English Butchers (CO) 2009

English Butchers (CO) :20

client: Los Dolses English Butchers (May 2009)
agency: Viva TV

Talent: Casa Ventura Dance Academy

Los Dolses English Butchers was achieved on a shoe-string budget. The reason I am show-casing this advert in my ‘personal’ section is due to the impact this ad had on the community and the resulting success of the campaign that was further extended to radio and news print. It was the first time I made a commercial without other professional cast and crew.

Advertising companies spend many thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands on ad campaign production. This advert was made for 98 Euros (The ad was a ‘freebie’ for a local English-speaking television channel to drum up some business).

But like any commercial, there was a real business to promote and a solid message to get across. The brief was for a 20-second commercial with impact to promote a local butcher’s trade. The client required that the ad must show that he makes traditional sausages in the shop the old-fashioned way, that he sells other meats too and that he sells them to restaurants in addition to the public.

Once the brief and the message were identified, the task of transforming that into a 20-second visual message began. Key words such as ‘tradition’ with ‘English’ and ‘old-fashioned’ … How could these be tied into sausage meat? These words made our creative team think of another timely British classic – Oliver! Fagin’s motley crew even use sausages in the ‘Pick a Pocket’ number. And why pick a pocket when you can pick a sausage… or two?

The classic Oliver number became a perfect match for this ad campaign. A quick change of words and all that was needed were a few auditions and contacting a local dance school who desired an on-screen presence.

It was a challenge to create something on such a low budget. Everyone who worked on it gave their time freely and cheerfully which shows in the resulting production. The client and the TV channel were delighted with the result which had schoolkids across the Costa Blanca humming it for weeks!

But the story doesn’t end there. The concept, tag lines, soundtrack and lyrics had such a phenomenal response and impact, the client adopted the marketing strategy and replicated it over to local radio. His business is now four times more lucrative than in the same period last year.

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