got to the cinema super early this week and was delivered two bits of commerciality from the BBC.

the first was audio for the Chris Moyles Show, with the man himself chatting to a side-kick as sounds flew around the cinema.  lots of "ooohh, I can make this sound go from left to right, listen…". 

innovative and interesting use of the capabilities of the media channel’s surround sound.

the next was a trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas Special.  the corporation no doubt hopes that Voyage of the Damned, the Tennent / Kylie-fest planned for Christmas Day will be better received by critics than last year’s spiderfest. 

a straight-forward TV trailer then, played in a cinema.

one of these two ads was brilliant, the other was irritating and annoying.  no prizes for guessing which one…

by the time Moyles and co were halfway through, I was ready to personally pull the speakers off the wall.  it was childish and tired; and anyone who thought that playing with sound in a cinema would impress, should check out what Dolby have been doing – consistently and rather elegantly – for years…

the Doctor Who trailer on the other hand was glorious.  seeing it on the big screen did justice to the both the quality of the cast and ambition of the plot and effects.  a simple piece of media planning that put the right communication in the best of places at the right time.

the lessons here is that sometimes less is more.  of the two pieces, the Moyles audio was by far the more customised for it’s environment – it was infinitely smarter; but that didn’t make it better.  by contrast the simple act of trailing a TV show on a big public screen rather than a small personal one, afforded it the credibility of a cinema piece with the anticipation of a movie trailer.  I know which one I’ll be tuning into.