Brent Smart: L&P, radio and a trip to the beach - it's the choicest

Just ask Kerre Woodham how hard it is to silence a room of 1000 drinking advertising people for 60 seconds.

We saw the L&P "Beach" radio spot do just that last month at the CAANZ Axis Awards, where Woodham was MC, when it hushed the room and earned our undivided attention.

This is the campaign that captured everyone's imagination 12 months ago. And it is kept relevant and engaging through the radio executions that were awarded at Axis.

It is very rarely these days that we hear a cracking radio spot.

Where have they all gone? Why do all radio ads have to be horrible, shouty, retaily things?

And in this age of highly visual communications, it's important to acknowledge the craft of copywriting. It doesn't get much better than these beautifully written L&P spots.

The radio ad is hard to describe in print but here goes. The narrator, in a classic New Zealand accent, begins: "Back in the day a family trip to the beach was just about the choicest thing ever. Your mum would pack the big red, white and blue striped bag, with your Bata Bullets, some baby oil for tanning and some sandwiches, which really did contain sand." The spot finishes with: "L&P and fish and chips. World famous in New Zealand since ages ago."

Five things to love about this work:

* It shows the power of storytelling for brands.

* You can reminisce without being corny.

* Tone of voice is the key to integration - it can hold brands together.

* Owning an occasion doesn't have to be a functional, rational communication.

* They managed to get "choicest" into a script.

No doubt the choicest thing I've heard on radio for a long time.