A year in review: ten must-see ads from 2017
Originally published at linkedin.com on December 21, 2017.
As we close another year, it is always interesting to see the vast amount of creative content that brands and agencies have put out.
Important questions to ask are: What was the brand’s message? Did they achieve their desired goal? What has changed compared to their previous marketing efforts?
Below are my top ten picks for advertisements in the year of 2017. The ads found here vary in range of creativity, message, dialogue created, and value to their brand. Below are links to their YouTube videos, all presented in no particular order.
Halo Top’s “Eat the ice cream”
This Halloween season, moviegoers that arrived early enough for the previews to roll for the movie IT were greeted by a commercial that was — — different.
From the creative mind of Mike Diva, we are greeted with a scenario straight out of Black Mirror. We are only offered an interaction between a lady questioning her location and a persistent robot offering ice cream. “Eat the ice cream” is repeated over ten times in the 90 second spot, plus an original song solely about ice cream plays in the background. By the end of the commercial, we have more questions than answers.
Adweek’s Tim Nudd had a chance to interview Diva, getting interesting key insights from his creative process. His work at Halo Top was followed with Diva’s involvement in launching LA Metro’s “ Metro Manners PSA” campaign, where Diva worked with notorious YouTuber Anna Akana.
Procter & Gamble: “The Talk”
A beautiful spot by BBDO New York for Procter & Gamble. As part of Procter & Gamble’s “My Black is Beautiful” campaign, the agency and brand show us the importance of understanding what our audience is going through, especially in such a political and divisive year as 2017.
Remember you can do anything they can. Difference is you gotta work twice as hard and be twice as smart.
The spot delivers its message in a way that Starbucks’ #RaceTogether could not fathom. A message of support rather than a campaign to talk about racial tensions with a barista, a conscious brand rather than a brand advertising for the sake of advertising.
Samsung Galaxy’s “Growing Up”
While trying to recover from the coverage of their exploding Note 7s, Samsung did not hesitate to take a jab at Apple’s latest product: the iPhone X. The ad follows iPhone user Erik since 2007, but highlights the troubles of owning an iPhone. The ad is full of small easter eggs that range from dongles to a haircut.
This, however, is not the first time that Samsung has pulled off this stunt. Their past campaign include “The Next Big Thing is Already Here”, which is similar in nature to this ad. Still, quite a tactful move to drop a commercial highlighting your competitor’s flaws — although attacking the competitor’s fan-base might not be the best way to go about converting potential customers.
You can read more on the ad here.
Slotomania’s “Why it’s okay to play”
It’s always okay to play any minute of the day. Slotomania is quite serious about their message. In a campaign so ambitious to stress this reasoning, Foote, Cone, & Belding (FCB) Agency created 1440 one-minute ads to cover all their bases.
Their webpage, whyitisoktoplay.com, is solely dedicated to play the sixty-second spots for any minute of the day, always providing you a reason for why it’s okay to be playing the Vegas-Slot casino video game.
Now there is no excuse: no matter what the time is; it is always okay to be playing Slotomania.
84 Lumber’s “The Entire Journey”
The presidential election carried significant weight in the early days of 2017. Brands like Airbnb and Budweiser used their Super Bowl 51’s TV spot to push their say in the political spectrum, with commercials like #WeAccept and “ Born The Hard Way”, respectively.
84 Lumber, however, introduced a whole journey. Following a Mexican mother and daughter, we join them in their trek to cross the border into the US, only to be met by a giant wall. During their Super Bowl version of the ad, 84 Lumber prompted viewers to visit their website in order to check out the full story. 84 Lumber’s website crashed due to heavy traffic. 84 Lumber’s Twitter feed during the airing of their commercial was full of praise and dialogue — clarifying what their ad entailed for those that might be confused.
You can read more about it here.
Nike’s “Want It All”
I have always admired Nike for their storytelling. Nike knows the symbolism their shoes hold — any kid can be like their favorite athlete if they persevere and believe, along with their Nikes.
In their spot “Want It All”, Nike remembers its roots and has us following Donte as he grows up from watching a basketball game from the other side of the chain-link fence, to practicing while in his bedroom. Donte is no famous athlete — Donte could be the kid you used to shoot some hoops at school with, but Donte could even be you.
Nike is a lifestyle brand. Take a look at the ad again. How many times did the Nike logo appear that you had not noticed on your first run watching the commercial? Nike wants to emphasize this: whether on your highs or lows, Nike has been there for your journey.
Mars Chocolate Company’s Bite-Size Horror
Halloween season is the big day for candy sellers, and Mars Chocolate Company was eager to join the festivities. Rather than obvious candy bar tie-ins, the chocolate company decided to create four original horror shorts, each two minutes long, for viewers to enjoy.
The four shorts are Skittles’ “Floor 9.5” (above), M&Ms’ “The Road”, Starburst’s “Replacement”, and Snickers’ “Live Bait”. No cheesy product placements are within the shorts themselves, and each plot could be a standalone episode of The Twilight Zone given its cinematography and writing. Pretty unique in terms of Mars’ past work.
Twitter’s #SeeEverySide
2017 has been the year for Twitter. Quickly becoming one of the most important social platforms, Twitter has embraced its meaning and has been able to better define what the little blue bird means to many people: dialogue.
Twitter is a platform for conversation, and their campaign #SeeEverySide shows what usually goes on during a Twitter interaction full of replies, hearts, and retweets. Covering topics from music (see above) and NBA, Twitter is the designated platform for users to interact in real time with celebrities and spark conversations.
Perhaps Twitter’s other highlight was #NuggsForCarter, where a young boy asked Wendy’s Twitter team how many retweets he needed for a year’s worth of free chicken nuggets. With Ellen having held the most retweeted picture from 2014 with 3,414,818 RTs, Carter surpassed her with 3,643k at the time of writing.
Pepsi’s “Live For Now”
An ad so scandalous, it was removed within 24 hours of its release. I have added the commercial to this list not because of its achievements, but because of the many things one can learn from others’ mistakes.
The Pepsi x Kendall commercial quickly became infamous for its failure in the delivery of their message. Kendall Jenner was most definitely not a bad casting choice, but if the message was intended to be reflective of the people, shouldn’t it star the people? There is no need for celebrity endorsement if your message is already strong, but Pepsi clearly missed the mark.
The ad was also made in-house, Pespi not using their long time buddy agency BBDO New York. The results highlighted how disconnected a brand can be from their audiences without proper resources like an outside agency.
You can read more here.
Made By Google’s “Ask more of your phone”
Google was a huge contender for this year’s advertisers. With the launch of various new hardware, Google’s marketing efforts relied on the advancements of their technology. AI, AR, and VR are all bundled in Google Homes, Pixel Phones, and DayDreams. Other companies have also gone ahead and used their technologies for their own marketing efforts: remember earlier this year when Burger King asked your Google Home “OK Google, what is the Whopper Burger?” followed by a lengthy read from the Whopper Burger’s Wikipedia page?
The Made by Google marketing team is full of creative individuals that have surprised me with the push of each of their products: we’ve seen pop-up donut shops, Stranger Things walkie-talkies, and ads showcasing the new standard for what “smart” stands for in a smartphone. Personally, I’m excited for what else the creatives at Google will come up with next.
Which ads were your favorite? Leave your comments below! Feel free to tweet at @juliangumbo.
Got any thoughts to add? Tweet me @juliangumbo or comment below!
Julian Gamboa is a UC Berkeley graduate with a focus on marketing. Julian was selected as a LinkedIn Top Voice for Marketing and #Social Media (2017) and a Course Instructor of the marketing and digital publishing course Digital Marketing Today at the Haas School of Business. He is also the founder of Digiviewpoint, a millennial publishing account.
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