Beale's best in show: Comfort (Ogilvy)
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Your support makes all the difference.Brace yourself. Ogilvy has made a great ad. Really. Really nice. Not just that, it has made a great ad for one of those products that you never see great ads for: fabric softener. Go on, pinch yourself. And then search Comfort "nudists" on YouTube.
Here's the story. Nudist Tony, naked as the day he was born (apart from sweatband and trainers) returns early from his weekly game of naked tennis. "Dave Hill's groin flared up again. So I decided to surprise Heather with her favourite takeaway, prawn balls". But he finds Heather dressed and sniffing another man, "at it like a pair of dogs".
The cavorting couple are profoundly embarrassed to be discovered fully clothed (shock!). But Heather – an all-out naturist for 25 years – can't help herself. Comfort, you see, "makes clothes irresistible", even to nudists.
Heather's even got a blog, wildheather. blogspot.com, where she records her secret obsession and her "affair" with fellow-reformed naturist Nigel. The idea of a naturist being lured into a life of clothes obsession by the joy of a fabric softener is a wonderfully silly inversion and quite a bold leap by the Comfort client. For their bravery, Comfort's marketers are rewarded with a TV ad that's lovingly scripted and finely acted.
No doubt there will be the usual complaints about the shot of a naked male bum, which will only serve to underline quite how sweet this ad really is.
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