Accurist reprises classic 70s Cleese ads
Watch maker Accurist is reprising its legendary 70s advertising campaign featuring John Cleese as part of a £1m Christmas television push.
It will release an updated version of one of its classic executions featuring a new voiceover from the Monty Python star and a new ending. It will be the brand’s first TV advertising for more than 10 years.
In the late 1970s the watch maker’s ads with Cleese – which used the slogan “Accur-ankle, Accu-wrist!” – won accolades including the Palm d’Or.
The new 30 second ad has been updated for 2009 and will air in December. It will be shown in high profile slots during shows like X-Factor, Champions League football and Coronation Street.
Accurist has worked with Moxie Pictures to produce the ad with media buying by MGM.
The company’s chief executive Andrew Loftus says the idea behind releasing the 30-year-old ad is to reinforce the brand’s image as a British classic.
Accurist’s has often courted controversy through its marketing. In 2005 the Advertising Standards Authority banned a magazine ad that appeared to show a woman pleasuring herself. Before that it ruled that another campaign portrayed a child beauty pageant contestant in a “suggestive, sexual way”.
In 1998, its “Put some weight on” campaign, which featured an emaciated woman wearing her watch on her upper arm rather than her wrist, was condemned by the ASA as “irresponsible”.
