Halifax has released a new animated spot from agency adam&eveDDB, featuring Dorothy, her dog, Toto, and her three friends from MGM’s 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.
The 60-second advert, based on a scene close to the end of the film, when the girl, accompanied by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, have finally been granted an audience with “The Wizard”, follows Dorothy and her fellows as they meet Halifax employee Greg (played by David Rees Talbot), who helps them get mortgages for the home of their dreams. Well, actually not all of them can get mortgages. Greg is not able to give a mortgage to Dorothy because she’s far too young. What she gets, instead, is a precious piece of advice that gets her back home, in Texas.
Dorothy is played by Judy Garland, the Scarecrow by Ray Bolger, the Tin Man by Jack Haley and the Cowardly Lion by Bert Lahr.
The spot, which debuted on Friday, April 27, on Channel 4, is the latest installment in a series featuring other iconic cartoon characters. In 2017, Scooby, Shaggy, and the rest of the gang from the Mystery Machine appeared in a spot for Halifax, and in 2016 Fred Flinstone and his wife, Wilma, took centre stage in a spot featuring them in search of a modern bank. The same year, Top Cat was brought out of retirement to highlight, in a new campaign from the bank’s longtime agency, Adam&EveDDB, how Halifax’s colleagues give “extra” to every single customer.
