Weetabix idents
July 31st 2007 16:39
Perhaps my geekiest guilty pleasure is an interest in television idents. Many a lonely Friday evening has been spent perusing such websites as TV Ark and The TV Room. Not because I’m a sad loner, you understand, but because it’s the really cool thing to do these days.
I also love cereals. The most functional cereal of them all is Weetabix. It’s the only way to go if you have a particularly challenging day ahead. There is nothing in the world that three Weetabix can’t solve. Except perhaps indigestion.
So an advertising campaign that combines the might of Weetabix with the quaint kitsch of classic television idents cannot be anything but awesome. I don’t watch much television these days, so I guess there is the chance that everyone in the world apart from me already knew about it and this post is a bit like going, “ALL BECAUSE THE LADY LOVES MILK TRAY! LOL!”
The only way I learned about the Weetabix advertising campaign was from a post at Idents.tv. I had seen one of the adverts before out of the corner of my eye, probably when I was fast forwarding through the adverts during a grand prix. It didn’t occur to me that it was supposed to mimic idents, with their trippy ambient music and strange abstract visuals.
The TV theme is continued at the Weetabix.tv website, where all of the ident-adverts are available to view. A lot of them have clearly been inspired by classic BBC Two idents from the 1990s.
We have all seen idents thousands of times. Yet, they are forgotten by many and treated as though they are merely wallpaper at best and an annoyance at worst. Yet, idents are the most familiar sight on television; a reminder that all is right in the world. They are beautiful pieces of design that are almost always better than the programme that follows them. So it’s great to see idents being recognised by Weetabix in their advertising campaign.
No votes yet
Loading ...
#1 Rhys
July 31st 2007 17:40
You do realise the last half an hour I’ve been browsing Idents. I loved those idents from BBC2, largely because it was when BBC2 was ace. Can almost imagine a accently-neutral brit saying “Coming up next on BBC2: The Fast Show/Red Dwarf/Shooting Stars/Buzzcocks with Sean Hughes/HIGNFY before it went shit”.
Classic.
And the joys of wheetabix are simple: Wheetabix is not a cereal in iteself, but you can add things to it to make it tasty. Mmm apricot wheetabix
#2 doctorvee
July 31st 2007 22:53
That reminds me of something that I meant to write in this post, but forgot.
All of those recipes are far too extravagant. When I was younger I just used to eat it like a biscuit, sometimes spreading some margarine on the top. Mind you, that was when I was at that age when you are not squeamish about experimental food. I probably would have mixed HP Sauce with Elmlea and still found it delicious.
#3 Holyrood Watcher
August 1st 2007 00:57
Margarine? No, no, if you must eat dry weetabix, it has to be with butter and generously spread at that. And there is nothing experimental about it - I’ve been eating weetabix like this for at least 50 years.
#4 Deacon Barry
August 4th 2007 00:26
Weetabix - it’s good for your bowls!
#5 Clive
August 6th 2007 21:46
I didn’t know what idents were until I ran the video - but then the recognition was instant! I loved those BBC 2 idents and they are just as beautiful and mysterious and strangely fascinating as you say. The music helped too - perfectly in tune with the otherworldliness of the ident.
Why is it that Auntie Beeb, with all her faults and alleged lack of money, can still produce more original, more interesting and better finished products than the commercial channels? I would like to think that the answer is that people who are working for love of what they are doing produce better end results than those who are working for money, but I don’t know for a fact that this is true. Maybe someone should do a study or something…