Are these the best UK TV ads in 70 years of ITV? ‘Living Room Legends’ fromn ITV with D&AD and measuremt serrvice System1 thinks they are, assisted by a panel of luminaries including Wieden+Kennedy CCO Ana Balarin, IPA director of effectiveness Laurence Green and AMV BBDO CSO Jo Arden.
System1’s Test Your Ad platform measured modern audiences’ emotional responses to 70 selected ads on 10,000 consumers.
In chronological order they are:
• Cadbury Smash “Martians” by BMP (1973)
• Lego “Kipper” by TBWA (1981)
• Skoda “Cake” by Fallon (2007)
• Compare the Market “Aleksandr” by VCCP (2008)
• British Heart Foundation “Vinnie” by Grey London (2012)
• Three Mobile “The Pony” by Wieden+Kennedy (2013-14)
• Sport England “This Girl Can” by FCB Inferno (2014-15)
ITV’s Kate Waters says: “For 70 years, ITV has catapulted brilliant commercial creativity into the nation’s psyche and powered the growth of the businesses and brands behind it. Our list celebrates individual ads, but many of these also represent enduring campaigns or have a cultural impact that lasts until this very day.”
According to the report most of these feature unconventional ideas, dramatic emotion and extraordinary craft with various aspects in common including imaginative repetition, cultural relevance, entertainment value and romancing the product.
Not everyone will agree of course – some would challenge System1’s measurement system. But it’s not a bad selection. Worth pointing out that Smash actually bombed as a product, we may have loved the Martians but they didn’t flog enough instant mash. Fallon, the IPA’s Laurence Green is an alumnus, also produced Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’ and Sony’s ‘Balls.’ BBH’s ‘Launderette’ for Levi’s would have made it for many. And what about this from Mother?
Not Gogglebox-friendly enough maybe. And worth noting that the most recent on the list is at least 10 years old.
