Rather nice new ad for ESPN from our compadres at W+K Amsterdam.

"The call of sport is louder than the call of nature…"

To subscribe to ESPN, visit www.espn.co.uk/tv or call 0844 324 1540. 

Ray writes:

This is a strange job. And we’ve had some strange moments. But yesterday tops it off. Because I don’t think we’ve ever actually orchestrated strangeness like we have on the latest Visit Wales campaign. And I sincerely mean strange in a good way. Because this weekend we put the weight of one country, behind inviting just one unsuspecting man, on a proper holiday. One man called Piers Bramhall.

 The last holiday he had with his fabulous girlfriend Emma Foley was an all-inclusive job. A sitting by the pool and stuck to the sun lounger affair. Nothing wrong with that. Piers is a decent hardworking bloke who just fancied a bit of a rest. But we wanted to give Piers and Emma the chance to have a holiday together away from the lilo, and experience a proper holiday, courtesy of Wales.

This campaign is still about Wales standing for Proper Holidays. But we wanted to push even harder to help shift entrenched perceptions of Wales by acting in a different, more progressive way. This campaign will also see us opening up the conversation about Wales by giving the people of Wales and lovers of Wales a platform to talk about the stuff that they do or love best.

That’s the background. Here’s the mentalness of the day. A day that started in a park in Ealing at 7am with a Welsh choir limbering up their handsome vocal chords. Then the lovely Joanna Page joined us. And her lovely husband. And her equally lovely parents. Trust me. They’re lovely.

All 60 of us then tip-toed our way round to Piers’ house ready to make our grand invite. Then an IKEA van showed up so all 60 of us had to quickly tip-toe back again. Finally the choir assembled and sonorously belted out their version of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Wikipedia it). My goodness. Have you heard a Welsh choir? One that’s in front of you and not on the telly. It fills up your chest. It makes you stand a bit taller. It brings on goose bumps even if you don’t want goose bumps, damn it. These big voices flooded the street and sure enough brought Piers and Emma outside. I can’t explain the rest from here. No point. Just look.

Do you see what I mean? About the bonkerness? The choir. Twickenham. The newspaper. Ian Rush. IAN RUSH! Kelly Jones. Kelly Jones’ mum and dad. Kelly Jones’ mum and dad chatting to Joanna Page’s mum and dad. Enough already. You get it.

We really hope that Piers and Emma enjoy this trip. They are a brilliant couple who deserve a brilliant experience. You can see how it all unfolds here.

Follow the campaign on Facebook! www.facebook.com/visitwales

And on twitter! @wewantpiers