Tag: more than

Crikey, how did More Than insurance get Morgan Freeman to voice their new adverts with all of his “like a turkey on Thanksgiving eyeing up a bottle of sour mash underneath a hickory tree near a faraway creek…” shtick; a kind of insurance-related take-off of Freeman’s folksy voiceovers from such films as The Shawshank Redemption?

Time was, More Than produced some of the most annoying adverts on the box, in the shape of the stupid Julian Barratt-voiced ads that borrowed music from Lionel Richie and Gerry Rafferty and added idiotic gibberings like “easy peasy Lionel Squeezy”. It was shit. So shit it was the first AdTurd ever.

More Than seems to have had a bit of a rethink about these ads, which it hoped would “increase the viewer response rate”. They now seems to think they’re shit too, with marketing director Pete Markey saying that although the company wants “intelligent humour” they don’t want to be “silly.”

Whether you think a man standing on a roof, talking with Morgan Freeman’s voice and calling himself More Than Freeman is not silly probably depends on whether you’re a marketing director for More Than.

But I have another issue with this. Namely that it’s quite easy to mishear the last line, which explains that it’s not narrated by Morgan Freeman. However this clarification sounds exactly like the impressionist is saying “I AM Morgan Freeman” – particularly in the one about tiles.

There’s two ways to look at this: either a complete, if fortunate, coincidence – or something rather more calculated.

Because having Morgan Freeman voice your new adverts would lend a huge amount of authority and raise the trust engendered by your brand enormously.

Republicans in North Carolina certainly thought as much in the recent US Congressional elections, as they deliberately used a Morgan Freeman sound-a-like to slag off their Democrat opponents in an attack ad.

That impressionist wasn’t as good as the guy doing the voice here, Josh Robert-Thompson, who appears at the end of the adverts, and is helping More Than further their “trust, honesty, strength, and protection”.

Well, him and Morgan Freeman.

There’s loads of adverts I think are fantastic, car adverts mainly, though there are many more adverts that I loathe. Admittedly there are lots of things I loathe, but badverts have a special place in my heart. They not only anger me, they move me to spleen-venting fury on a regular basis, regardless of whoever happens to be on the receiving end.

Attracting my ire at the moment are a series of ads for More Th>n, one of those companies that seems to do something connected with money; insurance and so on. Adverts for companies like this are always truly awful as they have to stand out from the crowd and bore their way into your head in a precious 30-second window. 

Think of the series of twats Halifax farted into our faces over the last ten years or the cubist nightmares of Confused.com’s adverts. (Actually Confused.com’s adverts have actually got even worse, as they attempt to move upmarket with adverts that are simperingly twee and obviously utilising actors, as opposed to producing adverts that simply annoy the fuck out of you.)

These new efforts from More Th>n are possibly the most egregious of the lot, featuring the previously-funny Julian Barratt from the Might Boosh reciting an oddly cod-sexy voiceover that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. After some blather about money, credit, insurance, or whatever the hell it is they’re shilling, one concludes with the words ‘Easy Peasy Lionel Squeez-eh’ and another ‘Sock it to me’ for no apparent reason, while Easy by The Commodores and Can’t Get Enough of Your Love play it the background. Why? I don’t know, but here’s what More Th>n says:

The TV executions are dark and stylish, with simple messaging displayed in MORE TH>N’s signature green font, and each one is set to a classic soundtrack. Meanwhile, Barratt delivers a tongue in cheek voice-over that focuses on the consumer offers which MORE TH>N hopes will increase the viewer response rate.

The ad has certainly increased my response rate, it drives me a state of violent rage every time it comes on the telly. Barratt, a man who played the lead role in a series that decried exactly this sort of unfunny self-aware shtick, must need a caravan for his Mum. The ads aren’t available from any of the usual outlets – probably at Barrett’s contractual insistence – so some fans have cobbled together some images with the audio from the commercial played over the top.