Red C has created a new marketing campaign for a joint partnership between VisitEngland and cottages4you. The campaign, which will promote self-catering cottage holidays in England’s countryside and coastal locations, is set to launch on Boxing Day.

The TV advert, which cannot be revealed yet, will run through the key January to March booking period and is aimed at families, particularly focusing on cottages located in the countryside and on the coast. It will be supported by newspaper advertising, online advertising, direct marketing and radio.

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When the good people at Hoseasons asked us to come up with ideas for their flagship new TV ad for 2011, I was pretty excited. This was going to be the first time I had ever seen a TV ad all the way through from concept to execution. And to be fair, it didn’t take us long to come up with some ideas.

The main challenge was how to convey the breadth of the Hoseasons proposition in just 30 seconds. We started as most creatives do by asking ourselves a very simple question: just what is it that we’re trying to sell? The answer was more than a little daunting.

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Manchester based full service agency, Red C has created a new 30 second commercial for Hoseasons, starring model, actress and TV presenter Denise Van Outen.  The ad, which airs on Boxing Day is the first time back on our screens for Hoseasons since 2007.

Created by Red C’s Creative Director, Julian Gratton and Copywriter, Stuart Clark, and directed by Chris Gaffey from Mob Films.  The ad sees the Legally Blonde star walk, cycle and dance her way through a variety of different Hoseason holiday properties.

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Fire up the Quattro

My name is Steve White.  I’ve had an accident and I’ve woken up in 1982.  Am I mad, in a coma or have I gone back in time…. or has the advertising world gone nostalgia mad!?! Well, although my wife will certainly vouch for madness.  I can confirm that the latest trend in advertising is leading me to have my very own ‘Ashes to Ashes’ moment.

It simply can’t have escaped your attention as to just how many big British retailers have gone ‘nostalgic’ with their campaigns over the last year or two.  M&S, Persil, Virgin, Hovis, Milky Way and John Lewis have all used campaigns that hark back to their past.  But why are so many brands going down this creative route?  Why are so many brands looking back and not looking forward?

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Before we go any further… no… the 14 times World Darts Champion is not moonlighting as a Commercials Director… the Phil Taylor we’re talking about is far taller, skinnier and has considerably less hair! Phil recently finished filming a new advert for us for Cottages4you… an ad that everyone here at Red C is incredibly proud of and was brought to life by both Phil and Sharon Gunnel, the Producer at Velvet.

Our first introduction to Phil was through his reel which immediately grabbed us for his clever subtle use of humour and ability to capture some lovely moments on films as well as getting some memorable performances from his actors. On meeting him I was instantly sold by his passion for both our concept and his desire to stay true to my original idea and deliver an advert that had high production values and quite simply and beautifully converted a singular message in a memorable way.

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I love it when a plan comes together

It was that great leader of men Hannibal Smith who once said… “I love it when a plan comes together”. And that sums up perfectly how I feel about our TV advert for the holiday cottages brand cottages4you. It took  a large number of talented people to create the 40 seconds of film that is embedded within this posting… and to give you an insight into how we ended up with the advert we did… I thought I’d tell you the story of the commercial’s creation.

From the original client briefing to some insights into the creative process and the ideas we presented you’ll hopefully see what went in to creating the final concept that went before the cameras. I’ll then look at the filming process as well as the work that went into the post-production and resulted in the final commercial… which is hopefully enticing people up and down the country to book a break with cottages4you.

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At Red C we love working with talented and passionate individuals, which is why we thoroughly enjoyed working recently with Trevor Forrest… who was the Cinematographer on our recent commercial for Cottages4you and also qualifies for the status of ‘bloody nice bloke’.

The Director of the commercial, Phil Taylor, told me how he had wanted to work with Trevor for a long time… and having worked with him on this project I can see why. The consummate professional at all times, Trevor worked his socks off to ensure the shot that was captured on camera was as lush and inviting as it could be… which has led to a great looking commercial.

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Holiday Cottages Group (HCG), the UK’s number one holiday cottage rental agency with more than 10,000 properties in the UK, is launching its first TV campaign in three years. The advert will premiere on Boxing Day and run throughout quarter one.

Holiday Cottages Group has reported sales of domestic holidays are up by 12 percent on 2008 and following this success it is looking to strengthen its position further in 2010.

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Choosing a director is a tricky business. You are putting a lot of trust in someone to bring your concept to life and this time we needed it to be extra special.

Working on the concepts for the Marisota spring summer 2009 DRTV advert we had to go back to basics, introducing the girls and focusing on the research and size messages. So to bring all this to life means taking care of the little details.

Once the storyboards were signed off the real work started. Firstly finding a Director who can understand the concept and add something special was needed. I was introduced to Andy Saunders through Sharon Gunnel and her production team at Velvet. The first pre-production meeting went really well, Andy brought lots of ideas to the table to bring the ad to life… and I was sold on him straight away.

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