Stephen Fry recruited to sell Hondas to Aussies

Draftfcb Melbourne has recruited TV personality Stephen Fry to provide the voiceover in a brand-led campaign for Honda.

The agency has put Honda's brand positioning at the heart of the campaign, which features three of its new models, Euro, Civic and Hatch, together for the first time.
Continuing with the brand’s long held international strapline, "The power of dreams" the ad features Fry asking "what if?" and "what's next?" and explaining Honda's thoughts behind the new cars' features.
The ad, created by Draftfcb Melbourne, is the first for new creative director Mat Garbutt. He said: "Too much advertising today seems to be afraid to say something. Honda has so many wonderful stories to tell, and we wanted to tell them in a clever, joyful way that reflects the truth of Honda."

Kevin Lillie, Honda Australia's general marketing manager, explained. "We have changed from Honda's traditional approach of positioning each vehicle separately, to one where the core brand truth is central, and each vehicle is allowed to shine as a demonstration of that truth."

"Honda is a brand known for its technical precision and innovation, but the creative spirit that drives the brand is often hidden. We wanted to bring that joy and humanity of Honda to the surface. This campaign is a wonderful realization of our dream."

Tesco in price dispute with Hovis

Tesco has dropped 12 Hovis lines after a spat with the brand’s owner, Premier Foods, over pricing.

Premier asked Tesco to increase the price of Hovis because of the increase in wheat prices, the Daily Telegraph reported. Tesco rejected the request and has delisted 12 out of 19 Hovis lines.
Neither company was prepared to comment directly on the dispute, but a Premier Foods spokesman said: “The record rise in the price of wheat earlier this year was widely reported. The scale of this rise made it necessary for price increases to be passed on to retailers. While we don’t comment on our agreements with individual retailers, we can say that we continue to supply Hovis to Tesco and they remain one of our most important customers.”
According to British Retail Consortium figures, food inflation hit a 15-month high in September, with prices rising by 4%.

M&C Saatchi scoops two golds at Big Awards

M&C Saatchi's "The last place you want to go" campaign for Dixons.co.uk emerged as the most awarded campaign at Wednesday night's Campaign Big Awards after collecting two gold awards.

The Dixons work landed gold for the agency in the Individual Press and Outdoor, sponsored by Clear Channel, Campaign categories.
Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam won Gold in the Individual TV and Cinema category, sponsored by Yellow Boat Music, for its Nike's "Write the future" ad, which formed part of Nike’s activity around the World Cup.
A gold award for Digital Campaign, sponsored by Cogs Agency, went to Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO for its "Choose a different ending" campaign to raise awareness of the risks of knife crime for The Metropolitan Police.

DDB UK won gold in Individual Digital for its "Parallel lines" activity for Philips while Leo Burnett won gold in Integrated Campaign for the "House of cards" campaign for homeless charity Shelter.

Publicis London won gold in Direct Campaign, sponsored by Royal Mail, for the British Army recruitment ad "Start thinking soldier" for the British Army while the special Arden Award went to Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R for its Camden Town Unlimited work.
The awards were made in front of an audience of more than 700 at London's Grosvenor House. Damon Collins, the chairman of the Big Awards jury and executive creative director at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe, said the judges looked for the "biggest and freshest ideas".