Carlsberg, who are the official beer of the England football team (even though they’re Danish!), has unveiled its World Cup ad which features an array of sporting celebs including Sir Trevor Brooking, Nigel Benn, Jack Charlton, Stuart Pearce, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Phil ’The Power’ Taylor, Ian Botham and the adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

The 90 second ad was created by Saatchi & Saatchi (groan) and is booked to run until the end of June.

The Team Talk concept has been running since February when Carlsberg asked fans to add their support by creating their own “team talks” and the new TV ad delivers the brewer’s own rousing speech with the strapline “Probably the best team talk in the world…”

Paul Davies, director of brands and insight at Carlsberg UK, says “This ad has been in the making for months and we hope it can help deliver some additional inspiration for the England team and the fans. Pulling the shoot together was an impressive undertaking and it was a real honour to bring all of these sporting heroes together.”

Personally I’m not sure that I would have choosen Stuart Pearce as a good example of giving the best team talk ever and the “do it for Bobby” line was just a little too far in my opinion.

The advert was filmed at the ’The Den’, the home of Millwall FC and the cast members also appear in some behind the scenes filming and interviews that can also be seen at www.englandteamtalk.com.

Should England have an official beer anyway?

The first ad will be shown tonight (19th April) and is called “History of Celebration,” and is inspired by 1990 FIFA World Cup star Roger Milla and his corner flag dance goal celebration. Milla was 38 at the time and the star of the Cameroon team in 1990 who scorer four goals to make them the first African side to reach a World Cup quarter-final.

In the new Coca-Cola ad the minute-long spot opens with the original footage of Roga Milla’s goal and subsequent dance celebration at the corner flag, followed by a montage of players showing off their celebratory moves, representing the evolution of goal celebrations.

A second animated advert called “Quest” depicts the journey of a young footballer playing the game on a dusty pitch in Africa, where he encounters animated versions of other players and “robots” all with their own stlyle of goal celebration.

The third advert, “Border Crossing,” was created in support of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola. In this ad, a Coca-Cola delivery truck is stopped at a border crossing by serious guards who want to inspect the cargo. They find the FIFA World Cup trophy and are jubilantly dancing, cheering and photographing themselves with the ultimate accolade of  football.

The ads are part of a fully integrated marketing campaign that will run in more than 150 countries around the world and have been created by creative agency Santo and all three tv ads  feature a music speciallycreated by hip-hop artist K’Naan.

“Our entire football campaign was designed to amplify the global ’Open Happiness’ campaign for Coca-Cola,” said Emmanuel Seuge, group director, worldwide sports and entertainment marketing, The Coca-Cola Company. “By tapping into the joyous feelings that are expressed in goal celebrations we bring to life that moment of happiness and uplift that is at the heart of our brand.”

The ads are ‘typical Coca-Cola’ and depict a utopian harmony that it real life does not exist – least of all within football. The first tv ad is definately the stronger of the three and uses the nostalgia advertising element rather well . Nostalgia advertising is being done to death by most brands so it is refreshing to see Milla’s clip used intelligently.

In efforts to stop you reaching for the ‘value’ products in these tough times major brands are trying remind you of times gone-by, when things were better or reminding you of your childhood. Hovis led the way with their iconic TV ad from last year which showed the boy running through the ages with his loaf under his arm.

These nostalgic ads also instill some elements of Britishness, encouraging you to spend your pounds patriotically.

Loads of brands have taken the nostalgia route and with a little help from my Twitter followers I have been reminded just how many there are:

Sainsbury’s 140 Years

M&S 125th Anniversary

Virgin Atlantic 25 Years and Still Red Hot

Other brands have had a slightly different slant on the nostalgia theme by creating a new ad using a montage of their tv adverts from yesteryear. I know in my living room the wife and I have pointed at the screen excitedly to say “I remember that one, ooh and that one…..” on a few occasions.

Beanz Meanz Heinz

Persil 100 Years

The cynic in me thinks that this montage style is not just to tug at our memories but is also considerably cheaper to produce. No scripting, no actors, no locations and no clever aftereffects. Just re-hash the old ones that everyone loves.

The one brand that could have gone down this route but didn’t is Guiness with their 250th anniversary advert from early this year.

This ad bucked the current trend by creating an ultra-modern, if not futuristic offering:

Guiness 250 Years

I’m sure that there will be more nostalgia tv adverts on our screens in the coming months as the recession continues to bite so please feel free to comment as and when you see them or if there are any that I’ve missed.