It’s stupidly catchy and a great delivery from Melbourne Ska Orchestra, so it’ll be around a bit (except maybe on Win Television). Reminding us that there’s so much on offer on our free-to-air television channels is a bit like selling ice to the eskimos though it can be a good reminder of what exactly is on offer. HAPPY DAYS IN HD, for example. From the press release:

Freeview last night launched a major new TV campaign, with a distinctively effervescent creative approach which takes a high-energy studio performance of the 1920s classic song “The Best Things In Life Are Free” as its theme.

The 60-second TV commercial was filmed at the legendary Allan Eaton Studios in Melbourne, and features the Melbourne Ska Orchestra and vocalist Pat Powell performing the title song, with a number of Australia’s favourite TV personalities also in the studio enjoying the party atmosphere of the recording session.

Interspersed with the song’s studio performance are clips from some of Freeview’s best-loved programmes, edited to reflect the upbeat rhythm and song lyrics. The TVC ends with the tag line “Freeview. The Best TV. Absolutely free.”

“We’re incredibly excited to be launching this campaign, the first new TV campaign for the Freeview brand in almost two years,” Freeview General Manager, Liz Ross, said. “It’s really fitting that the creative treatment is so upbeat and it celebrates the fact that the best TV in Australia is free to watch on Freeview, something Australian viewers can be very happy about.”

“More Australians than ever are watching Freeview, and with so much great TV to choose from, viewers are the winners. This campaign is all about letting people know that Freeview offers a huge choice of top-quality viewing options, and it’s all free,” Ross said.

The new campaign was created by respected advertising executives Ron Mather and Christine Barnes, whose consultancy is It’s The Thought That Counts.

“The campaign is a celebration of free-to-air television on Freeview,” Mather said.

“In developing the campaign, it became obvious that the song that best reflects that position is ‘The Best Things in Life are Free’. It’s the perfect and natural choice and we used the massive variety of Freeview shows to prove the statement.”

“Freeview appointed It’s The Thought That Counts to create the new campaign in June, and 10 weeks later it was ready to launch,” Mather said.

The campaign will run for the next six months on all Freeview networks. The campaign includes 60 sec and 15 sec generic versions, as well as four 30 sec genre-based TVCs, including sport, drama, entertainment and comedy. Production partners included music through Bang Bang Studios, filming through Jon Webb Photography and Concrete Wednesday and post production through Method Studios using the editing skills of Seth Lockwood and Tim Isaacson.

For further information, please visit: www.freeview.com.au.