no work and no comment from the Union. Ominous....

Anon 12:26. You can view the work by clicking on the link 'new campaign'. It takes a wee while to load but it's worth the wait. STV creative is turning into quite a credible and innovative creative force in Scotland.

Anon 12:26

Aye right!

Anon 12:38 you're absolutely right.

Check out their reel, http://www.stvcreative.tv/

They're on fire.

If it had been a 30sec there may have been more time to develop the scenes (or maybe one scene should have been dropped from the 20sec) it all feel a bit rushed, bland and unengaging. The voice-over feels as if has been bolted on from another campaign - does not fit with the body of the ad at all...

Since they now spend a lot of time on these forums would someone from STV like to reply to comments?

40sec on the following page - http://video.stv.tv/bc/stv-jobs-what-were-you-born-to-be-40sec/

It's workman-like and fairly predictable. It's not terrible and it's not great. It's just there, like most ads are. To trumpet this work as 'innovative' is to misjudge it in the extreme.

Anon 15:36. Anon 12:38 here. Thanks for that link. I think that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that clients can get excellent advertising at very reasonable rates by going directly to a reputable and highly respected TV broadcaster.

stv are not highly respected, they are broke. Hence this stuff. Best thing that could happen to STV will probably happen in the courts.

It's not excellent. It's just about OK. If you think this is excellent, you have the critical capacity of a small child who knows nothing about advertising.

It's safe and ordinary. 95% of what is out there is wasted spend. This just adds to that steaming pile. Union is better than this. STV Creative is a contradiction in terms by the way.

I'm sorry to be another critical anon but this ad is poor. The idea is not really original - i'm sure the idea has been used before. Why are all recruitment website ads destined to be shoddy? The S1 jobs one with danny what's his face is equally as uninspiring and the stv hacka one is probably one of the most annoying ads of all time - it's only saving grace being the presence of Vader fi river city.

Can anyone tell me what collaboration means in this instance?

"Ultimately, it does not matter what individuals from the media industry think of the ad - the proof will be if this campaign results in traffic growth for STV Jobs. If it does, it calls into question the validity & value of the opinion of the creative professionals who have anonymously criticised the ad."

Well, obviously. Let's not comment on anything ever then. That's the point of commenting on ads - sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Most ads for a website will result in a traffic increase. You've made an ad, spent money on media, so people who hadn't seen it before now will. The question is: could the ad have been better, more engaging and therefore MORE effective? I can only assume from the tone of the comment that you have a vested interest in this enterprise and are therefore keen on a bit of 'media industry' bashing.

I'd suspect that The Union came up with the creative and STV Creative were the production company on this.

Once again this forum has overreacted and tried to turn a perfectly serviceable advert into something it was never made to be. It's delivering a message - not meant to be hung in a museum as art.

Considering how rare it is that the community on this website actually agree that a piece of work is good - it can only be assumed that the whole industry is producing work that isn't up to all of your standards. So none of you are doing anything good. Maybe it's time you all reitre and let the kids take over.

@ Mon 11 Jan 2010 17:53

Interesting point you raise, one which has been raised by Leith's Danny The Bike Ad for S1 too. Surely in these troubling times, with thousands losing their jobs every month, job websites won't be struggling for visitors. It's whether any recent recruitment campaigns are building long-term brand equity that's the real test.

So hardly worth getting your knickers in a twist over results in this instance. Which is just as well really. With this outfit's last abomination of a campaign, Leith "copy and pasting" ads from Youtube and now this hackneyed shambles, Scotland's recruitment brands have failed to create much excitement – beyond this forum of course.

I'd look forward to "reitre"ing if I knew what it meant.

"not meant to be hung in a museum as art" - exactly

It just delivers a simple message - Do the job you were born to do. Original or not, it delivers the message i think they set out to deliver. And to be honest, its all fine and well a couple of media 'know-it-alls' sitting here slating it, but, I dare say your not the target demograph. I reckon 99.99% of the population who see the ad wont be scrutinising the creative or the originality of the ad... But probably sitting thinking 'God, i remember when i was little i wanted to be a fireman' - wether that turns into an increase in traffic remains a question only to be answered in due time.

Its a simple ad - well made - be it by the Union or STV Creative.

Aside from some of the petty ramblings of the professionally impaired below, this story highlights the rapid pace of change in this industry.

The Dino-agencies complaining about foul play need to rethink their business models, as well as their strategic partnerships.

To quote a retired US Military General:

"If you don't like change, you're gonna like irrelevance even less".

It's dog eat dog. Bon appetit.

The 40sec version is better than the 20sec.

If STV Creative are creative, and don't need agencies, why did the get The Union involved?

So really they are still STV Productions - with creative being subcontracted to The Union, that sort of negates many of the "change or die" comments below.

I've already commented on this debate, but wanted to come back in to make one thing clear. My "ramblings" are not biased against production companies offering creative solutions – whatever their role in this spot – I just think the work is uninspiring, unoriginal and unlikely to capture the hearts and minds of the Scottish public. If The Leith had been responsible for this I'd say the same thing. And I know I've done work in the same sector that's much more inspirational and motivational than this - producing serious results – so anyone who wants to suggest that I can't do better can think again.

And so proud of your work you a still posting anonymously

Thanks for clearing that up Anon 8:41. Knowing that you know you can do better work has put my mind at rest. I was concerned for the Scottish Advertising scene for a minute then. I wasn't the anon who suggested you couldn't do better by the way, but I'm going to think again anyway.

Isn't the record traffic simply due to the fact that it's january and lots of people make their new year resolution to get a new job? Of course you're going to priase the ad - you flippin work for STV so your comments are bound to be biased. This ad, while I'm sure it will do it's job, is average - face it.

Well Happy New Year everyone! Good to see such good cheer, optimism and positive energy in Scotland. Clean sheet, fresh start and all that.

Being miserable, downbeat and introspective isn't going to help this country turn things round (or indeed the creative industries). If you're that unhappy, the prospects in Egypt look good.

See the link.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GMkD4mFrFxw/SoZvY4Cse-I/AAAAAAAAB9Y/7RyMK16erF...

Previous comment:
"I also can't see why this proposition differs from that of S1? Both have the same jobs from the same creatively challenged recruitment companies."

I think you've just said what STV Jobs wants to hear since they are much cheaper... Same jobs and people using it, why would you pay the prices s1 want now?