Two Australian advertising agencies were invited to make a pitch for ABC’s Gruen Transfer show this week. The challenge for M&C Saatchi, Sydney and The Works, Sydney, was to convince holiday makers to choose Baghdad, Iraq as a tourism destination.
Kevin Macmillan presented the Works pitch focusing on extreme sports. Rock climbing in Arizona, bungee jumping in New Zealand, surfing in snowboarding in Thredbo… “What about Baghdad. Have you got the balls to go?”
Ben Welsh presented the M&C Saatchi pitch, focused on the ethnic mix of Baghdad. Ben himself voiced the spot, with a Geordie accent. After all, he said, Australians weren’t likely to leave the greatest tourism destination. But it should be possible to sell Baghdad to Newcastle!
Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)
Online voting for the Gruen Transfer Pitch at this point favours the Balls in Baghdad.
(Average: 4.00 out of 5)
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You got that the wrong way round. Kevin and The Works did the excellent ‘Baghdad Balls’ spot that completely toasted M&C’s effort. That Geordie accent originated somewhere in Macquarie Street, not North Sydney.
Thanks for that observation Jason. I’ve fixed that up.