Everyone loves talking about the Christmas ads, but which one does The Grocer think is the best? Let’s not ignore the rest of the year either
Everyone loves talking about the Christmas ads, but which one does The Grocer think is the best? Let’s not ignore the rest of the year either. 2016 was a vintage year and we celebrate the very best food and drink campaigns over the next few pages. These Top Campaigns are not limited to TV ads, with winning entries including experiential events, Facebook campaigns, a Twitter whisky tasting, event sponsorship, even a pop-up café. Only one campaign can win the editor’s pick, however. Read on to find out which one it is…
INDEX
Alcoholic Drinks: Lager
Be Legacy – the History of Sebastian
Brand: Stella Artois
Launch date: March 2016
Agency : Mother
Lush cinematography, gorgeous sets and a soundtrack crafted by blues musician Jamie Commons – what more could you ask for from Stella Artois as it celebrated 600 years in March? Produced by French director François Rousselet, the lager brand delved deep into its past for this TV campaign drawing on both the legacy of silent film and its colourful Belgian roots as it chases a young Sebastian Artois through Leuven on his quest to buy the original Den Hoorn brewery. It’s a story worth telling and the ad tells it well. The brand drew engagement on social media under #BeLegacy and followed up with beautiful stills shot by British photographer Richard Burbridge.
Alcoholic Drinks: Spirits
The Glenlivet Cipher
Brand: Glenlivet
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Richmond Towers
To cut through the noise of the crowded whisky NPD sphere, Glenlivet took talk of its new single malt Scotch digital with a Twitter tasting of influential bloggers, delivering 4.7 million social media impressions and driving 700-plus uses of the hashtag in one hour. Coupled with an experiential launch event, the push reached two million trade personnel and 1.5 million discerning customers.
Alcoholic Drinks: Wine
Aldi Wine
Brand: Aldi
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: Clarion, McCann & Weber Shandwick
Launching Aldi SKUs online while simultaneously convincing wine snobs a discounter tipple is cheap but far from nasty was a daunting task. But the retailer delivered with aplomb in January. With its futuristic Aldi wine store, tasting events and TV sponsorship, the multimedia campaign reached 90 million-plus people, and delivered a revenue uplift of 35%.
Alcoholic Drinks: Ale & Stout
Find Your Mountain
Brand: Wainwright
Launch date: May 2016
Agency: Vital Marketing, OMD, Butcher & Gundersen
Delivering an injection of muddy energy into the brand after its 2015 acquisition by Marston’s, Wainwright cleverly pitched its Northern ale as official sponsor of the notorious Rat Race in 2016. Part of its ongoing Find Your Mountain campaign, the mix of experiential, digital and social helped boost sales by 26%.
Alcoholic Drinks Cider & Perry
Let’s Own It
Brand: Strongbow
Launch date: July 2016
Agency: Adam & Eve, DDB
Fuelling patriotic fervour in the run up to the Rio Olympics, Strongbow delivered this high-energy TV campaign crammed full of Union flags, British bulldogs and brimming pints of cider. Kicking off a series of six “stirring” 30-second shorts all under the rousing ‘Let’s own it’ slogan, the brand went all-out to bring back the excitement of London 2012.
Biscuits: Savoury
Good Mornings
Brand: BelVita
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: Hey Human
With fewer than half of us (47%) partial to a biscuit for breakfast, BelVita took to the streets to change hearts, minds and stomachs in April. Literally. Visiting 26 city centres, 52 forecourts and 26 train stations over 13 weeks, the team handed out two million ‘Good mornings’ to bleary eyed Brits heading to work. Coupling these samples with tuneful tinkles on its canary yellow Good Morning Piano, the legwork paid off. More than half (55%) of those handed samples over the campaign had such a Good Morning with BelVita they rushed out to buy their own pack at least once in the four weeks following. The flurry of new shoppers helped lift BelVita’s sales a significant 24%. Not a bad morning’s work at all.
Biscuits: Sweet
The Sweeetest App. Ever
Brand: McVitie’s
Launch date: February 2016
Agency: Grey London
Everybody loves cats. And everybody loves apps. McVitie’s launched this latest iteration of its Sweeet campaign in 2016, allowing younger shoppers to point their iPhones at packs and watch a virtual kitten roll around the room as they munched on Chocolate Digestives. Months before Pokémon Go even arrived in the UK, this campaign was brilliantly ahead of the curve.
Bagged snacks: popcorn
Institute of Flavour
Brand: Propercorn
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Bompas & Parr
A sensory explosion of “sniffing, spraying and sprinkling” in the heart of Soho, this immersive foodie tour sold out in two days. It guided 256 guests to their signature popcorn seasoning, while 12,500 more submitted taste concoctions to a virtual flavour factory. The campaign created the brand new Twisted Honeycomb flavour and reached 5.6 million across social media.
Bagged Snacks: crisps
Doritos A or B
Brand: Doritos
Launch date: July 2016
Agency: OMD, Jaywing, and Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO
Artfully engaging snackers in the creative process, Doritos called on fans to dream up wacky scenarios for eliminating their least favourite flavour. No fewer than 50,000 obliged, with the best turned into animated shorts and broadcast across social media. This prompted a 25% uplift in sales and reached nearly three quarters of 16- to 34-year-olds.
BabyFood
Veg for Victory
Brand: Ella’s Kitchen
Launch date: May 2016
Agency: Mischief PR, PLMR and Havas Worldwide London
Even swaying PHE to review its advice, this Ella’s Kitchen campaign to wean babies on to veg ticked all the right boxes. Combining an industry roundtable with an agenda-setting white paper and a whimsical Winston Churchill-inspired ad, the brand successfully lobbied both government – and 1.5 million parents – to feed their little ones more veg.
Cereals
Better Your Breakfast
Brand: Flahavan’s
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: Richmond Towers
The most important meal of the day perhaps, but compelling content on breakfast can be challenging. A fact that makes this integrated PR and social media campaign from family-owned Flahavan’s more impressive. Urging consumers to jazz up their porridge oats with seriously Instagrammable creations reached 500,000 across social media and generated 32 pieces of coverage.
Canned goods: Fish
Fridge Pack
Brand: John West
Launch date: August 2016
Agency: Cheetham Bell
John West didn’t ditch its token bearded fisherman, ferocious ocean waves or rickety fishing boat for this latest NPD-inspired campaign – but it did add just the right amount of humour. With the crew’s chef deftly knitting bright woollen hats and steering wheel warmers thanks to the brand’s new resealable fridge packs, the campaign conveyed all it needed to in 30 simple seconds.
Canned goods: Beans
Can Song
Brand: Heinz Beanz
Launch date: August 2016
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Talk about health and safety gone mad. This catchy TV campaign launched by Heinz, perfectly pitched to its young family audience, was unceremoniously canned in November after the ASA ruled that kids might slice open their fingers performing the Can Song by drumming on an open tin. A fact that only made us hum along more.
Cake
An Exceedingly Good Distraction
Brand: Mr Kipling
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: McCann, Carat and Cirkle
Don’t fix what ain’t broke. Never truer than for ‘Exceedingly Good’ branding that still rolls off the tongue 40 years after launch. Dusting off this pithy and powerful brand asset and bringing it into the 21st century with a mix of witty TV adverts and sponsorship, Mr Kipling sent sales of French Fancies up 10%, with 4% overall growth across the brand.
Bread
Build Up Bagel
Brand: The New York Bagel Co.
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: Richmond Towers
Joining forces with Instagram star Joe Wicks, the New York Bagel Co tackled our annual post-Christmas carb fast in 2016 by pitching stacked bagels – or #Buildupbagel – as the perfect post-workout snack. With an exclusive and exhausting HIT (high intensity training) fitness session hosted by Wicks himself, and a series of turkey, chipotle chilli and poached egg bagel creations shared across his phenomenally successful social media channels, digital reach for this new year campaign hit five million. Coupled with 20 pieces of national coverage and the movers and shakers of the blogging world attending Wicks’ HIT workout, NYBC saw its own Instagram following surge an impressive 1,000% as a result of the partnership.
Dairy: Fresh Milk
Astonishing Milk
Brand: A2 Milk
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Aesop, Rocket Network and Bondy Consulting
Frothy, fatty, delicious milk has been given a bad rep of late, but A2 Milk successfully switched the narrative in 2016. It headed off common complaints with hand-painted imagery, reviews from the influential Mumsnet, and video-recorded praise from consumers. Simple but effective, the campaign reached three million across social media and doubled penetration.
Dairy: Cheese
Mini Cravings
Brand: Laughing Cow
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: RKCR/Y&R
Hunger pangs are reimagined as cute, fluffy cubes bumbling and bouncing after us on our way home from work in this colourful TV campaign from Laughing Cow to launch its Mini Cravings snack cheeses. Light and playful, the 30-second slot by Bafta-nominated directors Jonny Sabbagh and Will Harper pitches both its consumer message – and its puppets – perfectly.
Dairy: Flavoured Milk
The Urjiii
Brand: FRiij
Launch date: September 2016
Agency: VCCP Blue
Facing double-digit sales decline, this former titan of the flavoured milk aisle was souring fast. Desperately looking to reconnect with its young target audience (as well as steal sales back from rival Yazoo), VCCP Blue took this quirky brand back to basics with a television and social media campaign built around an awkwardly mooing bottle that highlighted our ‘Urjiii’ for a milkshake. Simple, funny and bang on message, this series of commercials featuring three 20-somethings paid dividends with a phenomenal 60% increase in sales month on month as a result, and great traction on social media too – with one young couple even going so far as to recreate the advertisement themselves.
Confectionery: Sugar
Alfie Boe
Brand: Fisherman’s Friend
Launch date: February 2016
Agency: Fox Kalomaski Crossing
Tasked with reinvigorating unfashionable Fisherman’s Friend lozenges FKC scoured its tiny Lancashire birthplace for a thoroughly modern brand icon. Turning up Fleetwood-born opera hero Alfie Boe was a stroke of genius. With his rousing rendition of Verdi’s Rigoletto the brand saw a whopping 80% sales uplift across the UK, the effects of which carried on long after the singing stopped.
Confectionery: Chocolate
Kinder Joy Easter Egg Hunt
Brand: Kinder
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: Cirkle
Combining NPD with immersive Easter ‘Joy’ proved a winning formula for Ferrero as it created industry excitement for the recently launched Kinder Joy. Offering retailers the chance to win bespoke kits to create their own Easter Egg Hunt landed the brand 47 mentions in trade media and accelerated traffic to the website by 135% as well as a win at The Grocer’s own New Product Awards.
Desserts
A Taste of Happy
Brand: Ambrosia
Launch date: May 2016
Agency: McCann, Cirkle
Putting £3.2m behind the launch of its new premium custard in May, Ambrosia was at pains to leave its consumers jumping for joy with this bright, catchy TV commercial. Awash in yellow and gold, the brand recruited London’s Hackney Colliery Band (also decked out in vivid gold) to play out a jazzy rendition of ‘Give it Up’ by KC and the Sunshine Band – spreading a touch of happiness with every pot while strategically leaving viewers stuck with the tune running in their heads all day long. Coupled with print advertising, money-off vouchers and an array of in-store sampling across the brand’s biggest retail customers, the campaign paid dividends, with sales growth of 32% achieved across the range.
Frozen Food: Pizza
The Ultimate Pizza Hit
Brand: Chicago Town
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: Life
It might be as cheesy as the pizza it dishes up, but this bright, energetic TV ad from Chicago Town is fun, catchy and makes a welcome change from back-to-back close-ups of melting cheese. A nod to 1970s musical Grease, with a touch of Justin Bieber pop and a carful of pizza to dance around, this ad stuck happily in the heads of the brand’s young target audience.
Fresh Meat
This is My Soul
Brand: The Black Farmer
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: Big Eyes
Selling the British banger becomes a surprising feast of visual art, poetry and black history in this tour de force from The Black Farmer. Directed by Hollywood eccentric Tony Kaye, this first TV ad from the brand might detour from your average sausage sell, but it sticks in the mind all the more because of it. No wonder it drove brand awareness and extensions to lucrative supermarket listings.
Fresh Veg
It’s Pepper Time
Brand: Flora / EU
Launch date: July 2016
Agency: Richmond Towers
This health campaign backed by both Flora and the EU successfully lifted the humble pepper out of obscurity. The campaign spread its small budget a long way, targeting all the right people and executing a simple strategy well. It devised the Pepper Pot, a recipe that puts the neglected veg centre stage. It also recruited esteemed chef Bruno Loubet to dream up his own pepper-centric menu.
Free From
Make Over Your Morning
Brand: Alpro
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: Richmond Towers
Small changes can transform mornings. Yoga. Music. Or a passionfruit and pepper coconut milk smoothie, according to this PR campaign from Alpro, launched in time for new year’s resolution season. With a ‘Make Over Your Morning’ guide, aspirational breakfast creations and a survey to drive coverage, this early bird delivered a return on investment of 1,700 consumers reached per £1 spent.
Hot Beverages: coffee
Nespresso Kidnap
Brand: Nespresso
Launch date: September 2016
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
Silver fox George Clooney might be married now but he’s still breaking hearts and selling Nespresso pods by the truckload. No wonder he “wouldn’t change a thing” in this latest escapade, which sees Clooney bundled into a car boot by two heavies after flirting with the wife of a mobster (Ian McShane) and then refusing to hand over his coveted coffee by way of an apology.
Hot beverages: sweet
Make Winter Wonderland
Brand: Cadbury
Launch date: November 2015
Agency: Mc2
The highlight among a flurry of limited edition labels, sampling, personalised consumer emails and ads via supermarket apps and websites for this cocoa campaign was the thermal-activated digital screens erected outside shops and cafes, which lit up at low temperatures to highlight the perfect moment for a cup of steaming hot chocolate. Cadbury gained three points of share.
Frozen Foods: Pastries
Macaron Manicure
Brand: Brioche Pasquier
Launch date: February 2016
Agency: Come Round
Artfully handing the hard work over to its consumers, Brioche Pasquier asked 102 volunteers to host Macaron Manicure parties in early 2016. Armed with a box of macarons and pastel nail polishes to match, hundreds sampled the brand’s new line of patisserie, with a whopping 1.2 million spotting the #macaronmanicure hashtag on social media – sparking 90,000 conversations offline.
Frozen Fish
Cod Save the Queen
Brand: Birds Eye
Launch date: May 2016
Agency: Mischief
With brands left right and centre launching limited editions in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday, Birds Eye knew it had to go big or go home. Building the fanciest fish finger sandwich ever made, complete with caviar, edible violets, and gold-encrusted fish fingers, was a stroke of genius. Inspired Brits went fish finger-mad as a result, with the brand’s limited edition selling out.
Hot beverages: tea
Truthful Green Tea Shop
Brand: Clipper
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: Exposure, Big Fish
At a pop-up tea shop in London’s Stoke Newington, real (and unsuspecting) customers were offered ‘bitter’, ‘mean’, ‘chemically enhanced’ and ‘unfairtrade’ green teas by a bubbly girl behind the tea counter. Filming her deadpan sales patter and customers’ horrified reactions, the commercial spoke directly about the qualities and characteristics of Clipper tea, but with a clever and humorous twist, in which it presented the reverse. Coupled with a heavyweight outdoor campaign with print ads plastered on London transport, the short film posted on YouTube capitalised on the annual New Year sales uplift for herbal teas and successfully reached 90% of adults across the capital and the South East.
Ice Cream: Handheld
Release the Beast
Brand: Magnum
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: LOLA MullenLowe
A sensational piece of work. Nature at its finest, from lions and tigers to the great white shark, all make an appearance in this ad for choc ices. The campaign cost a whopping £13m, with the TV ad to promote Magnum Double Chocolate, Magnum Double Caramel and new Magnum Double Peanut Butter backed up by outdoor, digital, search, social and experiential activity.
Household: Aircare
Airwick Scented Oil Warmers
Brand: Airwick
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: Droga5, Iris
Brits love a good poke around other people’s houses, a quirk Airwick made the most of for this colourful aesthetic TV ad. Showcasing poky pensioner bungalows, lavish mansions and minimalist chic décor, it takes nosy viewers on a journey behind closed curtains, with a Scented Oil Warmer plugged into each the only thing that links them all.
Household: Surface Care
Goodbye Barry Scott
Brand: Cillit Bang
Launch date: July 2016
Agency: Virgo
Less campaign, more homage to longtime shouty ad hero Barry Scott, this retro video mash-up from Reckitt Benckiser won more attention for Cillit Bang than its stain-removing credentials ever have. A fond look back on bellowing Barry’s finest TV moments, from riding rollercoasters to driving a digger and Olympian ‘phwoaring’, the playfully nostalgic ad proved a big hit with news sites and social media all around the world, with surprising outcry at the pensioning off of veteran brand ambassador Scott. Fans were even more outraged at his replacement, a smouldering mechanic that breaks into dance as he cleans up grease, and it was a wise move when the brand left the door slightly ajar for Scott’s future return.
Household: Auto Dishwash
Who Cleans the Cleaner?
Brand: Finish
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: Wieden & Kennedy
Thank God for dishwashers. Gravy-encrusted plates piled high, dregs of tea sitting in mugs, breakfast bacon grease welded on to frying pans and more empty wine glasses than you care to count – where would be without a machine to do all the hard work for us? Capturing that sentiment, this short and sweet ad from Finish reminded millions to keep their dishwashers happy.
Household: hand dishwash
How fair is your home?
Brand: Fairy
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: Grey London
On average, according to Fairy, women in the UK spend 117 minutes more doing household chores every day than men do. If that’s true, it isn’t fair. So it produced a special bottle with the ‘Y’ missing from ‘Fairy’ to encourage couples to be kind, unselfish, and share the washing up. It didn’t make the bottles commercially available, but encouraged people to discuss the ad online.
OTC: Allergy Remedies
Sudocrem Saves Christmas
Brand: Sudocrem
Launch date: December 2015
Agency: Orbital Media
This campaign was based around using a smartphone-friendly Facebook game that gave away instant win prizes and, according to Sudocrem, delivered a “subtle, yet clear subconscious message in that ‘nappy rash can be treated with Sudocrem’”. More than 11,000 discount vouchers were given away after the campaign hit a total reach of more than 17 million people on Facebook and Twitter (over 10,000 tweets used the hashtag #SaveChristmas), and the game was played more than 100,000 times. Sudocrem says the campaign was an “epic hit, smashing all KPIs including reach, engagement, entries, amount of plays and most importantly, drove extensive social commerce through coupon distribution”.
Oils
Borderfields Is Better
Brand: Borderfields
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: Richmond Towers Communications
Borderfields had a problem. How to explain the difference between oils, as well as the pros and cons of each? And to grow the cold-pressed rapeseed oils category. This campaign drew up a ‘10 reasons why Borderfields Is Better’ guide, rolled out the #isBetter hashtag on social media and returned a 20% increase in value and a 15% in volume sales.
Laundry
Free the Kids
Brand: Persil
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: MullenLowe London
Who spends more time outside, a child… or a maximum-security prisoner? Using shocking new research that found young children now spend less time exploring outdoors and getting dirty than prison inmates, this riveting ad swaps the hard product sell for a far more powerful and provocative piece of work set in a US prison. It leaves viewers with something to really think about.
Jams & Spreads: Spreads
Flipping Fun
Brand: Nutella
Launch date: February 2016
Agency: Krow
If you were under the impression that the only suitable topping for pancakes on Shrove Tuesday was lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar, you’d be quite right. But Nutella is on a mission to make us more open-minded and it spent some £1.4m on a multimedia campaign in the process. And when you see the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread slathered over a hot pancake, it’s almost convincing…
Ice Cream: Tubs
Remeo vs Johanna Konta – A Battle of Obsession
Brand: Remeo Gelato
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Bompas & Parr
Bompas & Parr are famous for their experiential marketing activities but they display the same creativity with this foray into film-making, serving up a beauty that shows how Johanna Konta, the top ranked tennis player in the UK, and Remeo Gelato are both obsessed with achieving perfection. It’s a lush production, wonderfully edited, and the ice cream looks lush.
OTC: Paediatric Analgesics
Bounce Back
Brand: Calpol
Launch date: October 2016
Agency: Vital productions
No one likes it when their children are poorly, even though they do tend to quieten down for a bit, which is often a blessed relief. Just as all parents know this to be true, they also know the power of a dose of Calpol, which is a little miracle worker that kills temperatures stone dead. But rather than emphasise this fact, Calpol cleverly focuses on the best part of your child being unwell, which is when you realise they are full of beans and all better again –aka the ‘Bounce Back’ time. Full of kids charging around, sword fights with baguettes and funny face.
Personal Care: Shower Product
Soft & Gentle: Totally Happy
Brand: Soft & Gentle
Launch date: July 2016
Agency: FKC London
The delicate and pretty campaign to drive this brand extension – Soft & Gentle Body Balance – was specifically targeted at women who don’t usually buy feminine hygiene products, to encourage them to give it a try. It worked – the product launched exclusively in Boots and generated a sales uplift of 300%.
Personal Care: Deodorants
Body Sprays
Brand: Yardley London
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Chapter and 7 Stars
This £650,000 campaign was launched to support the brand re-launch in 2015. The plan was to help secure listings and create awareness of the brand, but also change the perception of the brand and target a 40-plus customer. A series of print ads in monthlies, women’s weeklies and nationals reached 9.6 million women. After the campaign, Yardley was selling 10 times as much as before.
Paper Products: Nappies
Mamia
Brand: Aldi
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: McCann & Weber Shandwick
To try and disrupt the stable nappy category, Aldi teamed up with Netmums to create a baby club offering samples. Some 56,000 were sent out, and 96% of those that used them said they would recommend Mamia to friends. Aldi also took a stand at the NEC baby show and sponsored the changing rooms. As a result, Aldi is now the fastest-growing baby retailer in the UK.
Paper Products: Toilet Tissues
Feel as Clean as a Man Called David
Brand: Andrex
Launch date: November 2016
Agency: JWT
You won’t find a stranger name for a campaign in these pages, or possibly anywhere. This ad asks kids to find out how clean Andrex makes us feel after going to the loo, so they ambush adults when they exit the bathroom and ask them. Then the kids volunteer some suggestions. It’s odd. But it does reinforce Andrex and cleanliness.
Personal care: Mouthwash
Show Stopping Confidence
Brand: CB12
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: Virgo Consumer Health & Wellbeing
Inner confidence can be an elusive thing. CB12, which claims to have a “unique formula that neutralises unpleasant breath for an instant confidence boost” wanted to be positioned as an easy way for people to find it. It began by hiring former TOWIE star Ferne McCann, famous on the show for being unafraid to speak her mind. The campaign secured more than 30 pieces of coverage in publications like the Mail Online and the Daily Star, with a combined reach it says hit 600 million. Virgo also utilised CB12’s social media channels to deliver behind-the-scenes spin-off films with short soundbites containing Ferne’s personal confidence hacks. The content has reached more than seven million people to date.
Personal care: Toothbrushes
Interactive Electric Toothbrush
Brand: Oral B
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Publicis NY
No one comes out of a dentist without being ordered to buy an electric toothbrush these days, but there are a bewildering array of prices and types out there. So the brief must be to clearly convey why this model should be the choice of the smart brusher. And what better way to do that than to point out that this one interacts with your smartphone? Clever ad.
Personal care : Toothpaste
Captain Aquafresh
Brand: Aquafresh
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: TBWA London
The toothpaste brand reached for Captain Aquafresh to freshen up its ad strategy in 2014 and he flew back again in 2016. The red white and blue colours of the toothpaste itself suit a superhero perfectly and his special power – impressive foaming – is perfect to save teeth from the danger of decay. It also taps into the apparently never-ending popularity of superheroes.
Personal care: Shampoo
Savage Cuts
Brand: Wash & Go
Launch date: October 2016
Agency: FKC and DIG
Ex-footballer Robbie Savage is a good fit for a shampoo ad because he was always better known for his long blond hair than for his talent on the field. Although, admittedly, the dirty sod had no talent on the field. The campaign ran until the end of November 2016, but had already delivered more than 20 million impressions and over 35,000 page views on savagecuts.com after four weeks.
Personal Care: skincare
Xtra Hydra Energetic
Brand: L’Oréal
Launch date: May 2016
Agency: McCann Erickson Paris
‘You won’t look more buff, but you will look less rough’ is not a strapline that would work for a brand aimed at women, but for any lads still resisting their metrosexual tendencies, it’s a reminder that taking care of your skin doesn’t mean you’re a girl. And in Lewis Hamilton they have a great ‘face’ for the brand, an unconventional performer who is prepared to defy direct orders to win.
Petcare
The Flea Reveal
Brand: Bob Martin Clear
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Good Relations
Entering a house done up to resemble a crime scene, the eccentric Aggie MacKenzie does her Queen of Clean shtick to perfection on the hunt for fleas. But she is overshadowed by the real star of the show, a dog so cute you stop caring that he’s riddled with the little buggers. And it worked: there was a 12.3% year-on-year increase in Bob Martin household flea products sold in July 2016.
Ready meals: Chilled
80 Years of Torment
Brand: Rustlers
Launch date: November 2016
Agency: Droga5
A brilliant piece that makes a Rustlers burger look appealing. Taking us through 80 years of hell, our hero starts life as a chimney sweep, lives through the Great Depression, World Wars, binman strikes, yuppies and raves until old age strikes, leaving him thoroughly depressed. Then the ping of a microwave brings him back to life. And the final shot of the product looks delicious.
Ready Meals: Ambient
The Back To Work Warrior Packs Lunch Wisely
Brand: Kabuto Noodles
Launch date: September 2016
Agency: In-house
Kabuto has always enjoyed blending a mix of surreal, tongue-in-cheek and serious tones with its marketing, and the strapline for this noodle ad – ‘prepared with the skill, dedication and discipline of a samurai warrior’ – is no exception. There are no jokes, no dialogue. But you’re left in no doubt that Kabuto takes its noodles very seriously. Which is reassuring.
Rice & Pasta: Rice
Ben’s Beginners
Brand: Uncle Ben’s
Launch date: August 2016
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
There is an enormous amount of rubbish talked by people when it comes to obesity. But Uncle Ben’s understands the importance of teaching children to cook from an early age to instil healthy habits for their futures. This latest iteration of its ‘Ben’s Beginners’ campaign does just that, teaching simple skills like stirring, chopping, peeling, pouring and measuring.
Personal care: feminine hygiene
Blood
Brand: Bodyform
Launch date: May 2016
Agency: AMV BBDO
Men might start to sweat at the mere mention of it, but women do bleed. Flesh is ripped from their knuckles as they scale rocky crevices, they bash kneecaps sprinting through forests, and give each other bloody noses, all visceral images a ballsy Bodyform put front and centre of its latest campaign. Building on the momentum of Sport England’s viral masterpiece This Girl Can, the brand packs the 90-second ad with uncompromising shots of sweaty bleeding women, from surfers to ballerinas and boxers. Backed up by the brand’s collaborative research into how women can keep playing sport during their period, the campaign packs a punch. A bloody one at that.
Sauces: Cooking
Love At First Taste
Brand: Knorr
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: MullenLowe
From nowhere, watching people on a first date has become a smash hit TV show – and this campaign hops on to the bandwagon. But it does so very well, with the dates ranging from hopelessly awkward to tear-jerkingly romantic. It’s a charming campaign that extends into a multimedia effort by offering consumers a chance to discover their individual flavour profile by taking an online quiz.
Sauces: Condiments
Grow Your Own
Brand: Heinz
Launch date: October 2016
Agency: We are Social
A great social media led campaign by Heinz, which posted thousands of tomato seeds around the country and launched a competition on the Heinz Facebook page that challenged the UK to grow their own tomatoes, with the winners turned into a personalised bottle of ketchup. A simple idea, brilliantly executed, it also encompassed print, in-store, TV and digital activations.
Sauces : Table Sauces
Grilltopia
Brand: Hellmann’s
Launch date: May 2016
Agency: Ogilvy
One of the most arresting images in the world is raw meat being grilled over a naked flame. So, unsurprisingly, Hellmann’s has stuffed its ‘Grilltopia’ campaign with big fat steaks doing just that. It also delves into the science of BBQ (even finding a ‘wood whisperer’ to conjure up flavour in the smoking chips). Then it cooks up an enormous ribeye. What’s not to love?
Meat Snacks
Snacker Hacker
Brand: Mattessons
Launch date: October 2016
Agency: Cirkle (PR), Saatchi (advertising)
Mattessons Fridge Raiders has been targeting gamers for a while now, for the simple reason that research says 91% of teens play video games after school and two thirds of them eat while they play. This campaign hit more than nine million views on YouTube and garnered 99,012 comments, demonstrating strong engagement with the campaign and the brand.
Soft Drinks: Bottled Water
Anywhere for Tennis
Brand: Highland Spring
Launch date: April 2016
Agency: Wildcard, Whitespace and Story
Anyone for Tennis became ‘Anywhere for Tennis’ in this £3m combination of a TV ad, a marketing/PR campaign which amplified Highland Spring’s long-term partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association and its grass roots initiative Tennis for Kids, and an on-pack promotion, which offered thousands of tennis sets as prizes. Fronted by Judy Murray, Andy’s mum and a former pro herself, the aim of the campaign was to “inspire British families to spend more time together and get active” after research by Highland Spring revealed we spend under an hour of face-to-face time together each day without a screen nearby, resulting in 68% of the public feeling technology has negatively affected family life.
Soft Drinks: Sports and Energy Drinks
Traffic Jam
Brand: Red Bull
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: Kastner & Partners
‘Red Bull Gives You Wings’ isn’t the newest slogan on the block but it’s endured to this day, simply because it’s perfect. In this ad, a man stuck in a traffic jam chugs a can of Red Bull, sprouts wings, and floats up out of the traffic and into the sky. Ignore the fact that the last thing anyone should do in a traffic jam is neck a load of caffeine – this ad works anyway.
Soft Drinks: Carbonates
Thrive On
Brand: Purdey’s
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: Shine North and Green Door
‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ sounds like a strange question to pose to an adult, but the point of this campaign, featuring British Hollywood star Idris Elba, is that people never stop growing. And (with the aid of a bottle of botanical drink Purdey’s) they can achieve whatever they set out to do. This is a thoughtful and well-made campaign.
Soft Drinks: Juice Drinks & Smoothies
Little Glass ‘Size’
Brand: Tropicana
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: AMV BBDO
Peep Show star David Mitchell provides the quirky voiceover for this campaign, which does an unusual thing for an fmcg product by insisting that we don’t need to consume a lot of it to enjoy the benefits. It stars a cute little animated glass who loves it when 150ml of Tropicana is poured into it – because it contains vitamin C, B9, and one-and-a-half oranges.
Soup: Ambient
The Love Of Soup
Brand: Heinz
Launch date: October 2016
Agency: BBH
Soup is right up there with the greatest of comfort foods and, with the cold winter nights drawing in, this is a perfect ad. Featuring lots of everyday people leaning in for what looks like a kiss, it turns out they are about to sip soup from a spoon instead. Then we see them polishing off their various bowls before a loving close-up of the daddy of all canned soups, Heinz Cream of Tomato.
Soft Drinks: Squashes & Cordials
Colouring Café
Brand: Ribena
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: Brass
Thanks to 2016, nothing should surprise any of us any more. Even so, the rise of adult colouring in books is a mystery. Anyway, it’s definitely now a thing. And agency Brass launched a pop-up colouring café in Convent Garden this summer and crammed it full of adults (and a whole load of bloggers) who all do colouring in for fun. They were all given a single tile to colour in, which they did, trying not to go over the lines (while drinking Ribena from jam jars, obviously). The tiles were then joined to create a wall of colour. The ad is full of colour, laughter, humour, quirkiness and an admittedly fabulous display of colouring in. ‘You Can’t Get Any More Ribenary’ is the strapline.
Food-to-go campaign
Never a Dull Cup
Brand: Costa
Launch date: October 2016
Agency: 101
No one puts up with rubbish coffee anymore. Costa, as the biggest coffee operator in the UK, knows this better than anyone. So it wants us all to know its baristas are the best in the business – magnificent in fact! This ad puts a refreshing spin on staff training sessions, as coffee beans are roasted with flamethrowers – and laptops containing PowerPoint presentations are smashed to pieces.
Convenience campaign
Summer of Sport
Brand: Spar
Launch date: June 2016
Agency: i-movo
This 19-week push built on the success of the previous three. Customers uploaded details of their Spar receipts online to win prizes (while Spar analysed the resulting data, the first time it was able to do so across the entire estate). The results showed almost 200,000 shoppers took part, and average basket spend jumped by 38% thanks to the promo, generating £1.5m of incremental sales.
Christmas campaign
Christmas with love from Mrs Claus
Brand: Marks & Spencer
Launch date: November 2016
Agency: RKCR/Y&R
If Mrs Claus ran Christmas she’d do things a little differently. Gone would be the sleigh, reindeer and ill-fitting red suit, in their place a chopper fit for James Bond and tailored jacket straight off the catwalk. The secret glamorous life of Mrs Claus was told by M&S this year as it looked to connect emotionally with its consumers for Christmas. And it worked. Beautifully shot, the tale of little Jake, his long suffering sister and a pair of glittery red shoes was festive without too much syrupy sweetness, and sprinkled with just the right amount of humour. A truly memorable last spot for agency RKCR/Y&Y after it was unceremoniously dropped by the brand in August.
Tobacco
Wear the Crown
Brand: Chesterfield
Launch date: March 2016
Agency: Mercieca
Cigarettes are having a tough time at the moment, the poor things. To fight back, Chesterfield launched a B2B campaign to highlight its price point – Chesterfield is the cheapest on the gantry at £5.99 for a pack of 20 –and profit opportunities. The campaign doubled Chesterfield’s market share, up from 2.1% to 4% on the previous year, and a second phase is planned for 2017.
Supermarket campaign
Team GB
Retailer: Aldi
Launch date: January 2016
Agency: McCann and Weber Shandwick
The first UK supermarket to sponsor Team GB, Aldi plastered the Union flag everywhere it could. But it also used the deal to promote its fresh food. Sales rocketed by 20%, as did perceptions of Aldi as a fresh retailer, and it was unique among traditional Olympic sponsors for being praised by the Children’s Food Campaign for promoting healthy food.
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