A two-minute black and white film where all the characters are priests? Yes. It’s one of the best. And there really are a lot of priests, young and old. Oh, and there’s some beer that never gets near being drunk. It doesn’t even get out of the bottle. There are no fancy pouring shots here.
Agency: DLKW Lowe, London
Creative Direction: Ed Morris
Art Direction: Vince Squibb
Copywriter: Vince Squibb
Production Company: Academy
Director: Jonathan Glazer
If you look at the pedigree, you get a clue: one of the greatest directors at work in advertising and, mostly since then, feature films. One of the great art directors. And all in the service of one of the very great, long-lasting campaigns. Stella Artois and its “reassuringly expensive” message.
"What makes Skating Priests so super special is the double debunk … we’re rewarded not once but twice!"
- Nicola Wood, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy UK
We could have put quite a few other ads here from that campaign, there’s so much great work (and Glazer indeed had shot two previous commercials in the campaign). The “reassuringly expensive” print work is masterful and it hurts not to show it here but we have to come down to one ad, really. And so we tempt you with somewhat understated black-and-white frames drawn from the wonderful poignant tale of Skating Priests. Look at them and reflect on the twists and turns of life, while humming Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
"Brilliant storytelling, witty, simple, beautiful. It hooks you from the first scene. It’s timeless."
- Richard Brim, Chief Creative Officer, adam&eveDDB
