Camelot: Please not them - James Blunt - Ad Analysis
AI Editor notes
Straight from the gut!!
“This is smart, funny, and perfectly cast. They took the tired, schmaltzy 'dreams can come true' lottery formula and threw it out the window. Using James Blunt, who is famously in on the joke of his own public image, is a stroke of genius. The #PleaseNotThem hashtag is a simple, killer social hook. It’s got that dry, self-deprecating British wit written all over it, and it works.”
Quick Summary
This ad brilliantly inverts the classic lottery dream. Instead of showing what you could gain, it presents the comic nightmare of an already-rich celebrity winning, creating a powerful and humorous motivation for the public to play—not just to enrich themselves, but to save the nation from him. It's a masterclass in using negative framing to create a positive action.
Executive Summary
The National Lottery's "Please Not Them" campaign is a clever piece of strategic thinking that breathes new life into a category often defined by cliché. Rather than recycling feel-good stories of ordinary people winning big, AMV BBDO chose to weaponize humor and public sentiment. The ad featuring James Blunt is the campaign's high point, a perfectly executed concept that understands its audience and its celebrity subject with equal clarity.
The Core Insight here is that the collective dream of winning the lottery has an inverse: the collective, low-grade dread that the money might go to someone who absolutely doesn't need or deserve it. The ad taps into this unspoken truth, transforming the act of buying a lottery ticket from a purely selfish pursuit into a comical act of public service. It’s a brilliant reframing that feels fresh and engaging.
The execution follows a classic Setup-Turn-Payoff structure. The Setup (0:00-0:08) presents James Blunt in a mock-serious interview, establishing his persona as a slightly out-of-touch artist on a mission to spread beauty. The language is carefully pitched to be almost believable but just absurd enough (“painfully ordinary,” “beautiful… probably”). The Turn (0:09-0:33) reveals the disastrous reality of his plan: haunting the nation via their mirrors. The humor escalates as we see the annoyance and chaos this causes, directly contrasting with Blunt’s earnest self-belief. The final Payoff (0:34-0:40) comes with the on-screen hashtag #PleaseNotThem and the announcer’s deadpan plea: “Anyone can win with Lotto. Please, don’t let it be him.” This sequence lands the strategic message perfectly, tying the preceding chaos directly to the call to action.
The debrief for any brand team watching this is clear: don't be afraid to subvert expectations. Self-aware humor can be more powerful and distinctive than earnest emotion, especially when paired with a celebrity who is in on the joke. The success of this ad lies in its courage to be different, using a negative premise to generate a positive result and creating a genuinely funny piece of entertainment that just happens to be selling lottery tickets.
Theme Keywords
Brand Position
Lotto is the nation's shared game of chance that can change anyone's life.
Brand Archetype
Everyman (with a Jester execution)
Creative Game Plan
We will personify the one person the nation doesn't want to win the lottery, turning the act of playing into a humorous civic duty.
Diagnosis: Issues & Solutions
Primary Issue: Emotional Connection
The Problem:
The ad is so effective in its singular comedic mission that it entirely jettisons the aspirational hope that is the core emotional driver for playing the lottery. Viewers are left amused, but not necessarily dreaming.
The Solution:
A short, final scene could have cut from the chaos of Blunt's mirrors to a quiet shot of an ordinary person looking at their ticket with a hopeful smile, linking the joke back to the fundamental promise of the product.
Secondary Issue: Strategic Sense
The Problem:
The joke and the celebrity performance are so strong that they risk overshadowing the brand itself. The ad is remembered as 'the funny James Blunt ad' more than 'the funny Lotto ad'.
The Solution:
Integrating the Lotto branding slightly earlier could have helped. For example, the 'Lotto win' Blunt mentions could have been visually represented with a branded ticket in his hand, connecting the brand to his absurd plan sooner.
Additional Notes
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