Captain Kirk, Bohemian Rhapsody and a Teddy Bear Named Miles For Thomson Holidays.

thomson teddy bear commercial

A new television ad from Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB) for Thomson holidays and vacation travel of the UK features the mellifluous voice of non other than William Shatner. The Captain is singing – well, more like speaking – the lyrics to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as we watch the story of a one-eyed bear named Miles who is in desperate need of a holiday to recover his smile.

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Directed by Tom Tagholm, the spots were conceived up by the Beattie McGuinness Bungay agency for their client Thomson. They are a follow up to the award-winning ‘Simon The Ogre’ spot (shown in full at the end of this post) that BMB produced for Thompson last year.

simon the orge still frame IIHIH
above: the full 2 minute version of this award-winning spot is show at the end of this post

BMB says “Our idea needed to be something that both continued the story of transformation, but also had the Thomson brand firmly at its heart. And for this we hit on Miles the Bear, a one-eyed, raggedy but utterly loveable bear who rediscovers his smile on a Thomson holiday. When we meet him, he is feeling a bit low, ground down (as we all are at times) by everyday life – for him, the daily drudgery of being a well-loved teddy bear. His routine is disrupted forever once he’s taken on holiday to a Thomson resort in Jamaica , which, bit by bit, cheers him up and help him discover his smile again.

Miles grinning image IIHIH

The agency continues on to say “He’s our vehicle for symbolising the wonders that only a Thomson holiday can work, and the big fat grin that he ends up with looks, funnily enough, almost exactly like the smile of the Thomson logo, ensuring the unforgettable presence of Thomson in this tale.”

Here’s a look at the one minute cut (there was a 90 second version as well) and our apologies but the 2:00 minute look ‘Behind the scenes’ of the filming in Jamaica video has since been removed from Youtube.

The 60 second version:

The 60-second spot broke during the season premiere of Britain’s “The X Factor” this weekend and this 30-second version will be broadcast throughout October, with further versions of the story due to follow in the New Year.

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The campaign is asking people to share their own stores of what makes them smile on the Thomson website by using #MadeMeSmile

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Thomson even has a nice little page about William Shatner here on their website

Credits:
Agency: Beattie McGuinness Bungay
Client: Thomson
Executive Creative Director: Trevor Beattie
Creative Director: Pat Burns
Creative: Rachel Miles
Creative: Michael Tsim
Agency Producer: Gill Loftus
Production Company: Park Pictures
Director: Tom Tagholm
Executive Producer: Stephen Brierley
Producer: Fran Thompson
Production Manager: Ananda Coulier
DOP: Martin Ruhe
Model Maker: Anarchy
Soft Technician/Teddy Bear Wrangler: Danielle Boyne
Post Production: Realise Studio

If you never saw the Simon The Ogre ad, here’s the full 2 minute long version:

It also aired as a 60 second and a 90 second spot.