1. Lockdown sucked, right? Spare a thought for these guys…

Lockdown for us is nearing an end now (we hope), but looking back to April when we were only allowed out of our houses to go to the supermarket makes us realise how lucky we are to now be able to go out to a restaurant and taste a bit of freedom outside of our living rooms. 

With lockdown on the mind of many, one London agency has designed a video ad for animal welfare charity, Born Free. The ad casts our lockdown frustrations into new light, adding the audio from interviewed quarantined Britons to animated animals in captivity. We might have been locked down for 2020, but these animals are locked down for life. The ad shows the life parallels between the struggles faced by humans during lockdown and the struggles of animals in captivity.

The ad is pretty heartwarming, and we definitely hope it gets people talking about the great work that Born Free does for animals. Visit the Born Free site here to view the ad.

Image Source: https://www.bornfree.org.uk/

Do you remember your BBM pin? You’re gonna need it, because Blackberry is back.

Does anyone remember the days of, ‘Hey, add me on BBM’? In 2011 Blackberry was the phone used by all the cool kids, and it’s set to return, but with all the cool kids now firmly in the iphone SE camp, is there a place for Blackberry anymore? 

Blackberry started out in the 00’s as a corporate phone for the big boys of business, then somehow gained a cult following amongst teenagers at college, and before long Blackberry was THE phone to have. It died a pretty quick death as it struggled to compete with bigger players like Apple and Android, but now Blackberry is set to return, thanks to Chinese owned business OnwardMobility. Due for release in early 2021, the new Blackberry will support 5G and run on Android. Will BBM pins still be a thing? What about the qwerty keyboards? Who knows. 

Forgot what a suit looks like? Let us Innocently remind you.

Innocent, they’re a great brand that provides us with healthy and delicious smoothies. They’re also great at reminding us about things from earlier in the year that we have forgotten existed. 

Innocent recently caught the eye of Londoners with their tongue in cheek billboards. Playing on the fact many of us haven’t properly left our house in months, their recent campaign certainly made an impact when it came to pointing out items we may have forgotten such as suits, shopping centres and real life conversations. Man, we miss real life human interaction. This campaign proved hugely effective due to the simplicity of the billboards, the giant arrows used and of course the witty sarcasm. Well done, Innocent, you win the lockdown marketing award.  This has got to be our favourite…

Disaster for Dettol. Is this the most out of touch ad of 2020? 

From one of the best lockdown campaigns to potentially one of the worst. Dettol has faced a bit (a lot) of a backlash due to their strange London Underground ad that thinks offices are stuck in the 90’s and that something we miss about leaving our house is getting in the lift to work. Being stuck in a lift with other humans probably isn’t the most appealing thing right now.  

Twitter was in a frenzy with commuters photos of the various ads, and most of them were met with negativity. The general consensus was that Dettol just missed the mark here, encouraging people to return to their offices during the pandemic probably wasn’t the best idea and on top of that no one really looks forward to watercooler conversations or paying £7 for a mediocre sandwich in the city. We feel a bit bad for Dettol, because their product is important right now in keeping our households and offices clean, this campaign should have sent sales soaring. Sorry Dettol, better luck next time, we’re rooting for you.

Eating your Whopper may never be the same again. Burger King leads the fast food of the future. 

Who would have thought, leading the way for fast food venues post lockdown was the underdog that is, Burger King. Burger King are making the move to ensure their venues fit in with what they call, ‘Covid World’ (that sounds like a ball). They recently released images of what their new venues are due to look like, and they include more parking spaces and take away will be prioritised through the introduction of more drive thru ordering points. The roof of the kitchen is also heightened to allow more air to flow through and in-dining space has been minimised.

However, the best part of the new Burger King is the ‘pick up pockets’. You will now be able to order and receive a burger with no employee contact whatsoever, nice. Simply place your order and head to your designated ‘cubbie’ where your food will be stored ready for your arrival. To be honest, this seems like a great idea. No contact with humans needed to receive your whopper meal? They really are the King of burgers.