AD USES AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION MOVIEGOER RUNS DIALOGUE WITH ON-SCREEN BOYFRIEND
USA Today, 27-May-1992
By Martha T. Moore

You're at the movies, settling into your seat, as a prefeature commercial for British Airways unfolds. A romantic couple is walking through a park in Paris, having flown there on cheap weekend tickets. Suddenly, the woman next to you gasps. "That's my boyfriend! That's Nigel!" she shrieks.

Alarming enough. But then the on-screen boyfriend responds. Looking into the camera, he cries, "Michelle! I can explain everything!"

That first interactive ad - an actress is planted in the audience - got British filmgoers to drop their popcorn when it ran in theaters this spring. But it was inspired by a U.S. crowd.

"We were in the cinema in New York and loads of people were shouting at the screen," says Matt Ryan of ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi London, who wrote the ad with his partner John Pallante. "We thought it would be great if people on the screen could turn around and tell the audience where to go." Unlucky Nigel ends up getting dumped by both the woman on the screen and the woman in the audience, who stomps out of the theater.

British Airways plans to run a similar ad in Hong Kong and may do a U.S. version. "Knowing how successful it was, it's something we're definitely looking at," says Woody Harford, U.S. advertising manager.

The ad took top prize at the prestigious One Show awards last week, where non-traditional ads rarely win.

"At first, when she stands up, people think she's a bit nuts," Ryan says. One London usher tried to drag her out of the theater. "We thought that was a really good touch," Ryan says. "We wish we'd thought of it."

You hit it right on the head, my man.

I'm a fan of Spike Jonze's Mystery Of Dalaro campaign, myself.