Desert Island Ads
1. KSV Vending (Radio Jingle)
If you were a 90s kid bouncing around Sussex in the back of your parents’ car, it’s fairly likely you listened to Southern FM. And if you listened to Southern FM, you definitely heard the KSV vending jingle. Regularly. A catchy, verging on irritating three liner that managed to deliver both brand and product proposition in a way that my 5-year-old self could understand and my 35-year-old self still cannot forget. It’s the first ad I can remember and a reminder that regardless of scale or execution, simplicity and consistency are the shared traits of nearly every effective campaign through the ages.
I spoke with Colin Borrer, the General Manager of KSV, to get hold of the audio; turns out they ran the jingle across several campaigns in the 30 years since, exhibiting mastery of one of the most underrated skills in advertising and marketing: the ability to leave a good thing alone.
2. Budweiser ‘Wassup’ (1999)
Perhaps the definitive example of advertising becoming culture. For some time, on either side of Y2K, ‘wassup’ was literally everywhere. In playgrounds, offices, voicemail inbox greetings, in my MSN messenger status. The entire world was saying it. It was parodied in the box office smash Scary Movie and it even made into The Office courtesy of Wernham Hogg’s Gareth Keenan.
So ubiquitous has the line become, we perhaps forget the ad that launched it and why it was so effective. The razzing repetition of ‘wazzap’ in increasingly loud and ludicrous ways delivers the line, but it’s the context that made everyone want to repeat it: A collection of confident, relaxed, trendy looking mates drinking beers, watching sports and indulging in a goofball in-joke that they’ve clearly played out a thousand times.
I’ll go out on a limb with some psuedo-phycological analysis of the male mind here – this is a vital form of bonding: we all say the line, we’re all in the club. It’s why a group of blokes can happily lose an hour simply quoting Seth Rogen films at one another. And it’s why, for a while, a high percentage of phone calls started with the same word. Wazzzzaaaap.
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3. Honda ‘Banana’ (2003)
I found this one filed in my memory simply as ‘the ad that made me scribble on bananas.’ Reviewing it anew – with the tired eyes of an inside man – it breaks down as an absolute masterclass, starting with an incredibly sharp two-pronged hook. Prong one – the immediate visual. At first glance you could mistake the handwritten copy as vandalism from a previous reader which is a far more tempting read than any ‘ad copy’. Prong two is its arresting and unusual question: ‘Have you ever written on a banana in biro?’ The copy that then follows is pitch perfect; its flow, tone & cadence all as optimistic, calm and satisfying as the feeling it describes.
I’d also contend that accessibility was a second order contributor to the brilliance of this ad. A biro and a banana are not hard to come by in any home or office; I wonder how much fruit bowl graffiti it inspired? If you have not yet indulged yourself I can thoroughly recommend it. I’ve found that a banana makes an excellent birthday card in a pinch.
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4. Ocean Spray x Nathan Apodaca ‘Dreams’ (2020)
Not an ad, yet also perhaps one of the purest examples of emotional brand advertising we’ve seen.
There’s so much potent albeit accidental creativity contained in the film. There’s the weary yet peaceful nod to camera at the start. The gritty industrial context, the hop from the sidewalk onto the motorway off-ramp and the flash of head tattoo adding notes of rebellion. There’s the deep, contented sip from the family size bottle of juice and then there’s juxtaposition of rough ‘n’ tough skater vs the ethereal delicacy of Stevie Nicks singing, creating acres of implied and mysterious narrative. Finally there’s the length of the clip. We’re left wanting to see more of the ride and hear more of the song – who can say that about their ad?
Ocean Spray lucked out big time on this one, but also did a great job of capitalising on the noise with subsequent campaigns. So what can we all learn? Authenticity is a term so overused in our industry that it has nearly lost all meaning, but if we can make work that gets anywhere close to the reality and vibe of Nathan Apodaca’s (AKA @Doggface208) sunset cruise, we are certainly on the right track.
5. Corteiz ‘The Bolo Exchange’ (2022)
I bent the rules above with the social film and I’m now in danger of breaking them by choosing an activation as opposed to a single ad. But I believe this one is worth it.
Corteiz have effectively pioneered the hype-drop strategy, building huge anticipation for new releases via cryptic social posts and an expert eye for partnering with creators right at the sweet spot between underground credibility and mainstream stardom. See Dave, Central Cee and many more.
Their Bolo exchange was a simple concept. Bring a competitor brand puffa jacket to the drop point and we’ll swap it for the Corteiz puffa offering, the Bolo. Corteiz simply dropped some co-ordinates. Cue a frenzy of London street wear kids casting off jackets from the most premium, established players in the category – Moncler, Nike, North face – to get their hands on a Corteiz bolo. One of the most striking and powerful challenger brand statements I’ve seen, and it all played out on the social accounts of their followers.
Mitch Syrett is executive creative producer at social agency Uncovered.
