Best Ads Of The Last 20 Years: #5
Copywriters, this ad is for you.
If you’re a BIG bank these days, you certainly don’t want to brag about it. You talk about how you love Small, helping the “little” guy, solving customer problems fast because you’re slim and nimble, not fat cats.
It’s all a load of hooey. Big banks only want to become bigger banks. They are evil to the core. But they’re necessary. For now.
Barclays is a big fucking bank. In 2000, they were a big fucking bank and liked being a big fucking bank. So they made an ad about being a big fucking bank, fuck you if you didn’t like it. I respected their honesty.
90 seconds of Sir Anthony Hopkins staring right at you making “big” comments. Tony Scott directed. Rob Burleigh was the copywriter. How cool it must have been to watch/hear Hopkins say your words. The Brits have greater respect for the craft of copywriting than us Yanks. This is just another case in point.
Hopkins received $1.2 million for doing the ad. Tim Roth and Robbie Coltrane were also part of the campaign. As was Samuel L. Jackson. Ad Agency: Leagas Delaney, London.
NOTE: I already posted a Best Ads Of The Last 20 Years: #6 (link). But I skipped #5. Apologies.