Ah, the weekend! That special time for a man to flex those do-it-yourself muscles-stubbornly not asking or seeking any help, even if he needs it.
Here, we see two guys in their respective front yards, about to tend to some morning chores. A voiceover introduces us to the first gent who’s standing in the driveway, looking under the hood of his car.
"Mr. Fowler spent his weekend attempting to fit his car battery … "
His neighbor, holding a ladder, greets him. "Nice day for it," says the friendly guy next door, offering words of encouragement for his car battery-installing buddy.
However, the battery isn’t being cooperative, which is a euphemism for saying that our do-it-yourselfer is clearly inept. His wife looks down at him from an upstairs bedroom window, seemingly knowing that he’s not about to come inside the house for quite some time.
Meanwhile, the neighbor with the ladder is indeed on the ascent. The voiceover intervenes, identifying this handy man. "Fortunately," relates the voiceover, "Mr. Williams got Halfords to fit his [car battery], leaving him time to enjoy his weekend with Mrs. Fowler.
Mr. Williams has climbed up the ladder, which he placed along the side of the Fowlers’ house. He jumps into a side bedroom window for a romantic rendezvous with Mrs. Fowler. He arrives in full bloom-with a rose jutting out of his clenched teeth. She has been awaiting him and is clearly willing and able.
Outside, night has fallen and Mr. Fowler is still in his driveway, with flames shooting out from his still uninstalled automobile battery.
Against this backdrop of frustration, a super appears which reads: "Halfords We’ll-Fit-It Service."
An end tag slogan is seen against a black background. The slogan: "Halfords. Start here. Go anywhere."
Entitled "Battery," the spot is one of four :30s in a Halfords stores’ campaign directed by John O’Hagan of bicoastal/international hungry man for London agency Abbott Mead Vickers-BBDO. A second ad in the package, "Roof Box," carries the same theme, with Mr. Fowler wasting away the weekend trying to mount a roof box atop his car. Meanwhile, Mr. Williams is doing some mounting of his own, upstairs with Mrs. Fowler, whom we see clad in sexy lingerie.
Matt Buels and Stephen Orent were executive producers for hungry man’s New York and London offices, respectively. Carrie Hart line produced the job for hungry man. The DP was Tim Maurice Jones.
The team at Abbott Mead Vickers-BBDO consisted of creative director Peter Souter, copywriters Mike Nicholson and Richard Morgan, art directors Daryl Corps and Simon Langley, and producer Anita Sasdy.
The spots in the campaign were edited by Lisa Gunning of The Whitehouse, London.
Danny Etherington and Mark Horrobin of the Moving Picture Company, London, served as visual effects artist/online editor and colorist, respectively. Audio mixer was Jonny Burns of London-based Wave.
The spots broke earlier this summer in the U.K.
This spot’s principal actors were Craig Kerrigan, Dominic Burrelli and Melody Fielding.
The SAG/AFTRA Commercials Contract Standing Committee has granted a waiver to
allow commercials to be available for viewing on SHOOTonline.com. The spots cannot be copied, downloaded or emailed.
