Clearcast Newsletter Autumn 2011 CLEARCAST NEWSLETTER INTRODUCTION AUTUMN 2011 Hello from Chris Mundy 4

Editor CLEAR Eleanor Bonnet A view from the Copy Committee 8 Contributors Looking for a different type of Clearance? 10 Adam Bloxham The Olympic Games 12 Anna Morris Our 2011 Agency Survey results 14 Ayesha Labrom Training 16 Barry Noone Advertising at Christmas 18 Cathy Preece Chris Mundy Pitching it right 21 Elliot Lord Flash Testing: how did it all come about? 22 Geoff Russell (IPA) Black and ethnic minorities in ads 24 Jo Walker Our Euro Advice goes international 26 Justyna Shala Kristoffer Hammer CAST Matt Baily Niamh McGuinness Hellos, Goodbyes, Promotions and Babies! 30 Wedding News 32 Design Five minutes with a consultant: Professor Harry Keen 34 We Made This Inny & Outty 36 www.wemadethis.co.uk Anna Morris: A Clearcast Profile 38

THE BACK PAGE Dear Jackie 44 contenDid you Know...? ts46

2 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 3 INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Autumn Edition of the Clearcast newsletter. Hello The last one came out just before the Clearcast party at Cable; if you want to relive that event you can find the photos here.

Clearcast love ads; we watch over 60,000 a year and there’s nothing Chris Mundy we like more than ads that try and do something different. In this Managing Director edition, Cathy Preece explains how we clear ‘live’ ads. Also, with Christmas approaching fast, Matt Baily outlines some timely Dos and Don’ts for Christmas ads to help you avoid common pitfalls.

We now have the results of our third agency survey. Thanks to all of you that took the time to complete it. We’ve used these surveys to help us identify our priorities and we’re pleased that as a result, perceptions of Clearcast continue to improve. You’ll find some headlines inside and more on our website.

You may have seen the figures published by the IPA on representation of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) people in commercials. It came from the information entered by agencies on Adway when they submit ads for clearance. The data is only as good as the underlying data and given the importance to the industry of ethnic representation, please do help by taking care over this.

There’s much more over the next few pages. We try and make the newsletter as interesting and useful as possible; if you have any suggestions please get in touch.

Chris www.clearcast.co.uk

4 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 5 A view from the Copy Committee 8 Looking for a different type of Clearance? 10 The Olympic Games 12 Our 2011 Agency Survey results 14 Training 16 Advertising at Christmas 18 Pitching it right 21 Flash Testing: how did it all come about? 22 Black and ethnic minorities in ads 24 Our Euro Advice goes international 26 clear

6 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 7 CLEAR

The key role which Clearcast plays is maintaining the trust of British A view from the consumers in TV advertising. The BCAP Code may lay down the rules, the ASA may act as the policeman – but Clearcast is there to ensure copy committee that creative enthusiasm does not stray beyond what is permitted – and land both advertiser and agency in trouble. Geoff Russell Company Secretary & Director of Media Affairs at the IPA Of course, there will be tensions from agency creatives and clients, but as long as the pre-vetting body is clear, consistent and fair in its Clearcast’s Copy Committee is made up of representatives of processes and judgments – everyone wins. Broadcasters, ISBA and the IPA and makes the final decision on clearance appeals. Geoff Russell is Company Secretary Sitting on the Clearcast Copy Committee, I see the difficulties which and Director for Media Affairs at the IPA and is an observing exist in judging whether commercials are in line with the Codes. What member of the copy committee. He’s written the following is permitted and what disallowed is the subject of detailed debate. No- piece for us… one wants to block a commercial, but everyone is aware of the duty they have to protect the agency, advertiser, and, above all, the consumer Ask anyone in the street to name their favourite TV ad and they will from anything which might damage trust in, and the reputation of, the give their response in milliseconds. Likewise, they will be able to tell industry. you – often in no uncertain terms – which commercials they don’t like! Advertising is part of the fabric of all our lives, and we are informed, I like to think that the decisions the Committee makes – if not always educated and entertained on a daily basis by commercial messages. Of liked – are fair. I may sometimes disagree with an outcome, but at least course, many do not acknowledge the role that advertising plays, not I know that the work in question has been fully considered and a con- only in stimulating the economy which keeps them all employed, but clusion reached by majority vote. also in helping to fund over half the media they watch, listen to, or read. Clearcast is a vital cog in the machinery of advertising self-regulation People have advertised their goods and services since the earliest times, which, in turn, is key in preserving the integrity of the UK advertising and other people have responded by trying out and sometimes becom- industry. At the end of the day, whether the man on the street loves or ing devoted fans of the items they’ve seen, heard or read about. But the hates the ads he sees, at least he can trust them. And on that rests far cycle only works if people can trust the messages they receive. And more, socially and economically, than he (and most of us) would ever that’s why organisations like Clearcast and the ASA play such an im- care to think. portant role.

8 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 9 CLEAR

filmed as close as possible to transmission with two of our team clear- Looking for a different ing a pre-production script in the days leading up to filming and transmission (although there are often plenty of changes on the day!) There type of clearance? is a charge for this type of clearance, but it does mean you get our ex- perts there to give a final ‘ok’ compliance-wise to your film and you Cathy Preece can get it on air almost the moment filming has finished. Copy Group Manager

We also do ‘Saturday/Bank Holiday’ clearances for ads where there is a last-minute story to break (normally for newspapers). For the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge we received a pre- production script from The Daily Mail earlier in the week but the paper wanted to drop in ‘up to the minute’ wedding photos and have an ad on air the day of the wedding. The photos were slotted into the ad soon after the wedding and then two members of our clearance team quickly cleared the advertisement from our Adway site ready for immediate transmission. For further details on ‘as live’ or ‘Saturday/Bank Holi- day’ clearance charges, please contact Clearcast’s Head of Policy and Photo © T Mobile T © Photo Customer Operations, Kristoffer Hammer. Broadcasters and advertisers are always looking for new ways to engage their audiences and little beats the excite- We also on occasion make set visits (one of our execs, Barry Noone, ment of a ‘live’ ad. visited the set of AMV’s much-anticipated BT ‘Wedding’ and I was lucky enough to attend the filming of T Mobile’s ‘Welcome Home’ ad We can help with this by doing on-set clearances for ‘live’ ads (really at Heathrow Terminal 5). On set visits, as well as getting to see ads ‘as live’, as tv ads always require some sort of compliance ‘stamp’). We being filmed, we learn exactly how much work and how many people have been on set in this capacity for several projects. A few years ago, go into making an ad! we had an interesting and very muddy trip to V Festival and then did on-set compliance for Match.com, filmed by an American agency at Don’t forget that Clearcast also offers a late clearance service for ads ITV’s studios on the South Bank. In August this year, two of our that require provisional approval but cannot be uploaded by 5pm on staff members again went on set to advise on compliance for an ad for a particular day (but can be fully uploaded by 6pm); for more details Virgin’s V Festival Ticket give-away. This type of ‘live’ ad is normally please see: www.clearcast.co.uk/late-clearances.html

10 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 11 CLEAR

This protection relates to the Olympic and Paralympic symbols, the The Olympic Games London 2012 emblem and all the supporting designs including mas- cots and pictograms depicting individual sports. It also extends to the words “London 2012”, “2012”, “LOCOG”, “Javelin Team GB”, “Get Set” and “Games Maker”, if used in a way that would create a link with the Niamh McGuinness Games. Head of Copy Clearance

Straightforward enough, but as with many areas of advertising it’s not that simple - the 2006 Act also gives LOCOG the right to stop the creation of an association with the Games through the use of certain listed expressions used in a way that creates an association with the games. Unauthorised associations can also be created without use of the listed expressions, so care needs to be taken with visuals and wording to make sure an association is unlikely to be implied. If it thinks an unauthorised association has been created in advertising, LOCOG can take legal action against businesses.

Clearcast can’t interpret or enforce the law but we will in the coming months be casting a keen eye over all ads to check they are not likely to cause problems under the Act. As the Olympic Games approach, advertisers need to be care- ful not to inadvertently create an association between their If you want to know more about this subject – including seeing the brands and London 2012, unless they are entitled to do so. emblems and symbols and the listed expressions – you can read LOCOG’S Brand Protection booklet here. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) protects the Olympic Games brand through the Lon- don Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. Only sponsors, official broadcasters, official merchandise licensees and licensed non- commercial partners are allowed to use the London 2012 brand in their advertising and marketing.

12 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 13 CLEAR

Overall, agency perceptions of Clearcast have improved significantly Our 2011 Agency since our baseline survey in 2009: 70% of respondents now say that their experience of working with Clearcast is excellent or good com- Survey results pared with 48% in 2009. After the first survey we identified several areas that we needed to focus on, including: Chris Mundy Managing Director Turnaround Times 50% of all respondents now feel that Clearcast’s turnaround times are good or excellent, and this is up from 35% in 2009. However, this re- mains an area where a significant proportion of respondents (20%) re- main dissatisfied. We’ve worked at improving turnaround times and have service levels that we report on each quarter so we’re pleased to see an improvement in perceptions of the time it takes to clear copy.

Consistency One theme from previous surveys has been consistency of experience. Perceptions of consistency of our decisions have improved; 66% now say they are very or quite happy with it, this is up from 50% happy in 2009.

Cover Copy staff have a portfolio of agency accounts. This helps with com- Prior to joining Clearcast as MD I spent 20 years working in munication and getting to understand an agency’s business, but pres- market research, so it’s no surprise that I think insights from ents continuity problems when the normal Clearcast contact is away. research are crucial to any customer-focused organisation… The changes we have made have resulted in the proportion unhappy with cover more than halving from 42% in 2009 to 20% today. This is For Clearcast that means an annual survey of agency opinion of how still higher than we would like and we continue to look at ways of pro- we’re doing. This year’s was our third and we’re now in a good position viding better continuity in our cover. to both understand what our areas of development are, and also see how our strategies to address them have been working. Find a full summary of the findings on the Clearcast website here.

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The biggest undertaking of the year was the creation and delivery of a Training 2011 update comprehensive programme of bespoke training for Unilever’s Laun- dry, Household Cleaning & Personal Care R&D teams. Unilever’s objective was to improve their teams’ understanding of our role, the clearance process, our claim support requirements and ultimately the Ayesha Labrom quality of their submissions. The project involved myself and Clearcast Training Manager consultant Dr Chris Gummer embarking on a mini European tour to meet and train teams based at Unilever’s four major R&D centres in Our Training Programme is now well into its third year and the UK, Holland and Italy. The teams were engaged and enthusiastic, 2011 has proved busier and more successful than ever. something which helped make the project a great success.

In addition to our ever-popular, regular ‘Working with Clearcast’ This will be the last training update from me as I am leaving both courses, in April we ran another dedicated training seminar for the Clearcast and the advertising industry to pursue other ambitions. I’d teleshopping industry and in May a very successful one day training like to send my very best wishes to everyone I’ve worked with over the seminar on food advertising which covered responsible food and drink years, particularly the many people I’ve trained, and of course my dear advertising, HFSS policy and practice, advertising to children and nu- and talented colleagues at Clearcast who I’ll miss greatly. trition and health claims. We were joined by a speaker from Ofcom and our nutrition consultant, Emeritus Professor Pat Judd, who ex- For more info about our Training courses, click here. pertly guided delegates through the important area of claim support.

2011 has seen a marked increase in the number of requests for bespoke training sessions, which demonstrates a clear desire amongst companies to ensure efficiency and best practice when it comes to creating new campaigns and working with us to get them on air. We have deliv- ered tailor-made training to a wide variety of companies ranging from agencies such as CHI, Fallon, Digital & Direct, Draft FCB and Bray Leino, to broadcasters such as STV and advertisers including P&G, BBC Worldwide, Dairy Crest, Channel 4 Creative and Sky Creative.

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• Multi buy Alcohol Advertising Please be aware that the following types of promotion will not be permitted in Scotland from November of this year: Multi buy pur- at Christmas chase of alcohol with deals like three bottles for a tenner, BOGOF or meals deals with an alcohol element where the alcohol works out Matt Baily cheaper. Copy Group Manager

• Fireplaces The number one, regular issue. Fireplaces in a home are a popular bit of set dressing and come with a long list of points to be aware of. If the fire is lit then there should be a fire guard, mantelpieces should not be festooned with decorations or the like and there should not be a mirror above the fire. All these safety requirements are amplified by The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA.) Last year Clearcast asked a number of agencies to amend fireplace scenes in post production because they did not comply with our advice and often they were not mentioned in the pre production script.

• Snowball Fights At this time of year many ads will be in the early stages of Snowball fights should always have an element of everyone taking production for Christmas (we received our first Christmas part if you’d like to avoid an ‘ex kids’ timing restriction. Unaware specific ad in February this year!) but there will also be a fair bystanders being hit or shots to the face with a snowball can often number that are in the early stages of planning, or indeed attract such a restriction. yet to be created. • Revealing Santa Claus Every year at Clearcast we’ve noticed common and regular Christmas If we receive a treatment which shows that Father Christmas themed content in ads that can cause potential hiccups. Below is a brief doesn’t exist, we’re likely to give the ad an ‘ex kids’ restriction to list of common issues and our best advice for you: make sure very young viewers will still believe!

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• Toys Be aware that the rules on toys are quite comprehensive. As a rule Pitching of thumb, make sure you don’t exaggerate what a toy can do in terms of movement and sounds. Make sure the size of the toy is it right clear. If it needs batteries or are sold separately and you feature more than one, then mention that in the ad. If a toy costs more than Kristoffer Hammer Head of Policy & Customer Operations £30, that must be stated too.

These are just a few areas that we see every year and it’s not an exhaus- We introduced our new Pitch Advisory service in May this tive list. As always, ask your Clearcast contact for specific advice on year, which helps prevent advertisers award a contract to an anything you may need. agency on the basis of a core creative idea that subsequently cannot be approved for TV. Since the launch, we’ve seen scripts for various pitches called by advertisers, ranging from contentious sectors, to pitches where the agency just want to make sure that they get the creative on the right side of the line.

Approved scripts will receive a Pitch Certificate, which can be pre- sented to the advertiser at the pitch – proving that you have sought advice and obtained approval for the creative idea. We don’t normally have sight of substantiation at pitching stage, but if you do, we can consider and approve that too.

Costing for our Pitch Advisory service starts at £350 for up to 4 scripts, which you can pay for online. For more information about the service and about the cost of more than four scripts, click here.

20 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 21 CLEAR

We’ll always check ads for flashing images and regular patterns as part Flash Testing: how of the clearance process, however we only work with highly com- pressed files and the test results may vary from those on broadcast did it all come about? quality files. So it’s wise to test the broadcast quality before submitting clocked commercials to avoid last minute fails, either with us or when Kristoffer Hammer QC’ed by the broadcaster. Head of Policy & Customer Operations

Non-broadcast ads are now also subject to flashing image regulation. This means that the Internet, mobile phones and digital signage are covered by the same guidelines, initially developed for TV.

Most post-production houses offer testing for flashing images and regular patterns. Clearcast offers an online test providing the result within a few minutes after upload.

To find out more, visit www.onlineflashtest.com

A Pot Noodle ad in 1993 triggered photosensitive epilepsy seizures and resulted in the Independent Television Com- mission’s (ITC) development of the ‘Guidelines for Flashing Images and Regular Patterns’ with Prof Graham Harding. Compliance with the guidelines is part of the license condi- tions for UK Broadcasters.

22 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 23 CLEAR

Black, Asian and ethnic The findings indicate that despite about 13% of the UK’s population being made up of those from a non-white background, actors from this minorities in ads demographic are featured in only 5% of the nation’s mainstream advertising. Adam Bloxham Copy Group Manager It’s important that we are able to provide this valuable information to the IPA and the rest of the industry and that the information is as accurate as possible. To enable us to do this, please make sure you tick the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) boxes when uploading to Adway. There is an option for either ‘featured actor’ or ‘walk on artist’ which can be found on the submission page when you submit clocked ads.

Earlier this year the IPA published a report advising that of the 34,499 ads approved by us in 2010, only 1,845 featured actors who were Black, Asian or from another ethnic minority. This information was provided via the tickboxes in- stalled on our submissions page.

24 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 25 Canada, India and Peru are the first non-European countries to be Our Euro advice added to the facility, with more countries expressing interest. Germany and Lithuania have also joined the ‘club’, which now counts 22 coun- goes international tries where advice on advertising regulation and copy can be obtained with a click. Copy advice for Germany is however limited to questions Kristoffer Hammer related to misleading ads and restricted to members of the WBZ – so Head of Policy & Customer Operations do check if your client or your agency is a member before submitting a request.

In short, the International Copy Advice / Pre-Clearance facility allows users to obtain advice on specific copy or on general issues from one or more countries by uploading the query or copy. Feedback will be sent directly to your e-mail.

For more on turn-around times, fees applicable in each country, web- sites and more, please see www.ad-advice.org.

The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) and our online facility, www.ad-advice.org, which helps agencies get copy advice in Europe, has now been extended to other countries.

26 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 27 Hellos, Goodbyes, Promotions and Babies! 30 Wedding News 32 Five minutes with a consultant: Professor Harry Keen 34 Inny & Outty 36 Anna Morris: A Clearcast Profile 38 cast

28 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 29 CAST Hellos, Goodbyes, Promotions and Babies

Anna Morris Copy Group Executive

There have been some new additions to Clearcast recently, some sad goodbyes, more cute babies and some exciting promotions:

• Senior Copy Exec Nicola Wyn- ter gave birth to a baby boy on 9th March. We were expecting her to call him Edward or Jacob after her Twilight obses- • We welcomed new recruits Max Malagoni (above, left) and Paul sion, but she has settled on the Garside (above, right) – both new Copy Execs who are settling in beautiful name of Luca. well to life at Clearcast.

• While Nicola grappled with baby pilates, we congratulated Copy • And we congratulated Vickie Adomako who was promoted as part Exec Oliver Golden who became a Senior Copy Exec to cover her of the maternity cover from Traffic & Copy Assistant to Copy Exec, maternity leave. and is enjoying life on the copy clearance side.

• We were sad to say goodbye to two of our Copy Executives. Esther • Vickie’s stiletto shoes were filled by our Receptionist & Office As- Hamon left in February to work at ITV, and Rob Borrett followed sistant Jennie Park who has now become a Traffic & Copy Assis- in April with a new position at Tag Worldwide. This left us with tant. some roles to fill… • We say a sad goodbye Ayesha Labrom, our brilliant Training Man- ager who is going back to university to study for an MA in Arts Ad- ministration & Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths.

30 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 31 CAST

WeddingJo Walker News Copy Group Executive

Here is the latest batch:

There were two marriages in September 2010 – Copy Exec Andy Kenyon (aka Kendo) married the lovely Naomi in wind-swept Brighton (opposite)

I (aka JWKD) got married (above, left) to Frazer and decided to go double-barrelled which is proving to be a pain in the neck because it takes so long to write Joanne Walker-Davidson. For those of you who have visited Clearcast Towers, you will have ob- served it’s not a particularly romantic place – there are no lit candles Later on in the year, opting for a December Winter wedding, Michael dotted around (it’s a safety hazard) and the office isn’t over run with Haydon (aka Haydo, also an exec) married the elegant Kerris (above, little puppies and kittens (we couldn’t get a vet’s letter). Despite this, centre) . it feels as though there is always some sort of marital activity taking place so perhaps people who work at Clearcast have a propensity for And moving into 2011, Ingest Operator (aka Technical Wizard) Greg meeting people who are romantic. On the other hand, perhaps we sim- Clement, married the delightful Keely on Easter Sunday (above, right) ply like to try and find any excuse for a massive party, which was cer- and their party favours were Easter Eggs. tainly my main reason for taking the plunge.

32 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 33 CAST

What are your favourite bits of Five minutes with… working with Clearcast? The advertisers’ job is to make products Professor Harry Keen attractive and my job is to ensure that advertisers maintain accuracy and Compiled by Justyna Shala don’t go beyond acceptable lines. It is Teleshopping Clearance Manager interesting and challenging to debate and discuss products and ads with ad- Professor Harry Keen is our longest standing consultant. His clinical vertisers who have pushed the bound- areas of expertise cover metabolic medicine with particular interest in aries and work out a creative solution diabetes, protection against disease and nutrition. where everyone’s happy.

His background has been in scientific research throughout all of his What is the worst part of being Clearcast consultant? professional life. One of Professor Keen’s many achievements includes It’s sometimes tough trying to find a balance between lay meanings and being awarded a CBE in 1998. scientific understanding of certain words, for example ‘energy’.

Teleshopping Clearance Manager Justyna Shala, talks to him about his What can advertisers do to speed up the approval of their claims? experience of working with Clearcast. Evidence, evidence, evidence for all objective claims. Specifically on im- provements of health matters. The bigger the claim, the better quality How long have you been a Clearcast consultant? the evidence needs to be. Don’t wash it out with volume; it’s the quality Since 1976! It was Sir Eric Scowen who invited me to join the Medical that counts. Advisory Committee of ITVA back in the mid-1970s and I have been at the game ever since. How does working with Clearcast compare with your usual work? What’s different is the type of claims that I receive – in the world of sci- What are your first impressions of working with Clearcast? ence I wouldn’t get claims that say ‘eat this and you’ll perform better’. My first impression was that I’d be facing a challenge but also an op- portunity to help with ads that impact the general public. The attractive To read more about Professor Keen, go to the Nutrition page on side of this job is to encourage people to live as interesting and varied our website; to arrange a Meet the Consultant session with him, email a life as possible based on accurate information. [email protected] or contact Kristoffer Hammer on [email protected] or 020 7339 4703.

34 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 35 CAST Inny: Outty: Olivia Quarshie Petrina Kilby

Olivia Quarshie has been at Clearcast for nearly 4 Petrina Kilby is Head of Film at Albion London years.

Who was your best boss and why? Who was your best boss and why? (Laughs.) Do I have to say Clearcast people? Probably my Dad because With one exception they’ve all been brilliant, inspiring people from he’d let me do whatever I wanted and let me get away with murder! whom I’ve learnt so much over the years. I couldn’t just pick one!

Weirdest thing you’ve eaten on holiday? Weirdest thing you’ve eaten on holiday? Turkey tail in Ghana. It’s popular there although it’s been banned now I did try grilled crocodile once. It tastes a bit like chicken. because it’s so bad for you. It’s basically the Turkey’s anus. They sell it in Dalston I noticed the other day! What’s the best thing about your job? The people I work with. I feel so lucky to work in an industry with so What’s the best thing about your job? many innovative and creative people. Meeting agencies and seeing how they work. What song are you listening to the most at the moment? What song are you listening to the most at the moment? I’m loving Elbow’s new album. Really into the latest Beyoncé album, “4”. Your favourite TV ad of the last three months? Your favourite TV ad of the last three months? Our new Wonga campaign without a doubt! I thought the VW Darth Vader ad was great. If you could give advice to your 16 year old self, what would it be? If you could give advice to your 16 year old self, what would it be? Not to worry – it really does become more fun the older you get. Study harder! What would you change about the advertising industry in the UK? What would you change about the advertising industry in the UK? Sometimes you think ‘a few less meetings and a little more action’ A lighter regulatory touch by the ASA. If you had a super power, what would it be and why? If you had a super power, what would it be and why? I’d love to be a mind reader. It would make some pre-production I’d like two please – invincibility and the ability to run very fast! processes so much easier!

36 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 37 CAST Proﬁle: Anna Morris, comedy genius!

Profile compiled by Barry Noone Copy Group Executive

For the last three years our multi-talented Copy Group Executive Anna Morris has been leading a double life. Actually it’s more like an octuple life if you count all the characters that she personifies as part of her comedy double act Morris & Vyse. Anna has been busy perfecting her skills on stage and as we go to press, is on her way back to London, following another stint of performances at the prestigious and world famous Edinburgh Festival…

38 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 39 CAST

audience rewarded them with a standing ovation. Not easy considering that the biggest arts festival in the world has almost 3,000 shows a day. This year they returned to Edinburgh with a brand new show which is aptly named ‘Daylords Return’ for a week at the end of August.

Seeing Morris and Vyse perform on stage is a guaranteed hour of gasps, laughs and pure entertainment. The key to their success is that they take normal situations that involve recognisable people and then exaggerate them to make them as grotesque as possible.

After a well deserved break in September the girls are planning to film Along with her comedy partner Beth, the duo has previously wowed au- their sketches and will adapt them to pitch for the radio. While the stage diences at the festival with their hilarious parody of a daytime TV show may be their starting block, Anna has high aspirations for her comedy called ‘Daylords’. She plays a host of different characters (10 in total) career and her ideal role would be to write and perform in her own com- which include the rather nervous Greer Cod, who is the new presenter edy show. After experiencing ‘Daylords’, it would be no surprise to see of Daylords and a blind Chinese pop star from China’s Got Talent. Anna Anna gracing our TV screen over the next few years. It’s been a long describes Greer as being the most exaggerated parts of herself; ‘neu- time since sketch comedy was part of the nation’s TV diet with shows rotic, clumsy and a bit of a loser’. Although the latter might be an ade- like Hale and Pace and Enfield. It’s time for a comedy comeback and quate description for Greer, you certainly can’t say the same thing about someone as talented and dazzling as Anna Morris could easily transfer Anna, who combines a full time role at Clearcast with a hectic schedule her talent on stage to the big screen. of writing, performing and ultimately making people laugh. For more information on Anna’s regular gigs around London, check Last year they did a staggering 21 hour long shows in a row at the Ed- out their website www.morrisandvyse.com inburgh Festival, which culminated in a sold out performance for their final show. All the hard work and effort was duly repaid as the entire

40 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 41 Dear Jackie 44 Did you Know...? 46 the back page

42 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 43 THE BACK PAGE

Dear Jackie, Dear Jackie… We’ve been trying to get an ad approved by Clearcast but they keep telling us that our legal superimposed text fails on height and duration of hold. It’s becoming an expensive job trying to get this to match their exacting standards. Why they have to be so rigid on this, I don’t Your ad problems solved by our resident agony aunt know. Is there anything you can advise, perhaps a cheap post house? Ta muchly, Janice

Dear Jackie, I know how you feel, my superimposed clothing line has been a real I’ve heard that the rules have relaxed for mascara ads and we don’t expense for me this year, but for the life of me I can’t understand why need to indicate that we’ve used lash inserts and post production tech- it’s not been a raving success. I guess the world just isn’t ready for fash- niques. This is great news for us but is it true? ion à la Jackie. Thanks, Pete You are in luck my dear because those wonderful people at Clearcast introduced two life saving tools that should help you sort You wish boyo! The point is, you are allowed to use a little magic be- your life out. Okay, perhaps not your life, which might take a little cause we recognise that it’s hard to capture the effect on film without more, but certainly these can help you with your ad. using anything. You can only do this if you’re also able to assure Firstly, because size matters, you can measure the legals with the Clearcast that what you see in the ad is an absolutely true representa- Height of supers test card. Once you’ve sorted that out, try using tion of what the consumer would be able to achieve at home. In this the Duration of hold calculator which will help you figure out how case, you won’t need to include the usual legal text i.e. ‘enhanced in long you should have it up for. Or if you’re real flash, you could search post production’ and ‘filmed with lash inserts’. Clearcast in the App store and download the calculator straight to your If however you decide to go the way of old and show lashes that look smart phone. as dense as feathers and as long as ski slopes, you’re in trouble because Both of these ingenious tools can be found on the Clearcast website a super can’t be used as a carte blanche fix. If the visuals are misleading under Online Help. then the ad is unacceptable. It’s just about as simple as that really. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has released a Help Note titled, Cosmetic advertising: Use of production techniques in cosmetics advertising, which is available from their website. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get feathers glued to me eyeballs. I don’t do the natural look.

44 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 45 THE BACK PAGE

• Two of our Copy Group Execs Andy Kenyon and Barry Noone ran the Did you Brighton Marathon on 10th April this year. Andy completed in 4hrs 23 and Barry in 4 hrs 48...no mean feat considering tempera- know… tures soared to the mid-twenties, quite unexpectedly for April!

Curious observations of late

• Throughout the first half of 2011 (January – June) we have read 15,615 scripts and already watched 29,292 ads!

• We don’t clear programme sponsorship idents. If you want these approved, you will need to get in touch with the broadcaster on whose channel your idents are being placed, and they will give you clearance advice.

• This year, we were invited to take the IPA online Foundation Cer- tificate course. Fifteen of us took part in the course and the exam, which helped us to broaden our knowledge of the creative process in advertising. We received some great scores from the exam, including • Four Clearcasters (Matt Baily, Jan Cooper, Olly Golden and Andy two distinctions! Kenyon) undertook the Dunwich Dynamo, a 120 mile, overnight cycle ride from London Fields, Hackney to Dunwich on the Suffolk • We chose a winner for our Adver- coast. Leaving at 9 on the evening of Saturday 16th July, they arrived tise Us competition. The £5000 at Dunwich’s shingle beach 11 hours later at 8am. Surprisingly every- prize money will go to Dan Zell and one was healthy and happy at the end and even talking about doing Dan Gearing for their ad ‘Protecting it again … perhaps not for a while though! your TV’. Dan and Dan work at the advertising agencies RKCR/Y&R • We have put our Christmas opening times on our website. We’re and DLKW Lowe respectively. Read closed on Friday 23rd, Monday 26th, Tuesday 27th December and more about the competition. Monday 2nd January but click here for the full details.

46 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 Clearcast Newsletter · Autumn 2011 47 Clearcast Ltd. 4 Roger Street London WC1N 2JX T +44 (0) 20 7339 4700 E [email protected] W www.clearcast.co.uk