'Whodunnit?': Loads of agencies

Much like the cast of assembled suspects in an Agatha Christie-style country house murder mystery, Waitrose has become the latest in a long list of advertisers to tease the nation with a 'whodunnit?' spot.

The star-studded Christmas ad by Saatchi & Saatchi was a conscious decision to eschew the season schmaltz most often associated with Christmas, and tease out the campaign.

Speaking to Creative Salon, Waitrose customer director Nathan Ansell said it was in response to customer feedback about Christmas ads being a little same-y: "It's too many fairies, too many carrots what have you, so we wanted to do something a little different".

It's certainly different from the rest of the Christmas advertising fayre. But its traditions are equally proud and established. We take a look at some other ads that have been inspired by the drama of a criminal denouement - and added their own twist.

Cockburn's

One early example of a murder mystery Agatha Christie-themed ad is this 1979 spot for Cockbun's featuring a Poirot-style interrogation.

Ahead of the big reveal of the murderers identity to the guests, the detective decides to rush off to polish off his bottle of Cockburns' Special Reserve Port.

Created by D'Arcy-MacManus & Masius, it won at the British Arrows that year, although the detective's evident drink problem would now be a greater cause of concern. But this was back in the 70s.

Head & Shoulders

Far more recently this contemporary this spot for P&G's Head & Shoulders uses a cast of the usual suspects - similar to characters in the board game Cluedo (created in 1944 by English factory worker Anthony E. Pratt who was inspired by the popularity of Christie's murder mystery novels of the time).

There's the clergyman, the retired army officer, the icy aristocrat, the housemaid etc. at the scene of a country house murder.

While the detective is sadly not Belgian, again we never discover who committed the grisly murder as he's more interested not in swilling Port but in discovering that one of the house guests has dandruff.

Beko

This 2024 spot by VML 'The Beko Inheritance' also uses the Christie-style denouement, albeit in a different scenario. Featuring an ensemble cast, including Brendan Patricks (Downton Abbey), Ross Hatt (The Gentlemen), and Marty Cruickshank (The Crown), the family dispute centres on a presumed family heirloom,.

Each of the flawed characters attend the reading of a will where the coveted family heirloom is unveiled to be none other than a Beko fridge, symbolizing the enduring quality and longevity of Beko appliances.

Bahlsen

A further twist on the denouement yarn came in this 2016 spot for Bahlsen from the now-defunct Creature.

It shows the sleuth distracted from the big reveal of the murder mystery when his prime suspect offers him a Choco Leibniz from a silver case.

The ad ends with the detective blaming any of the roll call of suspects assembled in the drawing room just so he can enjoy his biscuit in peace.

Transport for London

Oh, and just one more thing.... in 2009 Transport for London ran its follow up to its acclaimed 'Dancing Bear' ad and replaced scare tactics in the safety campaign with comedy based on the whodunnit schtick.

The spot, also called 'Whodunnit' and created by WCRS, showed how easy it is for cyclists to be missed - with the ultimate aim to encourage both cyclists and motorists to be more cautious on the road.

The classic country house murder scene (albeit filmed in the style of a dated TV movie), featured a number of deliberate continuity errors. These are then revealed to the audience at the end to demonstrate just how easy it is to miss things - and in a traffic situation that obviously includes cyclists.

While advertising has yet to break Agatha Christie's record of 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections based around fictional detectives, the fact that she has inspired so many imitations shows the importance and enduring nature of her work. It's likely that many other brands will turn to her pages for some camp harmless murder mystery fun.

After all there's a "Body [of work] in the Library".