Even Apeldoorn Bellen

The phrase "Even Apeldoorn Bellen" now belongs to our national heritage. We are now to the 52nd  commercial in the series from Central Administration Achmea. This time it's about two guys who go, with their classic car, to a car show. This commercial was filmed near Miami, in an area that is often used for dragracing. For car lovers: the lowrider is a 1965 Ford Thunderbird.

In this new comercial two guys go to an American car show.

Actually it's a thankless task to devise a new commercial for Centraal Beheer Achmea. The level has been raised enormously high, thanks to the success of some of the previous commercials. This new commercial delivers not more than a smile on me. 

What I like, is that there are many small jokes are processed before the final joke in the movie appears. The flirting, the almost-arguing with the other car owner, lowering the car when parking, the billboard with the text ' When it's not Bob's it ain't a wiener ' . Compared to those little jokes I found the final joke quite predictable. I find ' Birdie ' not a bad commercial, but also not one of the better in the series.

Centraal Beheer is an insurance company sited in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. It is part of Achmea, the largest insurance company in the country. It is usually referred to as "Apeldoorn". Their Offices are well known for their architecture by Herman Hertzberger.

Commercials

Centraal Beheer is famous for its campaign of TV commercials that has lasted for over fifteen years now. These are short humoristic spots, generally without dialogue, in which something goes horrendously wrong, followed by the catchphrase "Even Apeldoorn bellen" ("Just call Apeldoorn"). This phrase is sometimes used as a general saying, in meme-like fashion to mean something like "oops" or "D'oh", and it is for this reason that the company is generally referred to with the metonym "Apeldoorn" rather than its proper name. On the international versions of the commercials, the catchphrase is "Just call us".

For instance - a nervous man is offered a place in a secure witness protection program if he will testify against a mafia leader. He accepts and testifies. Then he packs his bags and drives off to an idyllic, friendly town in the middle of nowhere. Unpacking and settling in, he breathes easily once more. Then the doorbell rings. He opens the door ................

Many of their commercials have won the Gouden Loeki, the so-called Academy Award for Dutch commercials.