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The car ad without the car: Land Rover #Hibernot

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I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but hasn’t the weather been glorious over the past few days? Warm enough to potter around the garden in a t-shirt, I even slapped on some factor 10 sun cream, being the pasty ginge that I am. And it’s not going to rain for the rest of the week either. Whoopee!

I for one am celebrating big time. Having spent 200 quid on a metric ton of sandbags to stop my new house flooding (see below – yes, that’s my garden, not my moat), I am as happy as a camel in the waterless desert that we have more or less missed out winter completely, with just one massive autumn followed by spring – bar the odd frosty windscreen.

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It has, as we know, been uncommonly wet over the past few months. And that was the springboard for Land Rover’s latest ad, encouraging us to enjoy this “grey and pleasant land”:

There are those that hibernate as winter draws in. Hibernate? No chance. #Hibernot.

Before the recent glut of sunshine, we may have wanted to just peek through the curtains, tut and shake our heads at the sheets of rain and uncompromising wind, whack the central heating up and put on the box set of The Lord of the Rings with everlasting cups of tea. But Land Rover are keen for us to explore and make the most of our glorious weather-beaten land and enjoy its many beautiful features.

Usually I’d post the video at the end, but take a look now and then read on…

Now, personally, I love the ad. Made by RKCR/Y&R and directed by Simon Ratigan, it makes me want to pull on my wellies and a waterproof and venture out into the wilderness. (Or I would if it wasn’t so darn lovely and sunny at the moment.) But you will have noticed the complete absence of the Land Rover itself in the advert. Quite a risk.

For me, that didn’t matter a jot. It was enough to see the logo in the bottom left-hand of the corner on the steamed-up car window (which alone I thought was quite a nice touch), and then to get the “big reveal” at the end:

Land Rover. Above and Beyond.

Car ads are often understandably packed with features and slinky shots of the interior, or flashy shots of the metropolis, or arty shots of the cars pulling into impossibly glamorous driveways. This ad went completely the other way by not showing one single feature of the car.

For that choice, the ad was completely slated by the social media-liking public. Land Rover’s Facebook page was awash with disparaging comments and complaints that there was not one shot of the vehicle itself.

Does that make it a big fat fail? Of course not. The message is quite clearly that wherever you want to go, to whichever far-flung corner of this “grey and pleasant land” you fancy, and however bad the weather is, you can get there in a Land Rover. I don’t know about you, but I always get a rush of happiness when I come home from a wind-lashed outing; it’s so satisfying and healthy! But in more concrete advertising terms, if you need the concept of the ad explaining to you, the likelihood is that you’re not in the target demographic anyway.

Particularly on the big screen of the cinema – which is where I first saw it – the ad is a towering success and makes one want to start singing Jerusalem at full volume. And that, of course, is the “grey [green] and pleasant land” connection. Bravo.

by Ashley Morrison

Ashley is a copywriter, editor and blogger

Follow Ashley on Twitter

 

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