Best TV / Video Ads of the “Noughties” (2000 – 2009)

The original plan was to write a blog post on the best travel video / television advertising of the past decade. While there were a few clever travel ads (the Virgin Atlantic “Upper Class Suite” independent spot and the Air New Zealand “Nothing to Hide” campaign immediately come to mind) they were not in the same league with the best offerings from other industries.

So instead, here are my picks for the best single advertising spot and best advertising campaign created between 2000 and 2009. Hopefully, the travel industry will gain some inspiration and raise their game in the coming “teens” decade. As there is not clear agreement on a name for the past decade, let’s just call them the “noughties.”

photo credit: Pink Ponk

Stratos and Dove prove that original creative, strong narrative and expert production can effectively differentiate commodity products.

What defines a great video ad? There are fundamentally three simple requirements regardless if it is on television or spreading virally online :

1. It breaks through the clutter – it needs to be memorable.
2. It evokes an emotional response – it makes the viewer feel something
3. It creates goodwill for the product – viewers remember the brand

Good production values, solid acting and a bit of originality never hurt either.

Comparing a single advertising spot to a multi-spot campaign is not really a fair comparison. Each may be designed to accomplish different objective. While each ad undoubtedly must stand on its own merits, a quality campaign requires the additional dimensions of thematic alignment and consistency of execution. To present the best of both genres, I have picked the best single advertising spot as well as the best multi-spot campaign of the last decade.

Both of my selections promote products that could be easily described as generic commodities. However, each ad admirably differentiates its respective brand from the competition. The travel industry can learn a lot from these ads – they engage and inspire the viewer on an emotional level. There are no aggressive proclamations of product features, competitive price points, or legal disclaimers. Each ad embraces humanity; addressing the motivations of the protagonists and their interaction with their respective environments.

As opposed to producing a top ten list, I’ll cut to the quick and provide just my top picks; they are:

Best Single Spot: Stratos Chocolate

Brand Name: Stratos
Advertiser: Nidar Stratos
Agency: New Deal DDB A.S.
Country: Norway
Released: December, 2001

Football Baby/The Kid –

Why I selected it:

It is a rare occurrence when a television commercial intelligently combines no dialogue with a quality narrative and even manages to incorporate a surprise ending. In a decade that was characterized by in-your-face deals, high budget CGI animation and double-entendre punchlines, this ad scores big points for subtlety.

One could complain the primary storyline has nothing to do with the product, but that is not really the case. The product is realistically positioned as a reward for a job well done. True, even 75 seconds in, many may be wondering if the ad is promoting Vodafone, Manchester United, or perhaps a soccer shoe manufacturer. A few may miss the point of the ad entirely. However, everyone I know who viewed the ad had not previously heard of the product, but all clearly recalled the Stratos name.

Best Campaign: Dove, Campaign for Real Beauty

Brand Name: Dove
Advertiser: Unilever
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Country: Canada
Released: October, 2006

Evolution –

Onslaught –

Amy –

Under Pressure –

True Colors –

Daughters –

Why I selected it: Dove takes an unconventional and highly contrary position against its own industry. Dove never marketed soap – since its inception, Dove always sold “Beauty Bars.”

The challenge however, was that a culture that once believed “beauty was in the eye of the beholder” allowed the fashion and personal products industries to usurp the role of “beholder” from the individual. This resulted in manipulative and disingenuous industry marketing tactics that undermined the physical and mental well being of Dove’s customers.

Each Dove video attacks this challenge from a different perspective:

• Evolution revealed the distorted representations of reality that are presented as role models to young girls
• Onslaught careens through a stream of imagery that indoctrinates girls beginning at a young, impressionable age
• Amy presents a more subtle and distressing example of poor self esteem alienating others from relationships
• Under Pressure also utilizes streaming media barrage technique, but communicates outreach success of Dove self-esteem workshops
• True Colors provided more of a direct call to action after providing examples of girls with poor body images
• Daughters was actually the first piece produced, expressing the need for parents to understand the self esteem issues facing their daughters

Through their Campaign for Real Beauty, Dove transformed their unique benefit from improving womens’ lives by creating soft, healthy skin, to improving womens’ lives by helping to develop strong character based on self-esteem.

Dove is a very successful brand – they enjoy 24% market share in a highly competitive industry. Dove did not need to do anything creative or dramatically different to maintain its economies of scale, broad distribution or continued profitability. Instead, Unilever elected to leverage their industry leadership and positively impact the lives of their target market, while addressing a serious challenge that demanded awareness and education. It was a bold move that now become the foundation of the brand.

Lessons for the Travel Industry
It is completely acceptable to commoditize a product, underestimate the customer and attempt to differentiate based on price or by denigrating the competition – as long as the objective is to ultimately fail as a brand…

Travel facilitates first-hand learning about new destinations and other cultures – like no other product, it brings people together. There are thousands of compelling stories patiently waiting for creative story-tellers to inspire people to literally expand their horizons and explore the wonders of our world. There is nothing boring about travel – airlines provide the miracle of flight thousands of times a day; hotels provide comfort and welcoming hospitality, even in the most remote locales; cruise ships bring the destinations to the traveler; most importantly, travel provides indelible memories that enrich lives.

As conventional media fights to remain relevant amidst new highly personalized communication online channels and social networks, it is now even more critical for travel brands to capture the imagination of customers and represent something greater than merely basic product features or simplistic consumer benefits.

The travel industry should learn from the Soccer Kid that it sometimes takes considerable planning and execution to achieve a desired result. Clear objectives driving the clever deployment of available resources is a good recipe for success.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty provides an equally valuable lesson. There is ample opportunity to embrace differences, share unique skills and enrich lives in the process. If Unilever can accomplish that feat with a bar of soap, there is no reason travel organizations can not engage and inspire travelers.

Advertising Age named its 10 Best Ads of the Decade and Best Non-TV Campaigns last week. With all due respect to their distinguished Creativity group, I think they got it wrong. I do like the Skittles, iPod: Hip Hop and Coca-Cola Happiness Factory spots, but the Stratos spot beat every entry on their list in terms of creativity, viewer engagement and brand resonance.

Dove’s Evolution video was recognized by Ad Age on it non-TV campaign list, but it treated the Evolution spot as a campaign. The Campaign for Real Beauty should have technically been classified as the campaign, however, a 75-second edit of the Daughters video ran during Super Bowl XL in February 2006, perhaps disqualifying it from the non-TV categorization. Regardless, it it was good to see Evolution recognized alongside Burger King’s Subservient Chicken and the Sega Beta7 multi-channel promotion.

Disagree? Add a comment and a link to a video ad spot or campaign that you feel deserves the title “best of the decade.” I sincerely hope I missed a great one from the travel industry. I would be more than happy to stand corrected.