ISOBEL
Isobel’s Christmas card featured tutu-clad staffers posing in a recreation of Swan Lake and the agency arranges regular gigs with stand-up comics, so the quirkiness of its ad for Kelly’s of Cornwall, the first UK TV commercial to be spoken in Cornish, should have come a s no surprise.
Indeed, it’s entirely consistent with the irreverent nature of the agency and its ability to generate PR, whether for itself or for clients. The spot was created for the R&R Ice Cream brand, which was Isobel’s first new client of 2016. The new relationship appears to be working well, with Isobel adding the company’s Fab ice-lolly business to its portfolio in October.
And while the agency came through a competitive pitch to scoop Prezzo, the Italian casual-dining restaurant, and survived a statutory review by Bordeaux Wines, it also got the opportunity to take its oddball ad approach for Danepak a step further as the brand returned to TV for the first time in four years.
Indeed, TV seemed to be the medium of choice for a number of Isobel’s clients. Maoam, the Haribo-owned confectionery, began a TV push in January, while David Lloyd Clubs relaunched its brand via TV in August. Savills, the estate-agency chain, became the fourth client to go with the TV flow when, in September, it rolled out its first TV campaign, which focused on people’s unique relationships with their homes.
It all goes to show what can happen when an agency is prepared to capitalise on its assets, which, in Isobel’s case, include the thinking power of its new heavyweight non-execs Rob Forshaw and Daryl Fielding. As it approaches its 14th birthday, Isobel is looking quite grown up.