Attenborough At 100: A Natural Selection Of Ads

There are few voices that can make a nation sit up straighter than Sir David Attenborough’s. For decades, he has whispered us through the mating rituals of birds of paradise, the migration of wildebeest, the private lives of plants and the slow-motion jeopardy of a seal about to become a whale's tea.

So it is hardly surprising that advertising has spent years trying to borrow a little of that magic. Sometimes this association is literal as in the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) or the UN, and the BBC has created many famous promos for his seminal series starring its host — but more often, brands have reached for the Attenborough effect: the hushed reverence, the sweeping natural-history grammar (he's also been the inspiration for some affectionate parodies).

Not all of the ads are available to watch on YouTube but you can read more about how Travelodge used an impersonation of his soothing voice to help guests drift off; how Crocs affectionately steals Attenborough’s habitat by recasting collectors, chefs and influencers as distinct “species” of Crocs wearer; how Bosch won awards for using his mannerisms to sell drills; and why he was the right voice for an ad for the Teacher Training Agency.

He's even appeared (or rather gave his blessing to an impersonation) in the anti-drugs campaign FRANK. In the ad a suburban house party becomes a nocturnal habitat, drug users become strange species under observation, and the familiar voice of nature documentary is repurposed to make public-health messaging feel less like a lecture and more like a field study.

As Sir David turns 100, here are a natural selection of ads that have evolved in his image — from affectionate homage to full-blown parody and everything in between — and asks why the great man’s influence remains one of advertising’s most enduring species.

WH Smith

First up is this 1990 spot by DMB&B for WH Smith featuring aa young Steve Coogan doing impressions of questionable quality of figures from that time - including Attenborough. Incidentally, it's not as bad as other spots from this campaign - one saw him impersonate Rolf Harris — but it's unlikely to appear on Coogan's reel.

Zoological Society of London

In a shift of tone, Attenborough lent his authoritative voice for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), titled 'Don't let ZSL go extinct'. The campaign was created by Wunderman Thompson to raise funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced ZSL's zoos (London and Whipsnade) to close, cutting off their main income stream.

John West

John West’s multiple award-winning 'Bear' by Leo Burnett in 2000 is less a tribute to Attenborough than a brilliant mugging of his genre. It borrows the serenity and authority of the natural-history documentary, then lets a fisherman drop-kick it into one of advertising's most revered spots.

TV Licensing

John Cleese fronted this spot for the BBC Licence Fee, parodying his "What have the Romans Ever Done For Us" sketch. Among other BBC talent from that era — 1985 — Attenborough makes a cameo role highlighting the quality of its natural history output.

IKEA

IKEA’s 'Planet Sleep' doesn’t feature Attenborough, but it lovingly borrows his habitat. With a David-esque voiceover and mock-National Geographic framing, the 2019 campaign turns bedtime niggles into observed animal behaviour — making the case that, in the modern home, sleep itself may be the endangered species.

The Wildlife Trusts

Attenborough and a host of celebrities rallied behind a 2019 campaign from The Wildlife Trusts that called for nature’s recovery in the UK. The ad, created by Don’t Panic, is an imagined film trailer for classic children’s novel The Wind in the Willows. The characters Badger, Ratty, Mole and Toad face 21st-century threats from bulldozers, pollution and intensive agriculture, which destroy or break up their homes.

United Nations

Rather than parodying Attenborough’s natural-history style, 'The People’s Seat' weaponised his authority in 2028. WPP and the UN placed him not in the role of observer, but advocate: the trusted planetary narrator turning the public’s climate fears into a direct address to world leaders.