MEDIA: CREATIVE IMPULSE

This month Bartle Bogle Hegarty unveiled its first ad for Lynx body spray since winning the UK account from Ammirati Puris Lintas last June. In the ad, a shy young man tries in vain to impress a beautiful girl at a trendy party until he liberally dowses himself with the product. However, the ad ends with the hero knocking the girl off a balcony as they admire the sunset, while a voice-over by comedian Vic Reeves warns: "The Lynx effect - remember, it doesn't last forever ..."

The client: Elida Faberge

Russell Taylor, European brand manager, Lynx

"The basic brief was to increase the standing of the brand. Ultimately that meant representing the brand's promise of seduction in a really fresh and different way, without the advertising taking itself too seriously.

The sort of people we are talking to are young blokes, who are the most ad-literate. If you hit on a stylish and colourful ad, they judge that ad for its own sake and therefore expect it to represent a smart, stylish brand.

What we've done is recognise the weakness of the deodorant sector's advertising. We have deliberately set ourselves apart. We're saying that this is not an overly serious fragrance ad, and equally, that we're not overly rational and functional like other deodorants are."

The agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Julian Martin, management representative

"Lynx is a mega brand, which has grown over the past few years to own the category. So it wasn't as if Elida Faberge had a problem to solve - they just had this massive brand, and came to the conclusion that they had to move on. Critically, that depends not so much on what you're saying as how you say it.

Our goal has been to make the advertising more credible to young people: the teenage audience is the most cynical of any, and I think it's fair to say that the Lynx advertising had become formulaic.

Our job was to present the basic proposition in a more exciting way. While the scenario is exaggerated, consumers can all relate to that situation when you're a) at a party and out of your depth and b) you see a beautiful girl and you're tongue-tied. Here the guy plans an exit and gets his confidence back, by discovering the spray in the bathroom.

The category has become rather cliched in the way it portrays itself - the classic shot of the spray going on to the naked torso. The whole idea of the guy spraying it everywhere, including down his pants, is fun, exaggerated, but credible. People can relate to it; they know it's a pastiche of real life."