The Guardian wants Britain to know it's taking over the weekend.
No, literally taking it over, to the point where Brits will soon be forced to refer to their days off as The Guardian and Observer Weekend.™
In this wonderfully over-the-top new clip below for its weekend publications, The Guardian envisions a world in which it "owns" all weekend activities and conversations. "Never before has a company owned a day, let alone two days together at the end of the week," intones the faux trailer's Hollywood-esque narrator. "How do you 'own a weekend'? You don't. We do."
While BBH doesn't deliver the kind of gravitas here that earned The Guardian top ad honors last year—Adweek chose "Three Little Pigs" as the best commercial of 2012—this spot is still a great example of how its approach to marketing is keeping the newspaper front and center in the cultural conversation.
I'm not sure an introduction from an aging Hugh Grant really helps them in that, but hey, at least he worked for free.
CREDITS
Client: Guardian
Campaign: "Own the Weekend"
Agency: BBH, London
Client Credits
Chief Marketing Officer: David Pemsel
Director of Brand and Engagement: Richard Furness
Product Marketing Manager: Charlotte Emmerson
BBH Creative Team: Wesley Hawes, Gary McCreadie
BBH Creative Director: David Kolbusz
BBH Head of Film: Davud Karbassioun
BBH Producer: Chris Watling
BBH Assistant Producer: Pia Ebrill
BBH Head of Strategy: Jason Gonsalves
BBH Strategic Business Lead: Ngaio Pardon
BBH Strategy Director: Agathe Guerrier
BBH Strategist: Lynsey Atkin
BBH Team Manager: Jonny Price
BBH Team Assistant: Rishi Patel
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Tim Godsall
Executive Producer: Orlando Woods
Producer: Kwok Yau
Director of Photography: Daniel Bronks
Editor: Bill Smedley
Edit House: Work
Postproduction: The Mill
Sound Design: Sam Brock, Factory
Sound Mixing, Arrangement: Sam Brock, Sam Robson
Music: Library TBC
Media Agency: PHD