ALL OF THE SCREENSHOTS BELOW ARE TAKEN FROM THIS COMPILATION OF TV EXTRACTS ON YOUTUBE.COM
Compilation of Don Marketing promotional games from the 1980s, including Shell forecourt games – Introduced by John Donovan, the Chairman of Don Marketing, the world’s leading promotional games company. Don was co-founded by John Donovan, Bob Donovan, Alfred Donovan (deceased) and Chartered Accountant/Mathematician Donald J Redhead (also deceased). The picture quality is poor being over 35 years old.
JOHN DONOVAN PRESENTING A VIDEO COMPILATION IN 1985, WITH SHELL SINGAPORE MAKE MONEY POSTERS ON DISPLAY BEHIND HIM
JOHN DONOVAN WITH THE SAME SHELL SINGAPORE POSTERS 35 YEARS LATER
SHELL MAKE MONEY GAME PIECE FEATURED IN A SHELL TV COMMERCIAL
THE CONTENT OF TWO SHELL MAKE MONEY ENVELOPES SHOWN IN THE SAME TV COMMERCIAL
VIDEO CLIPS FROM THE MICHAEL ASPEL SHOW ON LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION featuring Michael Aspel, Danny Baker and Paula Yates.
INTERVIEW ON MICHAEL ASPEL SHOW WITH KEN DANSON, RETAIL SALES DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT SHELL UK FOR ALL OF THE DON MARKETING GAMES FOR SHELL IN THE MID-EIGHTIES
DON MARKETING DIRECTOR KEN BROWN INTERVIEWED ON THE MICHAEL ASPEL SHOW WHILE OPENING SHELL MAKE MONEY MAJOR PRIZE CLAIMS UNDER VIDEO SURVEILLANCE IN ONE OF TWO DON MARKETING VIDEO STUDIOS
USING A MAGNIFYING DEVICE WHEN NEEDED
THIS SCREENSHOT SHOWING HOW ONE CLAIMANT HAD CRUDELY TRIED TO CREATE A WINNING MATCH-UP USING GLUE AND PARTS OF ANOTHER GAME PIECE
THIS SCREENSHOT SHOWS ONE OF THE CAMERAS
Val Hewitt, Don Marketing Office Manager, operating one of the video cameras during a Make Money prize verification session.
SCREENSHOTS FROM BBC TV MONEY PROGRAMME ON BBC TV (presented by Brian Widelake and Valerie Singleton). PACKAGE FOCUSSED MAINLY ON SHELL MASTERMIND
SCREENSHOT OF JOHN CHAMBERS FILMED INTERVIEW ON “THE MONEY PROGRAMME” WHEN THE SHELL MASTERMIND GAME WAS STILL IN PROGRESS AND MORE MASTERMIND GAME PIECES WERE BEING PRINTED.
TWO SCREENSHOTS SHOWING SHELL MASTERMIND GAME PIECES BEING PRINTED BY DOBSON & CROWTHER PRINTERS IN NORTH WALES
DON MARKETING CO-FOUNDER DON REDHEAD, FILMED SEEDING THE MAJOR PRIZES DURING THE SHELL MASTERMIND PRINT RUN OF 96 MILLION GAME PIECES
KEN BROWN CARRYING OUT PRIZE VERIFICATION OF SHELL MASTERMIND MAJOR PRIZE CLAIMS
SCREENSHOTS OF DON MARKETING MANAGEMENT TRAINEE SWEN OLSEN FILMED OPERATING A VIDEO VERIFICATION CAMERA DURING THE MAJOR PRIZE VERIFICATION PROCESS OF THE SHELL MASTERMIND GAME
MAGNIFYING DEVICE BEING USED ON A SHELL MASTERMIND GAME PIECE CLAIM FOR A £500 PRIZE
SCREENSHOT OF FINAL INTERVIEW SEGMENT WITH JOHN CHAMBERS ON “THE MONEY PROGRAMME”
SCREENSHOT- CLOSING MAIN CREDITS FROM “THE MONEY PROGRAMME”
The Make Merry promotion also caught the attention of the national media. ITN Channel 4 News broadcast a feature on the promotion including a segment filmed at Harrods and an interview with John Chambers and Roger Sotherton filmed at Shell-Mex House.
When Roger made his first visit to the famous food hall in Harrods, a member of staff asked him what he wanted. He replied that he had come to purchase 6 million mince pies. They thought that he was joking and asked if it was a Candid Camera stunt. The Shell Make Merry scratch card can be seen in the background during the introduction of the package by Peter Sissons together with other Don Marketing games created for Shell.
Below Shell Make Merry Harrods Christmas time themed instant win game with 6 million mince pies, Christmas Puds, Wine Packs, Christmas Hampers and ten £10,000 Shopping Spree prizes.
ITN CHANNEL 4 NEWS ANCHOR PETER SISSONS INTRODUCING SEGMENT ABOUT DON MARKETING GAMES FOR SHELL, WITH THREE OF THEM, DISPLAYED IN THE BACKGROUND, THE THEN-CURRENT GAME BEING SHELL MAKE MERRY
SCREENSHOT FROM SHELL MAKE MERRY TV COMMERCIAL SHOWN IN THE ITN CHANNEL 4 NEWS SEGMENT
SCREENSHOT FROM THE ITN CHANNEL 4 NEWS PACKAGE. SHOWS SHELL MAKE MERRY GAME CARD AND A SELECTION OF GAMES PRODUCED BY DON FOR OTHER BRANDS
JOHN CHAMBERS BEING INTERVIEWED DURING THE ITN CHANNEL 4 NEWS FEATURE
PACKAGE INCLUDED A FILMED DISCUSSION BETWEEN DON MARKETING DIRECTORS ROGER SOTHERTON (LEFT) AND JOHN CHAMBERS ABOUT DEVELOPMENTS IN SALES PROMOTION
END OF SCREENSHOTS FROM ITN CHANNEL 4 NEWS
In 1985 John Donovan had the idea of a playing card themed game. This became “Bruce’s Lucky Deal”, a game offering over £4.5 worth of prizes, which was linked to Bruce Forsyth, the popular host of the UK TV game show, “Play Your Cards Right”. The novelty of the promotion launched in the summer of 1985 once again generated media interest and an article in the Financial Times mentioned that the order for 4.5 million packs of Shell-branded quality playing cards was the world’s largest-ever purchase of its kind. 85 million “Every Card Can Win” scratch cards were printed.
“Brucie” loved the idea. He received £50,000 for use of his name and likeness and an additional substantial sum for appearing in a series of amusing and popular TV commercials promoting the game, as per the three screenshots shown below.
SCREENSHOT FROM A TV COMMERCIAL FOR THE KNORR £100,000 TV CHALLENGE
Copyright for each featured video extract, or TV commercial, resides with the original copyright owners.
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