advertising catchup

It's been a while since we caught up with the boys in the advertising studio loft pod.  Here's an update:

Rex: guys, there's a problem with the Egyptian Tourism Board gig

Ned: what is it? [sniff]

Rex: the focus group hasn't turned up.

Kris: So who are all those people outside?

Rex: oh, forget them - they're all morons

Ned: is that a problem? [snort]

Rex: no, believe me, they're proper morons. We can't use them.

Alix: But they can't be as stupid as the ones who told us to compare a photocopier to a footballer or the ones who persuaded us to convert Tower Bridge into an S&M display?

Rex: no, believe me, guys, these ones are worse

Interruption - Kevin Roberts sticks his head through the door

Kevin Roberts (for it is he): guys, can you get on and finish that Egypt stuff. I'm trying to machine gun a coca-cola vending machine next door.

The focus group goes ahead. Two weeks later, the boys gather again in the pod, to inspect the outcome

Rex: So, here it is.

Ned: She's fit [sniffle]

Rex: thanks.

Kris: what stones?

Rex: like, the parthenon and stuff

Loz: Rex, man, you can't start a sentence with the word 'and'. Don't you remember that from school?

Rex: No, you're missing the point. It's meant to sound weighty, old, primitive. Basically the focus group told us that Egypt was where the bible happened, so we thought we'd make it sound like that.

Loz: what and the bible is full of bad syntax?

Rex: yes, loads of it. "And Adam begat John and John begat Stephen. And he did this. And then he did that". We checked. 

Kris: Stones don't speak.

Rex: Ah, but the focus group also told us that Egypt was where Indiana Jones happens, so we thought we'd put in some speaking stones.

Ned: What else did the focus group know... [sneezes]... excuse me...  know about Egypt?

Rex: that was it. Where the Bible happened and where Indiana Jones happened. Oh, and that it was where humans come from. So we thought we'd riff on that with the strap-line further down, by playing on people's desire to go somewhere a bit more authentic, what with the recession and everything.

Pure genius. And now this poster is blanketed all over London's public transport system. Thanks, guys.

Comments

[Bruce]

Your posts from the pod are closer to reality than you think - is this a pitch for the next "thick of it" or "campus"?

: )

[max]

I thought it all began in sub-Saharan Africa ...

[Simstim]

I suspect that it's a corner-cutting trans-European campaign, going by the names of the (curiously all white, the ones I've seen) people depicted.