The 5 Most Memorable Ads of 2016
I love ads. I really love video ads. I especially love GOOD video ads. Why? Because good ads make me laugh, cry, gasp, and cheer. This year featured some memorable ads, but the 2016 class fell short of the high standard set by 2015. I picked the five most memorable ads of 2016 and gave each a superlative worthy of the emotion they elicited:
The Most Unexpected, Funniest, Prettiest, Greatest, and Uninspiring in best to worst order.
1. Most Unexpected — Sandy Hook Promise
Sandy Hook Promise, ‘Evan’ / 8M Views
Agency: BBDO New York
Spoiler: Set inside a high school in the United States, a simple, cozy love story builds to a shocking, unexpected twist. BBDO has a well-earned reputation as one of the best advertising agencies in the world, and this brilliant bit of misdirected storytelling clearly shows why. No other ad this year left viewers quite so stunned.2. Funniest — Old Spice
2. Funniest — Old Spice
Old Spice- Smell Legendary / 9M Views
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
Spoiler: It’s over the top. It’s familiar. It’s a trite cliché of masculine advertising. And it is hilarious. Old Man Spice does it again with a series of vignettes about man pushing himself to the limits. My personal favorite brings us the tale of a daring innovator who builds a rocket car and roars through the desert, testing the boundaries of human ingenuity- though he probably should have taken a few engineering courses beforehand. The ad is campy, inviting, and accompanied by extremely well executed visual effects.
3. Prettiest — Morton Salt
Morton Salt, ‘OK Go: The One Moment’ / 17M Views
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Banksy said it best:
“The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little”
Spoiler: This is is not the first time that OK Go has worked with a brand on a music video, but after such a gorgeous result, I truly hope it is not the last. The band filmed 4.2 seconds of colorful stuff exploding — paint buckets, water balloons, even guitars — and slowed it down to a visually stunning four-minute video, cleverly integrating Morton Salt’s “Walk Her Walk” charity initiative along the way.
4. Greatest — Nike: Unlimited You
Nike: Unlimited You / 38M Views
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
I love Nike commercials! I absolutely love them! Why? Because they make me fall in love with the Hero Brand every single time. I found this specific ad unique because it is very rare to hear a brand’s persona itself speaking to the audience. We, advertisers, don’t do that because it never ends well- unless you’re Nike. Nike has created such a relationship with consumers that it doesn’t matter. The credibility it has built up over the years allows Nike to stretch the limits and break conventional rules that apply to other brands. The fact that they know this and act on it is what makes Nike the greatest.
5. Most Uninspired — Apple
TAYLOR vs. TREADMILL / 19M views
Agency: In-house
Director: Anthony Mandler
Spoiler: Apple had Taylor Swift sing another pop star’s song and fall flat on her face on a treadmill. That’s it. This lame bit of slapstick has no business being put in front of the sophisticated consumer of 2016. Yet, in a year when Apple made good use of celebrities, this one stood out because of its social media activation. The video was shared first with Swift’s 94 million Instagram followers, which is why it leads all 2016 ads in YouTube views with almost 20 million. Unfortunately, this a perfect example of how strategic casting can beat creativity.
Great job Sandy Hook Promise, Old Spice, Morton Salt, and Nike. Congratulations to your teams and agencies for creating such compelling ads. Apple, do more.
There you have it, my 5 Most Memorable Ads of 2016. After an overall down year, I’m hoping to see more work like ‘Evan’ in 2017.
Gilad Shamri is a rebranding and growth specialist who has helped dozens of startups grow and currently consulting companies worldwide
