Now if you’ll please excuse me, I’d like to do a little bit of gushing. I saw this advertisement for the first time the other day and it really connected with me. I know it’s been around for a while now (since late 2005 I believe), but somehow I’ve remained oblivious to it until the other day.

I’m talking about the Vodafone Mayfly spot - it’s a really great advertisement. I can see that the animation in it is absolutely superb - yes it’s really clever to make a blowfly to those sorts of fancy things. But it’s not really the visual stimuli that makes this thing work – it’s what’s coming in either side of the head.

The narration in this advertisement is really poignant. It has one of those sorts of life messages in it that make you change your outlook a little bit. I know it’s a pretty common theme, the whole live everday like it’s your last, but the way it’s said in this commercial really strikes a chord.

I saw the Aussie version obviously so this is the words as I heard them..

The common mayfly has a life expectancy of just one day.
Does he give a damn? Naah bugger that he says.
He has the time of his life.
Because if anyone knows that time flies, it’s him.
If we made every moment in life count, like the mayfly, what a life that would be.
Vodafone, make the most of now.

But here’s the original (UK) narrative text:

The common mayfly has a life expectancy of just one day.
But is he miserable about it? Not one bit.
He fills his day with the things he loves.
He soars, he sweeps, he savours every moment.
Maybe there’s a lesson in this for us longer living creatures.
Just think, if we embrace life like the mayfly, what a life that would be.
Vodafone, make the most of now.

There are also different narrators for New Zealand, Hungary, Italy, Germany (possibly others).

But it’s not just what’s being said here that makes this ad work so well. Brilliant choice of music (‘The Love Song’ by k-os) really helps set the mood in this piece. The simple major piano chords give off a really ‘everything will be okay’ kind of vibe.

So just to reiterate, I know that this advertisement isn’t new and that I’m probably well behind the 8 ball in seeing this one, but I just had to give my two thumbs up to the creators (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) for this one. Television really is a powerful medium in influencing people and it’s great to see advertisements that aim to change people in a positive way.