There is no escape (in a good way)

Hot Press steps up its promotional drive this week with the launch of its 40-second cinema commercial.

The ad was directed by film-maker Graham Jones, who is best known for his acclaimed first feature movie How To Cheat In The Leaving Cert.

"Graham hasn't made an ad before," Hot Press editor Niall Stokes comments. "In fact it may well be the only one he'll ever make, so it was a great privilege to work with him on it."

Amplifying the current Hot Press theme "There Is No Escape", the ad is located somewhere in Nevada.

"Graham was taken with the fact that Hot Press is available all over the world and quite often turns up in the most unexpected places," Stokes adds.

"Once we'd discussed the possibilities, he was given total creative control. I wanted to see what could be achieved by allowing someone to stretch the boundaries. We didn't impose any baggage on the ad, and what Graham produced is, I think, very special as a result."

Explaining the selection of Jones as the director, Stokes emphasises the importance of understanding the ethos of the magazine.

"I think Graham is hugely talented," Stokes comments. "How To Cheat was a great movie, made on a shoestring. It's clear that Graham knows the value of hard work and graft of the kind that is involved in putting something like Hot Press on the map. But he also has an understanding of Hot Press editorially, what separates it from the majority of publications, and what characterises the impact that it has made on people and on their view of the world.

"In the end, however, in anything like this, the calibre of the imagination that is brought to bear is what is most important. Graham thinks cinematically, and I imagine that when people see the ad they'll feel that instinctively. I had hoped that by making a great ad that it would say what we wanted to say about Hot Press in a particularly eloquent and subtle way.

"I hope that's what we have achieved."