Total-ly serious about service

The previous commercial also created by Net#work BBDO, using its usual trademark humour, displayed staggering results. With just four weeks on air, the ad showing Total's people in a boot camp, increased brand awareness by 60%. Total's retail sales reached new highs with usage up by 50% and the company moved up the competitor chart from number five to number four. Market research further indicated that almost eight out of 10 customers said they wanted the 'TOTAL service' because they had seen it on television."

Creative team, Philip Ireland and John Davenport said it makes such a difference to our creative output to have a client like Total that has the foresight to use bold positioning and an understanding that well used humour can break through the clutter that dominates our TV screens.

Says Total's deputy CEO Morakile Shuenyane: "I believe in surrounding myself with the best and then allowing them to do what they do best. Even when our agency's imaginative ideas have made us a little uncomfortable, it sparks my humility not to clip their wings. And so far we have not been disappointed by the responses to our advertising." He says: "We had excellent business results from our previous advert and the feedback from our current ones so far is - 'daring, but excellent'. "However, the greatest benefit is the wave of enthusiasm and pride that has automatically swept through our organisation."

The advert series is based on what a maitre d' at a posh restaurant, a racing car pit crew and a professional cheerleader team all have to offer. Service, speed and a winning smile. When Total hires these people to train its people, the results are great for the petroleum company and its customers, but disastrous for the companies they left behind and that is when the fun begins.

The new maitre d' sets himself on fire while trying to flambé, the incompetent new cheerleaders forget their routine and physically injure each other and the new racing car pit crew make a string of errors that culminate in the car's wheel coming off. After the pandemonium in each ad - it cuts to the Total training academy where the professional maitre d', cheerleaders and pit crew are teaching Total employees the finer points of advanced service.

Although Total is half owned by South Africans, it has strong French roots and Shuenyane says: "It may go unnoticed, but depicting a French maitre d' burning his hands while trying to flambe', is just another way of laughing at ourselves. Ireland and Davenport have been highly successful in making us the butt of the joke while getting the service message across. Their formula, which is always a source of discussion at dinner tables, is working for us."