolific. More interesting than Britney Spears without any knickers on a blind date with Justin Timberlake
PG Tips has been struggling since the PC brigade killed off the performing chimps that first graced our screens, coinciding with lions leaping through hoops during the Chipperfields Christmas Circus TV special. Commercials featuring PG Tips chimps first hit screens in 1956 and were finally dropped in 2002 as part of a bid to make the brand more “contemporary”.
The woolly puppet will become not only a mascot for the brand but also the toy business, with doubtless new additions of the monkey to its shelves. When ITV digital croaked, a custody battle over Monkey ensued between administrators, Deloitte & Touche and Mother, the ad agency that created him. But that didn’t hinder Monkey’s return. A truly great idea never dies, and will always generate publicity. Not all ideas take off or last, and advertising companies are all too often reminding clients of this. It’s common knowledge that PG has high hopes for this campaign, and need it to succeed and the Monkey proves that a great piece of content will always stand the test of time.