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Guy Williams gets lost in new TVC for The Edge—UPDATED

A confused Guy Williams is the punch line of a new TVC that Mediaworks Radio has launched to promote the line-up of The Edge.

Shot as a pool party by Daniel Thorn and his team at Rubberneck productions, the 30-second video also features cameo performances by The Edge radio personalities Dominic Harvey, Steph Monks, Sharyn Casey, Jay-Jay Feeney, Clint Roberts, Megan Annear and Mike Puru.

“We have a fresh new line-up that has just started in 2014 and wanted to get that message to the market,” says The Edge’s programme director Leon Wratt when asked why the radio station decided to launch the TV spot.

Williams, however, has quite a different take on the new advertisement.

“I see it less as a TVC and more like a behind-the-scenes documentary about what the average weekend is like at The Edge. It’s non-stop pool parties. To be honest, I’m getting sick of them,” he says. 

In spite of suffering from festive fatigue, Williams did take the time to compliment the efforts of the production team.

“I was shocked to turn up and see my mate Tom Furniss was directing the shoot. Tom has worked on Jono and Ben behind the scenes and we do stand-up together, [so]when I saw him I thought he was a production assistant and didn’t take him seriously but it was bloody fantastic to work with him on something significant. So often when you show up to shoots like this there’s some highly paid old dude who used to direct Mcdonald’s young entertainers and is completely out of touch. I always feel like they want me to be more like Jason Gunn and I always feel like I’m letting them down when I don’t live up to their ideals. I was stoked that The Edge is willing to go with younger and more exciting dudes.”     

The ad was uploaded to YouTube on 2 February and comes only 12 days after Williams’ first shift as the co-host of Roberts and Casey on the ‘drive show’ that runs between three and seven on weekday afternoons.

Wratt says that Williams has thus far proved to be a “fantastic” addition to the afternoon show, but concedes that he expects there to be a few teething problems in the initial months. 

“Guy is brand new to radio [and since he’s]part of a brand new afternoon show you can expect the first few months to be difficult, as we ‘bed’ in the new show.”

Wratt does however add that “the audience reaction has been very positive already,” and he attributes this to how hard the team works to ensure that the show is more entertaining every day.

While Wratt is optimistic, he says there are currently no official ratings available to gauge the show’s performance.

“The first rating period is coming up, so we won’t have any audience figures or indication until they are released on 11 April,” he says.

In typically contrarian fashion, Williams disagrees with Wratt’s assessment of the ratings and claims to have turned The Edge into a real “rags to riches story.”

“Ratings have been though the roof and our show has been described as the biggest thing since Lorde. It’s just a shame there are no Grammys for radio. Technically, I haven’t done a survey yet, but I’m very excited about it. Apparently, radio people go a bit mental during this time and I can’t wait to experience it,” he says.  

Given that Williams will continue to feature on TV3’s Jono and Ben at Ten, Wratt also says that he has “no doubt … cross-promotional opportunities will arise throughout the year.”

In December last year, Williams was shot with a flour gun by Ben Boyce during Sharyn Casey’s show. And if Wratt’s comments come to fruition, then we can expect similar shenanigans in the near future.   

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