Vegas & monkey: a welcome revival
Vegas & monkey: a welcome revival.
Two paths that come together on one journey shape a new dimension of meaning and possibility, a co-creation of power and passion.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/
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 – not least my own client, Noel Edmonds. So twisting the arm of PG Tips to see sense and rebirth the Vegas-Monkey double act 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 in 1956, coinciding with lions leaping through hoops during the Chipperfield’s Christmas Circus TV special. Commercials featuring PG Tips chimps 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 boost the toy business. 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 Tips has high hopes for this campaign, and needs it to succeed. The Monkey proves that a great piece of content will always stand the test of time.