It’s that time of year again! As we hurtle towards Christmas, the Blue Star Direct team has collated a wrap of the best campaigns of 2015 (in our humble opinion). What was our criteria? They had to be campaigns that delivered on more than just advertising strategy. They are stories well told that made us laugh, entertained us, they may have even made us cry. They are thought-provoking and resonated. They cut-through. Here they are, enjoy!
1. John Lewis – Man on the Moon (UK)
OK so it’s no Monty the Penguin, which we LOVED but it’s up there. And actually, the two ads are not hugely dissimilar. Like the special friendship the little boy in the 2014 ad had with his Penguin Monty, this year John Lewis tell the story of a little girl Lily with another unlikely friend. A lonely old man on the moon. Raising awareness for Age UK, the ad brings to life the insight that many elderly people experience extreme loneliness which remains largely unrecognised as a social issue. It’s one of the reasons we love this ad. It fulfils a purpose beyond that of answering an advertising brief, while still nailing the brief. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re missing out!
2. Optus – Anti-ad (Australia)
In a stroke of marketing genius, we saw Ricky Gervais as the face of the Optus anti-ad campaign. Launched on social media earlier this year, Ricky returned to Optus in September 2015, to further undermine his artistic integrity and promote the launch of the new iPhone. This time around, the campaign extended from social to include a 30 second TVC. In true Gervais style, the humour is awkward in its honesty and succeeds in making you feeling slightly uncomfortable but absolutely entertained. And it’s refreshing in this context. If anything, Gervais pulled this off with his artistic integrity fully intact with his distinct brand of cringe-worthy, deadpan humour resonating with Aussie audiences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WViNZSIlxMs
3. ALDI – Now this is Christmas (Australia)
Another brand taking a refreshingly honest and humourous approach is ALDI. In a category where celebrity chefs, unnaturally happy, smiley families and catchy jingles are the norm the ALDI ads are real and relatable. ALDI’s 2015 Christmas campaign, from creative agency BMF Sydney, portrays the chaos (and fun) that can be Christmas. We can all relate because it’s more reflective of what many Australian families will go through! Of course there’s still the pay-off of getting to enjoy the big day and share Christmas lunch with your family. It’s honest enough that it resonates but doesn’t take away from the magic of the big day!
http://www.bmf.com.au/our-work/now-this-is-christmas/
4. Give Blood – #bleedforengland (UK)
Leveraging the sporting event of the year, the 2015 Rugby World Cup, ran a campaign to inspire thousands of Brits to give blood. The #bleedforengland campaign. With less than 3% of Brits giving blood, the campaign set to recruit 100,000 new donors. The emotive campaign encouraged viewers to “do something amazing and bleed for England”. The idea was simple. The TV spot shows a shriveled and dying English rose being brought back to blooming, beautiful life as blood begins to course through its veins. There were various print and outdoor articulations of the concept but the idea really came to life on social via its twitter hashtag. At the end of the World Cup 101,295 people had registered to donate blood. Even the England rugby team’s early departure from the tournament didn’t negatively impact campaign results as Brits continued to sign up in their thousands.
http://www.blood.co.uk/news-media/campaigns/BleedforEngland/
5. #MyFamilyCan (Australia)
In the midst of a food labelling debate earlier this year, SPC and Leo Burnett Melbourne took a creative approach in response to an Australian wide conversation. They redesigned the labels on SPC brands to showcase the Aussie families that produced the goods inside the can. The issue became more than a problem with food labelling, it became about supporting Australian produce in general. The campaign ran for three months and not only served to support Aussie farmers but reassured consumers where the product really came from. The campaign went on to win an ADMA AC&E Award for “Most Effective Use of Content”. Check it out here:
