Iggy Pop Never Sounded More Soothing Than in These Wry Ads for Beach Vacations

Uncommon Creative Studio just dropped “Everything’s Better on the Beach,” its debut campaign for U.K.-based holiday booking site On the Beach. Directed by Jeff Low, each of the three ads is a close-up of a person dozing beatifically in a lounge chair by the sea. 

They look like they never had a worry. Only the voice of narrator Iggy Pop tells you otherwise … for it turns out that each is recovering from the worst week of their lives.

Meet John, whose trouble began with a goldfish …

… and ended with an avalanche of shit, not to mention a visit from a (very armed) army, descending from the sky via helicopter. 

Iggy Pop—who became fast friends with Uncommon creative chief Nils Leonard through a Cannes talk a few years back—calmly describes the particulars of John’s misfortune before finishing with the thought John’s having right now: How do helicopters even work? It’s the kind of question that requires an amused distance from events, and perhaps precedes a dreamy series of unstructured creative thoughts, like the kind people get in the shower.

“This campaign focuses on the healing and restorative power that the beach holds, along with its ability to alleviate the host of daily frustrations and scenarios that modern life can throw at us,” On the Beach marketing director Alan Harding states. “The series of adverts captures the sense of calm and stillness that can only really be achieved on a beach holiday.”

It’s hard to know whether Jessica had a worse week than John. It started with a cake she baked for charity.

There’s something impressive about one’s cooking being so noxious that it poisons 37 people enough for the police to suspect intentional foul play. Bravo, Jessica! It probably also means she was overdue for a break. 

Incidental fun fact: Despite popular belief that poison is more a woman’s weapon of choice, it turns out 60 percent of poisoners are men! Which leads to the only rational question: Was Jessica framed? (Maybe she just keeps cyanide by the flour. Another fun fact, which supports the idea that cyanide powder could be mistaken for food: It doesn’t smell all the time … but when it does, it smells of almonds.)

This is a terrible digression. Cleanse your palates with Sally and the tale of her treacherous bestie. 

Few things are truly irreversible, but we’ve always felt that a good friend seducing a parent is among the hardest—and weirdest—situations to overcome. Sally’s best friend Sarah goes further still by seducing both parents, then live streaming their acrobatics on a porn site called TheSuburbanCowboys.com.

We’re thrilled that Uncommon knew people would pop that into a browser. What a fun Easter egg! Hello, Sarah. (And Sally’s parents.)

“This campaign is all about creating the space to tell some properly naughty stories. Sometimes, words just win,” says Uncommon’s Leonard. “You can do in a spoken story what you could never do in picture. It’s no secret that Uncommon have a love for Iggy; working with him to craft these beautifully rank stories for the excellent crew at On The Beach was a joy.”

“Everything’s Better on the Beach” reminds us a bit of Uncommon’s holiday work for Chilly’s, in the sense that one small act becomes a slippery slope for unimaginable horrors. But the execution and categories are sufficiently different that both approaches will probably work fine in their respective wheelhouses. 

The work went live last Friday the 13th in the U.K. during ITV’s X Factor: The Band. It will continue to run through the holidays and into 2020, with support on radio, video on-demand, outdoors and in theaters. 

CREDITS

Films:
Project name: Everything’s Better on the Beach
Creative Agency: Uncommon Creative Studio
Client: On The Beach
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Jeff Low
Editor: Saam Hodivala @ Work Editorial
Producer: Kwok Yau @ Biscuit Filmworks
DOP: Dan Holland    
Post-production: The Mill               
Colourist: Seamus O’Kane @ The Mill
VFX: David Wishart @ The Mill
Audio post-production: Jon Clarke & Mark Hills @ Factory
Voiceover Artist: Iggy Pop
Media Agency: the7Stars

Website:
Stills Photographer: Zeinab Batchelor 
Casting Director: Emma Garret