My Top 5 TV Ads

So this is my first blog post, so I thought I’d make it about what I first thought marketing was when I first became interested in it. Like a lot of people, I just thought marketing was another word for advertising.  Since then I’ve learned that there’s a bit more to marketing, but advertising does play a big part in it for most businesses. Adverts have the power to make, break and recreate a business’ image, and create a lasting impression on us that can change the way we see and perceive that business. TV adverts are generally the adverts people tend to remember most, as their use of visual and audio techniques can combine to create extremely creative, eye-catching and effective messages. Here is a list of my top 5 TV advertisements. It’s difficult to narrow down all the good adverts we see to just 5, and so by the time I’ve posted this blog I’ll probably have changed my mind again. I know not everyone will agree with me, but most people should agree that as far as adverts go these ones are pretty good.

Number 5: CompareTheMarket – Meerkats

Insurance is boring. Fact. So if you sell insurance, does that mean your adverts have to be boring? Well Compare The Market obviously didn’t think so, and so went about creating one of the best and most successful personifications of a brand in marketing history. If you ask me the meerkat thing is starting to wear a bit thin, but from a marketing point of view, representing the brand in a tangible 3D character was a stroke of genius. It makes people enjoy their experience with an insurance comparison website, the creators couldn’t have asked for more than that.

Number 4: John Smith’s – Peter Kay Adverts

Continuing the comedy theme, and perhaps highlighting the value that comedy can add to advertisements, we have the brilliantly designed John Smiths Peter Kay adverts. Being a massive fan of Peter Kay, this endorsement was always going to go down well with me. The comedy content of the adverts was perhaps John Smith’s way of communicating the sense of fun that comes with their product, or maybe they simply wanted to make people laugh hoping that this will make them favour the brand more. Either way, I love these ads.

Number 3: Guinness – Wave advert

Besides the fact that this is a brilliant piece of cinematic advertising, I love this advert and the marketing campaign that it was part of because it shows how advertisements can completely change a brand’s public image. Created in the late 1990′s when Guinness realised that the average age of their customers was very high and hence their customer base wasn’t going to be around for much longer, this advert helped to show to the younger generations that Guinness was not just a drink for old men and gave the drink a more youthful and energetic image. This revitalised the brand and gave its sales and profits the boost they needed. Some reports at the end of 2011, like this one from the BBC, suggested that Guinness was starting to lose sales in its home market of Ireland. This could spell trouble for Guinness, so they might need some more good advertising soon.

Number 2: Honda – The Power Of Dreams

Honda adverts are always good, with their famous ‘cog’ and ‘hate something, change something’ adverts also being in many people’s favourite adverts of all time. This brand advert is more effective in my opinion as it communicates its message extremely effectively. The wide angle cinematography and the majestic song choice give a very epic feel to the advert and Honda’s overall mission. The words in the song in particular are very effective, and is Honda’s way of talking (or singing) directly to the audience and informing them of its values as a business.

Number 1: Sony Bravia – Bouncy Balls

This advert is cool, and that is why it is at number one on my list. This has to be one of the most abstract and creative ways in demonstrating a product’s features (in this case Sony TV’s superior colour and screen quality) in advertising history. I’d have loved to be in the design meeting when someone said: “I know, lets just throw 250,000 bouncy balls down a hill in San Francisco”. That idea though put this advert in the advertising hall of fame, and was definitely a good match to go with the “like no other” strap line of the advert.  Click here to see how it was made, really interesting to see how they did it.

So that’s it, they are my favourite TV ads of all time. I know I’ve missed some other great ads out, and if you have any other ideas about what should be on the list, or if you have your own list, feel free to write about them in the comments section.