Building the New Town of Milton Keynes is one thing, getting people to move here was a much harder task. The Development Corporation took advantage of TV adverting to create several short 30-second adverts. They choose advertising agency Cogent Elliott to produce them. My mild obsession of Milton Keynes and the way it has changed over the years was initially triggered after rediscovering these adverts on a VHS tape bought from a Charity Shop in Bletchley.
I've taken many photos showing how the areas where and how they look now, I update the below descriptions with them soon.
I've taken many photos showing how the areas where and how they look now, I update the below descriptions with them soon.
The Red Balloon
One of the most famous and well-remembered of the television adverts, the MILTON KEYNES: RED BALLOON RACE featured a young boy as he travels throughout the new city of Milton Keynes with a red helium balloon ending up at the Great Milton Keynes Balloon race which was held at the National Bowl. A lot of people still see the red balloon as an icon of Milton Keynes and even featured on a car sticker for the ‘I Love MK’ campaign.
The advert was produced in 1984 by midlands based advertising agency Cogent Elliott on behalf of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. HiddenMK has watched the 60-second video numerous times and with the assistance of members of our Facebook group have found a number of the locations used during the original filming and have taken photos to compare them with how they look in 2010. The result of this work has resulted in a video which helps compare the locations side by side with the original advert.
This task of locating the filming locations hasn’t been an easy one as a lot of the locations which were just fields in 1989 have been developed or are overgrown. There are still a couple of locations we are still unable to locate, so if you know where they are please get in touch.
The known locations include (click on the images below to launch their location on google maps):
The advert was produced in 1984 by midlands based advertising agency Cogent Elliott on behalf of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. HiddenMK has watched the 60-second video numerous times and with the assistance of members of our Facebook group have found a number of the locations used during the original filming and have taken photos to compare them with how they look in 2010. The result of this work has resulted in a video which helps compare the locations side by side with the original advert.
This task of locating the filming locations hasn’t been an easy one as a lot of the locations which were just fields in 1989 have been developed or are overgrown. There are still a couple of locations we are still unable to locate, so if you know where they are please get in touch.
The known locations include (click on the images below to launch their location on google maps):
- Neath Hill Local Centre
- Penny Lands / Neath Hill Underpass
- New Bradwell
- Campbell Park
- Central Milton Keynes
- Great Linford
- The National Bowl
- Bancroft Park
The Fisherman
Though not as famous as the ‘Milton Keynes: Red Balloon Race’ or ‘The Wish’ adverts which both featured children portraying Milton Keynes as a family-friendly city, the ‘Fisherman advert’ was produced to promote economic growth by persuading business’ to relocate to the new city. It did this by contained lines such as ‘companies that move here seem to grow’ which gives an idea that business might be booming here.
The advert follows a cyclist as he travels around Milton Keynes finally arriving at a stretch of canal near New Bradwell. Throughout the advert, we are lead to believe that he might be travelling to work, but the twist is at the end of the advert when the narrator states he only moved here because of the fishing.
The first location used within this advert is better known for appearing as the ‘Solar House’ in the film the Fourth Protocol, though the house originally started its existence as part of the Homeworld ’81 exhibition some six years earlier.
Other known locations that feature in the advert include:
The job of finding the locations was assisted by both the members of our facebook group and a lot of driving around estates which existed on 1985 maps of the city to find patterns of buildings that might match those in the advert. We are still trying to find a couple of locations so if you notice any that we missing please get in touch.
The advert follows a cyclist as he travels around Milton Keynes finally arriving at a stretch of canal near New Bradwell. Throughout the advert, we are lead to believe that he might be travelling to work, but the twist is at the end of the advert when the narrator states he only moved here because of the fishing.
The first location used within this advert is better known for appearing as the ‘Solar House’ in the film the Fourth Protocol, though the house originally started its existence as part of the Homeworld ’81 exhibition some six years earlier.
Other known locations that feature in the advert include:
- Bradwell Common
- New Bradwell Windmill
- Mount Farm Lakes
- Bradwell Abbey Industrial
- Central Milton Keynes Train Station
- Central Milton Keynes Market
The job of finding the locations was assisted by both the members of our facebook group and a lot of driving around estates which existed on 1985 maps of the city to find patterns of buildings that might match those in the advert. We are still trying to find a couple of locations so if you notice any that we missing please get in touch.
The Deal
This advert follows a Japanese businessman as he attends an important meeting.
He arrives at Milton Keynes train station, though this is not made clear at first, maybe the producers of the advert hoped that the viewer would think it was some kind of airport. The taxi that he gets into seems to do a lap of central Milton Keynes before finally arriving at the now Argos head office building.
In fact, if you were to trace his route you will notice that the car travels firstly up Midsummer Boulevard then Silbury Avenue finally stopping outside a group of offices on Upper Fifth Street, though his actual destination is the headquarters for Argos located on Avebury Boulevard.
He arrives at Milton Keynes train station, though this is not made clear at first, maybe the producers of the advert hoped that the viewer would think it was some kind of airport. The taxi that he gets into seems to do a lap of central Milton Keynes before finally arriving at the now Argos head office building.
In fact, if you were to trace his route you will notice that the car travels firstly up Midsummer Boulevard then Silbury Avenue finally stopping outside a group of offices on Upper Fifth Street, though his actual destination is the headquarters for Argos located on Avebury Boulevard.