Anthea Benton is a British

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

and

music video director A music video director is the head of music video production. The director conceives of videos' artistic and dramatic aspects while instructing the musical act, technical crew, actors, models, and dancers. They may or may not be in collaboration ...

, best known for her adverts for

Stella Artois Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ire ...

and

Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. () is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's () brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to o ...

Career

Benton began her career as a Fashion Designer and moved into directing in 1982 as half of the directing duo Vaughan and Anthea (with

Vaughan Arnell Vaughan Arnell (born 31 May 1961, in Chertsey, Surrey) is a British music video and television commercial director. Although having done films for high-profile clients in the TV commercial field, including Nestlé and Levi's, he is best known for ...

). The two worked together for over a decade, initially concentrating on music videos, making a number of memorable promos in the burgeoning field including Dead or Alive's "

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" is a song by English pop band Dead or Alive, featured on their second album, '' Youthquake'' (1985). Released as a single in November 1984, it reached No. 1 in the UK in March 1985, taking 17 weeks to get ...

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...

's " Space Cowboy",

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singe ...

's " Back for Good",

Anggun Anggun Cipta Sasmi (; born 29 April 1974), better known as Anggun C. Sasmi or more often mononymously as Anggun, is an Indonesian-born French singer-songwriter and television personality. Born in Jakarta, she began performing at the age of sev ...

's "

Snow on the Sahara ''Snow on the Sahara'' (English version) / ''Au nom de la lune'' (French version) is the fifth studio album and first international release by Indonesian singer Anggun. The French version was first released in France on 24 June 1997 by Columbia R ...

" and

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

's "

Fastlove "Fastlove" is a song by English singer-songwriter George Michael, released on 22 April 1996 by Virgin Records in the United Kingdom and DreamWorks Records in the United States as the second single from his third album, ''Older'' (1996). Writte ...

" and "

Spinning the Wheel "Spinning the Wheel" is a song by English singer-songwriter George Michael. The song was co-written and co-produced by Michael and Jon Douglas. It was released on Virgin Records as the third single from Michael's third studio album, ''Older'' ...

". In 1992 the duo moved into commercials, creating Wrangler's DJ commercial, the first European advert to feature young black urban culture. The duo's commercials won a large number of awards, with Levi's ''Creek'' picking up two prestigious

D&AD Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Its main offices are in Spitalfields in London. I ...

awards for Best Direction and Best Commercial. Their work for

launched the brands distinctive style of honouring European cinema, with its nod to

Jean de Florette ''Jean de Florette'' () is a 1986 period drama film directed by Claude Berri, based on a novel by Marcel Pagnol. It is followed by '' Manon des Sources''. The story takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers plot to trick a newcomer o ...

. Their second advert for Stella, ''Les Nouvelles Chaussures'' won that year's D&AD award for Best Direction. Their work was defined by strong art direction, an awareness for fashion, and an ability to set trends, especially in terms of the music used. For Levi's ''Planet'' the duo selected a little heard track called '' Spaceman'' by

Babylon Zoo Babylon Zoo were an English rock band formed in 1992 in Wolverhampton. Their song " Spaceman" gained considerable exposure through its use in a Levi's jeans television advert in the United Kingdom in late 1995. Released as the band's debut sin ...

. The track was to go on to sell 418,000 copies in a week, a record at the time, propelling it to number one in the UK singles chart. In 1996 the duo decided to split, with both continuing to direct commercials and music videos. Benton went on to direct commercials for brands including

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

, Audi, Levi's, Peugot, Adidas, Hyundai and Barclaycard. /www.clipland.com/Name/0001606/ Anthea Bentonclipland.com. Retrieved June 2014 She continues to direct acclaimed work, recently working with actresses

Anna Friel Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. Born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, she has been acting professionally since age 13. Friel achieved fame with her portrayal of Beth Jordache on the British soap opera ''Brookside'' ( ...

and

Keeley Hawes Claire Julia Hawes (born 10 February 1976), known professionally as Keeley Hawes, is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including ''Our Mutual Friend'' (1998) and ''Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), Haw ...

in commercials for

Pantene Pantene () is a brand of hair care products owned by Procter & Gamble. The product line was first introduced in Europe in 1945 by Hoffmann-La Roche, which branded the name based on panthenol as a shampoo ingredient. It was purchased by Procter ...

and Boots No7, respectively, and for

House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...

, represented b
Fresh Film
Featured in ''Shots'' magazine's list of the top 100 creative people, Benton is currently working on her first feature script.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benton, Anthea Television commercial directors British music video directors Living people Year of birth missing (living people)