The 10 Best Commercials of 2012

The Guardian, "Three Little Pigs"
Agency: BBH, London
Director: Ringan Ledwidge, Rattling Stick

BBH copywriter Mark Lewis, creative director David Kolbusz, art director Matt Fitch | Photo: James Day

In another charmed creative year for BBH, the agency's greatest work was literally a fairy tale. Its brilliant two-minute spot for The Guardian reimagines the Three Little Pigs as a modern news story, beginning with the Big Bad Wolf's death in a boiling pot and a SWAT team descending on the home of the porcine suspects. All of Britain is appalled at the horrific crime. But there's more to the story. Weren't the pigs just protecting their property? How could the wolf, who had asthma, blow down two of their houses? Maybe the pigs, who were behind on their mortgage payments, framed the wolf to pick up the insurance money. The Guardian's reporters chase every twist and turn, with help from readers across social media, vividly demonstrating the paper's collaborative concept of "open journalism." Grim yet playful, mythical yet supremely modern, the spot has it all: a delightful conceit, an epic vision and deft execution from director Ringan Ledwidge. Putting The Guardian at the center of the swirl of 21st century life was a defiant rebuke to those who would question newspapers' relevance today. With a huff and a puff, BBH delivered the year's greatest mix of craft and storytelling—a rousing triumph in an industry that needed it.



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