HE'S A KEEPER

This beautifully composed ad for Mars has a steward stepping into the breach when the England goalkeeper is injured during a penalty shoot-out. Inspired by the chocolatey snack he was eating as he watched the drama unfold, the intrepid fellow makes a series of spectacular saves.

The action has an authentic look and one of ITV's regular commentators provides a voice that sounds just right. The involvement of Arsenal's Dutch striker Robin van Persie gives it yet another frisson of verity (though this is somewhat undermined by the celebrating England players who are not the real deal).

Mars associates itself with sport at its peril as one of our regular commentators will doubtless point out but if they're going to do it then using humorous heroism is definitely the best way to go. Another's Steve Reeves has put this together beautifully and, let's face it, it's nice to see a sport-themed ad that has nothing to do with the Olympics.

This also throws up a possible solution to the growing crisis provoked by the FA's failure to appoint a successor to Fabio Capello... just choose a Mars bar munching steward to take over - what could possibly go wrong?


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Mars Bars 15 Apr '12
"A New Hero" 30s
.
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Creative: Ian Gabaldoni / Richard Baynham
TV Producer: Suzy MacGregor
Production Co: Another Film Company
Director: Steve Reeves
Producer: Tim Marshall
Audio: AMV Digilab

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On 20 April 2012 at 15:07 Tom said:

Jason, they are England players - Walcott, Parker and Johnson...

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On 23 April 2012 at 20:36 Amy said:

The team can't have been that impressed with his antics, only three (second string) players bothered to congratulate him.

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On 23 April 2012 at 20:44 Jason said:

Thanks, Tom... I should have checked. Doh. (Though I'm with Amy in terms of their stature).

...
On 11 June 2012 at 12:15 Matt said:

I'm not sure Parker's acting has improved much since his debut.

http://youtu.be/ZpuAAacgnRo

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